Every Teacher Is a Language Teacher:
Strategies for Supporting Multilingual Learners of English in the Mainstream Classroom

By Naashia Mohamed

Naashia Mohamed begins this blog by reminding educators that even though Multilingual Learners of English can communicate conversationally, it takes longer for them to acquire the academic vocabulary necessary to understand the subject content. For this, Mohamed maintains that they need instruction and support from all of their teachers: the ESL teacher cannot be solely responsible to meet these demands. She writes that “… every teacher, regardless of their curriculum specialization, has a responsibility to teach language. Every teacher is a language teacher.”

However, this does not require language development expertise, but as experts in the vocabulary for their field, content teachers can explain how these words are used in the context of their subject. Collaboration between the content teachers and the ESL teacher can aid in accomplishing this.

Mohamed offers these guidelines for integrating language and content.

• Focus on the four Cs in planning lessons:
  • Content: The specific topic for the lesson
  • Communication: The vocabulary used for explanations and discussions
  • Cognition: How will students be describing the topic?
  • Culture: Does culture have a bearing on the topic?
• Consider the language of the lesson. What vocabulary is essential to the topic, and what words do students already know?
• Set language and content objectives for each lesson.
• Determine the input and output. What differentiation is needed and how will students demonstrate comprehension?
• Incorporate the teaching of the four skills in every lesson: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Mohamed acknowledges that this is not easy. “However, when thoughtfully implemented through collaborative efforts, it can empower students to leverage language as an instrument for active learning and critical thinking.”

You can read more about it here.