How can educators overcome the challenge of engaging multilingual families in their child's literacy development, especially when language barriers or cultural differences exist?

In this enlightening episode of the Equipping ELLs Podcast, host Beth Vaucher is joined by Nawal Qarooni, an educator, writer, and adjunct professor who’s reshaping the approach to family engagement in education. With a holistic approach to literacy, Nawal dives deep into how families play a crucial role in literacy development, and how educators can leverage this valuable partnership to create more inclusive, authentic learning environments.

Nawal shares her journey from newspaper journalism to becoming a passionate advocate for integrating families into the educational process. She emphasizes the importance of celebrating the cultural richness families bring into the classroom and how we can use these connections to enrich students’ literacy practices. By reframing the conversation from “what can families do for us?” to “how can we celebrate and build on what families already bring?” Nawal highlights a transformative approach to student success.

In this episode, Nawal explores her philosophy on literacy, which goes beyond traditional book-based learning. She discusses funds of knowledge, the idea that literacy encompasses much more than reading and writing—it includes the storytelling, traditions, and rituals that families pass down through generations. By building stronger connections with families, educators can tap into this well of knowledge, creating more engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students, especially English language learners.

Key Highlights:

• Nawal’s personal story and how her diverse cultural background informs her work.
• The significance of observational literacy and the role of talk in connecting ideas.
• Practical strategies for engaging multilingual families in literacy practices.
• The concept of translanguaging and how it enriches literacy development.
• Insights from Nawal’s book, Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations, on creating authentic school-family partnerships.

Whether you’re a teacher, administrator, or parent, this episode offers actionable insights to help foster authentic family engagement and ensure that every child thrives in a culturally inclusive learning environment.

Links and Resources:

• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store
• Check out Nawal's book Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations
• Connect with Nawal on Instagram

In this episode of the Equipping ELLs podcast, host Beth Vaucher dives into one of the most transformative and practical frameworks for supporting English Language Learners (ELLs): Talk for Writing. Beth introduces listeners to this British-based strategy that builds students’ confidence in all four language domains - listening, speaking, reading, and writing - by starting with what students do best: talk.

Beth shares how her own children’s bilingual school introduced her to Talk for Writing and how it has fundamentally shifted her approach to language instruction. The method begins with oral storytelling, giving students the chance to internalize sentence structures and vocabulary in a fun, low-stakes environment. She walks us through how students can retell stories, use story maps, engage in shared writing, and eventually transition to independent writing, all while being supported through rich visuals, sentence frames, and vocabulary prompts.

This episode is packed with classroom-ready tips, including how to choose a rich, authentic text, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or The King Who Was Afraid of the Dark, and how to use those stories to anchor a 4–6 week language unit. Beth emphasizes the power of modeling, repetition, and visuals, and how even reluctant writers can thrive under this framework. She also shares personal anecdotes of her daughters’ experiences, including how her second grader confidently wrote her own version of a class story.

Teachers will learn how to scaffold language practice, how to provide peer and teacher modeling, and how to build in interactive opportunities for collaboration and creativity. Beth also offers suggestions on how to incorporate native language support and how to involve parents through performance and presentation.

Whether you’re brand new to Talk for Writing or looking to deepen your instructional strategies, this episode offers both inspiration and practical steps for implementation. Tune in to discover how this framework fosters confidence, creativity, and language mastery among ELL students - and why it might be the missing link in your teaching toolkit.

Links and Resources:

• More Information on Talk for Writing
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

Are you struggling to support your English Language Learners without sacrificing academic rigor or adding more to your already full plate?

In this powerful episode of the Equipping ELLs Podcast, host Beth Vaucher welcomes Bridget Dale, a Tier 4 OCDE Project GLAD trainer, educational consultant, and founder of Elevated Language Development, LLC. Bridget brings over 20 years of expertise in English language acquisition and inclusive education to the table, offering actionable insights for educators looking to support English Language Learners (ELLs) in meaningful, effective ways.

This conversation dives deep into the transformative potential of Project GLAD® (Guided Language Acquisition Design), a research-based instructional model packed with over 60 strategies designed to make academic content and language accessible to all learners. Bridget and Beth explore how GLAD isn’t “something new to add,” but rather a framework that enhances how teachers deliver required content, all while elevating outcomes for multilingual learners.

