Supporting Early Literacy for Multilingual Learners
Resources for supporting K–2 multilingual learners’ progress towards reading proficiency
Responding to the needs of multilingual learners
Literacy in English is essential to achievement in every academic subject—and to educational and economic opportunities beyond schooling. But learning and developing as a reader are more complicated in a language the reader is simultaneously learning to speak and understand.
To help multilingual learners read proficiently, leaders and teachers need to create the right conditions and leverage the right instructional practices to ensure those students receive the support they need.
The Early Literacy Playbook
We created the Early Literacy Playbook to provide leaders with a game plan to implement proven early literacy structures and strategies, paying special attention to how teams can best meet the needs of multilingual learners.
DownloadResources for reflecting on and improving the current state of K–2 literacy instruction for multilingual learners
Common misconceptions about teaching multilingual learners to read
This blog post reconsiders widespread misconceptions that can keep multilingual learners from realizing their full potential in school.
Take me thereInstructional strategies
These strategies support educators working to accelerate MLs as they progress towards reading proficiency and offer classroom-based examples that show how each strategy comes to life when working with students. Teachers can reference the strategies and examples while internalizing units and planning lessons then tailor them based on individual student needs.
Take me thereLiteracy Instruction for ELLs
This collection of resources covers grade-level strategies as well as suggestions for teaching more advanced reading and writing skills.
Take me thereUsing the Science of Reading to Improve Literacy Instruction for English Learners
This 30-minute webinar from the Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education focuses on how the science of reading can be applied to teaching multilingual learners to read and write in English.
Take me thereWhat Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners?
In this article, Suzanne Irujo discusses the findings of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth in the context of her own experience as an ELL teacher.
Take me thereLearn with us
We customize our early literacy support model for schools with a high population of multilingual students who are learning English.
If you’re interested in becoming a multilingual learning partner, learn more and get in touch here.

Looking for more resources for supporting multilingual students?
We compiled a list of some of our favorite free and practical resources for centering multilingual learners in ELA, science, and math instruction.