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Supporting English Learners (ELs) and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with the Digital Reader

Many of the reading challenges for our multilinguistic students do not come from decoding words but from a shallow understanding they are gaining from their accurate reading. The Digital Reader can be a partner in helping you close the gap in your linguistically diverse classroom.

Knowledge-Building
By cultivating knowledge we can build strong oral and written language skills. By providing students access to a wide range of topics, both fiction and nonfiction, we can bring the world to students in a meaningful way. The Digital Reader can support knowledge-building in many of the following ways:

  1. Look for paired text. Many of the books on the Digital Reader have fiction and nonfiction connections. For example, students can learn about hurricanes in Hurricane Maria: Disaster in Puerto Rico and then read a fictional account of someone experiencing a hurricane in Hurricane Evacuation. By reading multiple books on a topic we can move students from shallow to deeper knowledge.
  2. The Digital Reader provides students with books they can read at their instructional level, but it also can be used for shared reading and read-aloud experiences. A student might read Firefighters to the Rescue independently but have a shared reading of the nonfiction book, Firefighters. This provides students with more challenging and language-rich literacy experiences.
  3. Look for text that will deepen students’ understanding of academic words and concepts. Students can read about different kinds of predators in the ocean in the book In the Ocean and In the Rain Forest.
  4. Help students develop word-learning strategies. Project a book and use it to demonstrate how to break words into meaningful parts and how to make connections to their native language.

Make Learning Interactive
Learning is social and our brains are designed for learning. Children can support one another’s learning when they interact with each other. The Digital Reader can be a tool for sharing ideas and providing interactive experiences for your learners.

  1. Project one of the books on the Digital Reader to be used for shared reading. Stop at intervals and discuss the meaning of a word. Pose a question, but don’t call on someone with a raised hand; instead use think-pair-share. This provides a safe and supportive environment for having a conversation about the text.
  2. Set up students with reading partners or buddies. Have students take turns reading pages or even a whole book to each other. The pairs should represent different levels of ability and/or English language development.

Scaffolding

Learners need to be challenged, and with support and assistance can perform at a more advanced level. A teacher can provide scaffolding to help learners practice and develop reading skills. The Digital Reader can be a helpful tool in scaffolding literacy for your multilinguistic learners in the following ways:

  1. Before students read a book, encourage them to listen to the book introduction video. This will prepare your students for some of the challenges they will encounter in the text.
  2. Have students do the word study/phonic activity before they read the book. This also provides a useful scaffold preparing the students with often a tricky but useful word in the text, as well as practice in a decoding skill that can be used in future books.
  3. Select a book for a group of students to read with your help. The small-group targeted reading lessons allows you to work with individuals on specific skills and model for the group useful strategies for word solving, understanding unfamiliar words, and deepening an understanding of the story.

Recommended Resources for Working with Multilinguistic Students:

Peregoy, Suzanne F., Owen Boyle, and Steven J. Amendum. Reading, writing, and learning in ESL: A resource book for teaching K-12 english learners. Pearson, 2022.

Lesaux, Nonie K., and Julie Russ Harris. Cultivating knowledge, building language: Literacy instruction for English learners in Elementary School. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2015.