Immigrant and refugee students bring incredible linguistic, cultural, and life experiences to our classrooms—strengths that are too often overlooked. In my recent presentation, Literacy as a Bridge: Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students in Today’s Classrooms, we talked about how literacy can act as a bridge, connecting students’ home languages and personal experiences to the academic content they’re learning. But what does that really look like day to day?
First, it helps to remember that literacy is about more than reading words on a page or writing essays. It’s about voice, identity, and belonging. When teachers intentionally draw on students’ experiences, they’re sending a simple but powerful message: your perspective matters. And the benefits go beyond engagement—they build confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of community.
Here are some practical strategies teachers can use right now:
1. Bring in Culturally Relevant Texts. Look for books, articles, or media that reflect your students’ lives. If you’re teaching a unit on community or family, include stories from different countries or immigrant communities. Ask students to share connections or differences with their own experiences—it makes the material come alive and shows that their perspectives are valued.
2. Invite Students to Share Their Stories. Journals, oral storytelling, and digital projects give students a chance to share who they are. A student might create a photo essay about a family tradition or write about their journey to a new country. These activities strengthen literacy while affirming identity.
3. Lean into Multilingual Strengths. Encourage students to use their home language as a tool, whether it’s for brainstorming, storytelling, or peer support. Multilingualism is an asset that can support English development while boosting confidence.
4. Connect Learning to Real Life. Design lessons that tie directly to students’ experiences. Math word problems could reflect real situations they encounter in their communities, or science projects could explore local environmental issues. This makes learning feel relevant and empowers students to see themselves as capable problem-solvers.
5. Use Collaborative Activities. Peer discussions, writing projects, and group tasks give students a chance to learn from each other. For example, students could co-write a story about a cultural festival or community event—building literacy, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding at the same time.
6. Focus on Strengths. Teachers’ mindsets matter. When we focus on what students can do rather than what they lack, our lessons—and our expectations—shift. Reflecting on our own practice and learning from colleagues helps us recognize and leverage student strengths effectively.
When literacy connects academic content to students’ personal worlds, it becomes a true bridge. Classrooms become places where students feel seen, capable, and valued. Beyond building reading and writing skills, these inclusive practices nurture resilience, pride, and a sense of belonging that extends far beyond the school day.
By weaving these strategies into everyday practice, teachers can create classrooms where all students thrive. Literacy, when approached this way, is more than a skill—it’s a bridge to opportunity, understanding, and equity.
Dr. Mann is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, where she supports equity-centered education research focused on multilingual learners and their language and literacy growth. She presented a LiD6-12 webinar found here: Literacy as a Bridge
You’ve learned about disciplinary literacy and are convinced that this is the best path of success for your students. You’ve been to professional development, read books, found this blog…you are all in!
Or perhaps you are an administrator, embarking upon a school-wide plan to focus on disciplinary literacy. The first day of school arrives, and you greet students as they come through the door. As you smile and say hello, inwardly you realize that you might have forgotten about one not-so-small thing: several of your students are new to the country and have only just begun learning English.
Your anxiety increases when you have a conversation with your ESOL teacher and she explains that one of the students only attended school sporadically, and had no formal education for the past two years during the family’s transition to the United States.
What now? You’ve planned so many exciting, challenging lessons centered around the specific characteristics of your content language. Can the students even learn that? Should you just give them something else? Do nothing at all?
I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it is beneficial and necessary to teach disciplinary literacy to your newcomer multilingual learners (MLs)
I’ve been working with and living beside multilingual learners of all ages and language levels for 20 years. For the past four years at Carolina High School, I have focused on newcomer MLs and SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education). As a co-teacher, and now a sheltered class teacher, I’ve used many strategies that teach and expose my students to the disciplinary literacy required in English Language Arts.
Accommodating for these students doesn’t have to be time-consuming or daunting. I can give you insight into the best mindset and strategies to use in general education classes to ensure that every student in the room can access what is taught.
Accommodation is not “dumbing-down”
As educators, we know that we are expected to teach with rigor and high expectations. Accommodating lower-level MLs in your classroom does not remove rigor or high expectations. MLs are still expected to do challenging work, achieve success, and grow academically. The only thing you are lowering is the language load.
You might be familiar with cognitive load theory. The application of cognitive load theory to teaching means that teachers need to design lessons that reduce confusion and overwhelm so that students can focus on actually understanding and learning content.
For MLs, this means reducing the amount and complexity of the language so that students can focus their energy on learning new concepts or practicing skills. We are not changing the destination—-we are simply paving the road.
Accommodations—-often outlined in ML language acquisition plans—-are guidelines for engaging MLs in disciplinary literacy at their level of English language proficiency. They are not a rigid set of rules. These supports allow the MLs to reach the same standards as English-proficient students. Many states even include “best practice” strategies that work for all students—-because good teaching is good teaching.