Listeners will learn how GLAD strategies help balance content mastery with language development, allowing students to engage in rigorous instruction without watering down academic standards. From observation charts to interactive journals and creating language-rich classroom environments, this episode offers a roadmap to making your classroom more inclusive, collaborative, and empowering for all students.

Bridget shares examples of how GLAD promotes equity and positive behavior through co-created resources, cooperative learning, and intentional scaffolding. She also explains how these strategies help build learner confidence, foster peer-to-peer engagement, and shift the teacher’s role from direct instructor to facilitator of discovery and voice.

Whether you’re just hearing about GLAD for the first time or looking to deepen your practice, this episode is filled with real classroom strategies, practical advice, and encouraging takeaways you can start using immediately—yes, even in April!

Links and Resources:

• Connect with Bridget on Instagram
• Connect with Bridget on Linked In
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

In this episode of the Equipping ELLs Podcast, host Beth Vaucher is joined by Shelley Love de Feliú, an experienced educator and math instructional coach with over 18 years of experience in the field. Shelley is the founder of Raising Thinkers and Raising Mathematicians, where she focuses on helping parents and educators nurture curiosity and critical thinking, especially in math. Together, they dive into the powerful concept of visible thinking, an educational framework that makes students' thinking processes visible and accessible.

Shelley shares valuable insights into how visible thinking strategies can support multilingual learners, making learning more inclusive and engaging for students of all language levels. Through routines such as “What makes you say that?” and “Think-Pair-Share,” educators can foster deeper thinking, problem-solving, and student collaboration in their classrooms. Whether you're teaching first graders or middle school students, visible thinking strategies are effective tools to enhance communication and comprehension across all subjects and grade levels.

In this episode, Shelley also emphasizes the importance of scaffolding language skills and how visual supports and peer interactions can empower multilingual learners to contribute meaningfully to class discussions. These simple yet impactful routines not only encourage student participation but also allow teachers to better understand students’ thought processes, ensuring that learning is meaningful and impactful.

Tune in to hear about the benefits of using visible thinking routines to create a learning environment where all students, regardless of their language proficiency, can engage, contribute, and thrive. Plus, find out how to integrate these strategies into your own classroom with minimal preparation. Resources and links to Project Zero’s Visible Thinking routines are included in the show notes.

Key Takeaways:

• Discover practical visible thinking routines that enhance student engagement.
• Learn how to support multilingual learners through scaffolding and peer interaction.
• Find out how to use simple strategies to deepen student thinking in any subject.
• Get tips for implementing visible thinking routines in your classroom.

Call to Action:

Want to bring visible thinking into your classroom? Check out Project Zero’s Visible Thinking Toolkit and start experimenting with routines like “What makes you say that?” or “Think-Pair-Share” today! Don’t forget to visit Shelley’s podcast Raising Thinkers for more insights and resources on supporting student thinking.

Links and Resources

• Project Zero's Visible Thinking Toolkit
• Raising Thinkers Podcast
• Episode 20 on Gifted and Exceptional ELLs with Shelley
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

Do you feel like instruction for your ELLs is overwhelming and complicated?

Welcome to a brand-new series from the Equipping ELLs podcast! In this exciting kickoff episode, host Beth Vaucher sets the stage for a transformative journey designed to empower educators of multilingual learners. Whether you're teaching kindergarten or high school, this series will equip you with cutting-edge frameworks and actionable strategies to support English language learners (ELLs) more effectively than ever before.

Beth opens by addressing the challenges educators face when working with ELLs, and introduces the concept of having a roadmap, a set of proven teaching frameworks that streamline lesson planning, differentiate instruction, and provide structured, scaffolded support. From Harvard's Project Zero to Project GLAD, Visible Thinking, and Talk for Writing, these are not just buzzwords, they're game-changing methodologies that make content accessible and engaging for all learners.

You’ll hear why now, even at the end of the school year, is the perfect time to begin experimenting with these tools. Starting today means you'll walk into the next school year more confident and prepared with a full toolkit ready to go.

Listeners can expect future episodes to feature real classroom examples, expert interviews, and practical tips that are easy to implement immediately. Plus, if you're tuning in on YouTube, you'll gain exclusive visual access to classroom demonstrations of these frameworks in action, an invaluable addition for any visual learner or hands-on educator.

This episode is a call to action for teachers who want to go beyond the textbook and truly meet the needs of their ELL students. Subscribe now so you don’t miss a single tip, resource, or expert insight in this powerful new series.

