How to Support Multilingual Learners in the Social Studies Classroom

1. Multimodal Learning: Building Understanding Through Layered Supports

Ensuring multilingual learners can access rigorous social studies content starts with high-quality, multimodal learning experiences. Students should have the opportunity to engage with on-level texts while also benefiting from scaffolds that make complex ideas more accessible.

• Lesson summaries at a lower Lexile® level reinforce key concepts without oversimplifying the content, helping students build knowledge and confidence.
• Embedded checks for understanding allow students to pause, reflect, and process information.
• Graphic organizers provide essential visual cues, helping learners structure their thinking, make connections, and retain information more effectively.

By layering these supports, multilingual learners can engage deeply with content while strengthening their academic language skills.

2. How Multimodal Learning Tools Support Multilingual Learners

Language acquisition is strengthened when students engage with content in multiple ways —reading, listening, watching, and interacting. Multimodal learning tools ensure that multilingual learners process information through different channels, reinforcing comprehension and retention.

• Lesson summary videos offer concise, visual explanations of key concepts, allowing students to see and hear content simultaneously—an essential support for language learners.
• Digital interactives let students re-engage with the material in a hands-on way, reinforcing key ideas through exploration rather than just text.
• Audio-supported eTexts provide both written and spoken language exposure, allowing students to strengthen literacy skills while processing content.
• Visual timelines, maps, and primary source images give students context beyond words, making abstract or complex ideas more concrete.

These tools make Social Studies in Spanish, as well as many other languages, more accessible —ensuring that all students can connect with and understand historical content in meaningful ways.

3. Leveraging First-Language Support for Deeper Engagement

One of the most effective strategies for language acquisition is allowing students to engage with content in both their home language and the language they are learning. Research has shown that strengthening literacy in a student’s first language enhances their ability to acquire a second language.

• Seeing concepts side by side in both languages allows learners to transfer knowledge more effectively, accelerating their ability to engage with academic content.
• Our embedded eText tool provides access to content in 100+ languages, including Spanish, ensuring that all students can listen to and read materials in a way that reinforces comprehension.

By providing opportunities for multilingual learners to draw on their linguistic strengths, we empower them to build understanding rather than struggle with translation.

4. Targeted Scaffolding Based on Language Proficiency

Multilingual learners are on a unique language acquisition journey, and effective instruction begins with understanding where they are. Our programs equip teachers with tools to:

• Identify each student’s language proficiency level to personalize support.
• Implement research-based scaffolding techniques tailored to different proficiency levels, ensuring that students get the right level of support without limiting their access to rigorous content.
• Use our wraparound teacher support model, which embeds language development strategies into every lesson, making it easy to integrate research-based practices into daily instruction.

With the right scaffolds, multilingual learners can participate in academic discussions and demonstrate their understanding in authentic ways.

5. Promoting Peer Interaction to Strengthen Language and Content Mastery

Language learning thrives in interactive, collaborative environments. When multilingual learners have structured and frequent opportunities to talk about content, make personal connections, and engage in group activities, they deepen both their conceptual understanding and language skills.

• Collaborative learning structures encourage students to process new ideas verbally, reinforcing academic language in a low-stakes, supportive setting.
• Language transference strategies help students connect prior knowledge from their home language to the target language, strengthening comprehension and retention.
• Our Teacher’s Edition includes built-in strategies to foster meaningful discussions, helping students engage with historical concepts in ways that are relevant to their own experiences.

By embedding these strategies into every lesson, teachers can create an inclusive, student-centered classroom where multilingual learners actively participate in the learning journey.

6. Best Practices for Using Graphic Organizers to Support Multilingual Learners

Graphic organizers are powerful tools for multilingual learners because they provide visual cues, help them to reduce cognitive load, and clarify complex relationships between ideas. Here are ways to use them effectively:

• Choose organizers that match the task. Use Venn diagrams to compare perspectives, timelines for sequencing historical events, and cause-and-effect charts to analyze historical impacts.
• Incorporate first-language support. Encourage students to label key concepts in their home language before transitioning to English, reinforcing comprehension while building academic vocabulary.
• Use sentence stems and word banks so students can focus on content vocabulary and core concepts. Providing structured prompts can help students express their ideas more confidently. Example: "The main cause of this event was ____, which led to ____."
• Model how to use the organizer. Demonstrate your own thinking process out loud while filling out an example, ensuring students understand how to complete the organizer and use it as a processing tool.
• Make it interactive. Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete organizers, promoting discussion and collaborative learning.
• Revisit and refine. Encourage students to update their organizers as they learn more, reinforcing knowledge over time.

By embedding graphic organizers into daily instruction, teachers provide multilingual learners with structured ways to process, analyze, and communicate complex Social Studies concepts —whether engaging with Social Studies in Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, English, or another language.

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