Accommodating for your MLs can feel overwhelming. Language acquisition plans can seem lengthy or vague. I encourage you to start your mindset shift by reading an ML language acquisition plan, start to finish—-not just the list of accommodations. Doing this will open your mind to what it really means to support MLs in your classroom.
Accommodation is not an afterthought
Planning a unit takes time and attention to detail. I often see teachers get to the end of a unit plan and realize that they must accommodate for their MLs. After investing so much energy into the core content, there’s little left to adapt it. The result? A translated test or reliance on digital translation tools.
But if your goal is to teach the language of your discipline, translation won’t be enough. It won’t help students develop the academic language needed to access the content. Not to mention—-this assumes a high level of native language literacy, that students may not have. There is a better way.
The best way to accommodate is to start from the beginning—-by pairing each standards-based learning target with a language target.
Learning targets focus on the knowledge or skills that students must master.
Language targets focus on the language students need to access and express that knowledge.
Together, they tell students what they are learning and how they’ll use language to show it. This is a key step in making disciplinary literacy accessible at any level of English proficiency.
Step 1: Accommodate Input
Students receive new information through instruction and texts. As you plan your unit, ask:
Where will ML students struggle with language?
How complex are the texts?
Which lessons or texts are essential for content mastery?
Feeling overwhelmed? Take a breath. Like riding a bike, the best way to learn to accommodate is to start—and keep trying.
Step 2: Accommodate Output
Once you have thought about how to scaffold input, turn to output —-how students will demonstrate understanding. This includes assessments, writing, and projects. Begin by:
Accommodating instructions.
Modeling expectations.
Using an adjusted grading rubric based on language level.
Accommodation does not have to be difficult
Creating Language Targets
My favorite way to create language targets is by using AI tools such as MagicSchool or Chat GPT. The key is crafting a simple prompt. Here’s an example:
“Create a language target from this learning target [insert target] for a WIDA Level 2 English language learner. Include sentence frames.”
You may need to revise the AI output to best suit your needs—-but it’s a great place to start..
Accommodate Input: Lessons
Pre-teach vocabulary:
Use your language and learning targets to create a list of 8-12 vocabulary words per unit. Avoid trying to teach too many at once. Use a pretest to narrow your list.
Create a word wall (physical or digital)
Create a glossary with native-language translations and student-friendly definitions
Refer to the word wall throughout lessons
Encourage students to use the word wall or glossary during class and assessments.
Add visuals:
Use pictures, charts, icons, or illustrations to emphasize meaning. AI tools can generate custom images.
Reduce cognitive load:
Give students a copy of your notes/slides (paper, digital, or both)
Encourage two language note-taking using resources like Read&Write or bilingual dictionaries
For higher level students, create fill-in the blank guided notes
Accommodate Input: Texts
Using grade-level texts is essential to ensure equitable access to rigorous content. When scaffolded appropriately, these texts allow MLs to develop the skills necessary to long-term success. Do not limit students with simplified or below-level texts.
Translanguaging:
Translanguaging harnesses the power of all of the student’s languages to make learning more meaningful.
Allow students to annotate and summarize text in their own language.
Pair students with their native-language peers to discuss key points before sharing in English.
Encourage native-language drafting or brainstorming.
Provide a native-language copy of side-by-side with English text (use a two-column table for display)
Offer native-language summaries (AI tools can generate these)
Accommodate Output: Assessments, projects, and writing
Instructions:
For lower level students, translate instructions yourself—-don’t rely on students to do it
Paste translations onto worksheets, post them in Google Classroom, or project them on your board
Review instructions—in English—before modeling
Modeling:
Always model tasks or show examples
Think-aloud while modeling
Show completed examples of writing or projects
Rubrics:
Use student-friendly rubrics aligned to their proficiency level
Include native-language translations of the criteria along with English
Use single-point rubrics for clarity
Sentence Frames and Stems:
Provide word or phrase banks for sentence frames
Use AI to generate frames and stems based on your learning and language targets
Multiple-Choice Tests:
For written response items, provide sentence frames with a wordbank.
Remove one incorrect answer choice
Repeat familiar vocabulary, language patterns, and visuals
Open-note tests
Accommodation is not a smooth road
This list will jump-start your dive into supporting disciplinary literacy for MLs. The first time you try something, it might not work perfectly. You may still see students struggle, even after accommodation. That’s okay.
Struggle is expected. You are lightening their cognitive load—-you cannot remove it entirely. The goal is to bring the content closer, so they can reach out and touch it, not jump and miss it altogether.
Sometimes a scaffold works like a charm—fantastic! But often, you will need to adjust.
Keep trying, keep tweaking, keep going.
You, and your students, will get there.
Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4 Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.
Carrie Rieder holds a Master’s in TESOL from Furman University and has over a decade of experience supporting multilingual learners. A certified Literacy Teacher and member of the Greenville County Impact Leadership cohort, she brings both academic and personal insight into language acquisition, shaped by raising bilingual children and living abroad. At Carolina High School, she teaches ESOL and sheltered English classes, working closely with colleagues to support the school’s high population of multilingual students.