Links and Resources:

• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

Welcome back to Equipping ELLs! In this final episode of our language domain series, host Beth Vaucher dives into one of the most challenging yet rewarding skills for English Language Learners: writing.

If you’ve missed our previous episodes on listening, speaking, and reading, be sure to check them out, as all language domains build on each other to create a strong foundation for ELL students. Today, we tackle why writing is essential for language development, the common struggles ELL students face, and most importantly, five easy and engaging routines to build writing fluency and confidence.

Beth shares practical strategies like modeled writing, picture prompts with sentence frames, the five W’s and how method, collaborative storytelling, and the writer’s gallery walk. These fun and structured approaches will help students overcome limited vocabulary, grammar confusion, fear of mistakes, and lack of writing stamina.

Beth also highlights bonus activities, including pre-writing discussions, peer feedback, shared journals, and writing celebrations, all designed to make writing more natural and enjoyable for ELLs. Whether you're a classroom teacher, ELL specialist, or homeschooling parent, this episode will equip you with immediately actionable tools to help students express themselves clearly and confidently in writing.

Don’t forget to grab the free downloadable PDF that includes all these routines for easy reference in your lesson planning. Plus, check out the writing intervention bundles and speaking & writing cards available on Teachers Pay Teachers or through the Equipping ELLs membership.

Links and Resources:

• Get your Free Writing Activities Cards Download
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

Do your ELL students struggle with reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency—leaving you unsure how to support them?

In this episode of the Equipping ELLs Podcast, Beth Vaucher tackles one of the toughest challenges for English learners: developing strong reading skills. As part of our series on supporting ELLs, Beth shares why reading is not just about decoding words, but about building comprehension, vocabulary, and academic language. You'll learn how to identify exactly where your students are on their reading journey and how to meet them with the right support.

Beth breaks down five simple, high-impact reading routines that work for all levels, including pre-reading vocabulary previews, guided annotation, interactive read-alouds, visual story mapping, and daily fluency practice. These strategies will help your ELLs overcome common obstacles like limited background knowledge and unfamiliar phonics patterns while gaining confidence as readers. Beth also explains why patience, consistent routines, and targeted instruction are essential to help ELLs thrive.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have practical tools to make your reading lessons more effective, engaging, and accessible. Plus, don’t miss the free set of printable reading routines at inspiringyounglearners.com/reading to easily implement these strategies in your classroom. If you’re ready to stop feeling stuck and start seeing growth in your ELLs’ reading skills, this episode is for you.

Resources and Links

• Get your Free Reading Activities Cards Download
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store

Are your ELL students staying silent during class discussions no matter how much you encourage them to participate?

After laying the groundwork with listening in our previous episode, today’s spotlight is on the speaking domain—arguably one of the most intimidating and vulnerable areas for ELL students.

Speaking out loud in a new language can bring up fears of making mistakes, mispronunciations, and the anxiety of being judged by peers. But with the right classroom environment and simple, effective routines, we can remove those barriers and help our ELLs become confident communicators.

In this episode, Beth shares five practical speaking routines you can implement immediately to foster student participation, lower the affective filter, and create natural opportunities for language output—all without adding more work to your plate.

We also take a deep dive into oracy—a crucial, often overlooked skill that benefits not just multilingual learners, but all students. Beth explains how oracy encompasses physical, linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional skills and why developing strong communication habits is essential for academic success and real-world readiness.

✔️ Why speaking is the next critical step after listening for language development.

✔️ The top barriers ELLs face when it comes to speaking, and how to remove them.

✔️ How to create safe, low-pressure environments that encourage risk-taking and participation.

✔️ The power of oracy and why communication skills must be a classroom priority.

✔️ Five simple and fun speaking routines that boost confidence and fluency.

Beth also shares bonus ideas for pre-speaking, active-speaking, and post-speaking routines like vocabulary brainstorms, talking chips, Four Corners, partner interviews, and self-assessments to keep your students engaged and growing.

If you're ready to transform your classroom into a space where ELLs feel excited and empowered to speak, this episode is packed with actionable strategies you can start using tomorrow!

Links and Resources

• Get your Free Speaking Activities Cards Download
• The Oracy Skills Framework from Oracy Cambridge
• Sentence Stems Resource
• ⁠⁠⁠Join the Equipping ELLs Membership
• Shop our TpT Store