Supporting Multilingual Learners in K–12 Schools: Strategies, Tools, and Action Course

Empower Every Educator to Support Multilingual Learners with Confidence, Clarity, and Action.

Support multilingual learners with confidence using this practical, tool-rich self-paced course designed for K–12 educators and school staff. Supporting Multilingual Learners in K–12 Schools: Strategies, Tools, and Action Course blends essential legal guidance with classroom-ready strategies to ensure multilingual learners have meaningful access to grade-level instruction and opportunities for success.

Through engaging lessons and real-world scenarios, you’ll build your understanding of language acquisition, the difference between social and academic language (BICS/CALP), and the role of culture and acculturation in learning. You’ll also explore WIDA tools, effective accommodations, and intentional instructional planning—plus how to integrate technology in ways that strengthen language and content learning.

Grounded in the Reflection–Collaboration–Action (RCA) framework, this course helps you move from learning to implementation with consistent practices you can apply immediately, whether you’re a classroom teacher, specialist, administrator, or support staff member.

Objectives: 

• Describe legal responsibilities and requirements for serving multilingual learners.
• Explain key concepts of language acquisition and proficiency development.
• Differentiate between social language (BICS) and academic language (CALP).
• Apply instructional strategies, accommodations, and WIDA tools to support multilingual learners.
• Identify technology tools that support language and content learning for multilingual learners.

Target Audience:

• K–12 teachers, EL/ML staff, special education teams, administrators, instructional coaches, and anyone supporting multilingual learners across content areas.

Format:

• Self-paced eLearning course with interactive knowledge checks and real-world scenarios.
• The estimated time to take the course is 60 minutes.
• The course includes two ready-to-use downloadable tools:
  • Language-Rich Lesson Planner Tool: to intentionally embed language objectives, interaction, and scaffolds into daily instruction, and the Academic Sentence Frames for Multilingual Learners.
  • Sentence Frames & Starters: to provide structured language supports that help students confidently explain ideas, use evidence, respond to peers, and reflect while maintaining academic rigor.
• A completion certificate is available after completing the course.