Unlocking Multilingual Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible

Bring classroom content to life for multilingual learners

In this eagerly anticipated revision of their bestselling book, authors Diane Staehr Fenner, Sydney Snyder, and Meghan Gregoire-Smith share dynamic, research-backed strategies that every educator of multilingual learners (MLs) can add to their repertoire. Including more of what educators loved from the first edition―authentic classroom examples, a wide variety of research-based instructional strategies, and practical tools to implement across grade levels and content areas―this is the ultimate practical guide to unlocking the potential of MLs in K-12 classrooms.

With fresh graphics and eye-catching colors, this thoroughly revised edition also includes:

• Considerations for newcomers and students with interrupted or no formal education (SLIFE)
• An added chapter on building scaffolded instruction and peer learning opportunities into MLs’ academic reading and writing activities
• Additional opportunities for reflection and application
• A new unit planning template aligned with research-based instructional practices, including a completed example unit

Situated within five core beliefs that frame the must-haves for MLs’ equitable and excellent education, Unlocking Multilingual Learners′ Potential is a guide to research-based practices and a toolbox of strategies every educator can implement to make content accessible and increase language proficiency among MLs.

Diane Staehr Fenner, PhD, is the president of SupportEd (SupportEd.com), a woman-owned small business located in the Washington, DC, metro area that she founded in 2011. SupportEd is dedicated to empowering multilingual learners and their educators. Dr. Staehr Fenner leads her team to provide ML professional learning, coaching, and technical assistance to school districts, states, and organizations. Prior to forming SupportEd, Dr. Staehr Fenner was an English language development (ELD) teacher, dual language assessment teacher, and ELD assessment specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools, VA. She speaks German and Spanish and has taught in Berlin, Germany, and Veracruz, Mexico. Dr. Staehr Fenner grew up on a dairy farm in central New York and is a proud first- generation college graduate. She has written nine books on ML education (and counting), including coauthoring the bestselling Unlocking Multilingual Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible and Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity. She is a frequent keynote speaker on ML education at conferences across North America. She earned her PhD in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at George Mason University and her MAT in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Diane@SupportEd.com.

Sydney Snyder, PhD, is a principal associate at SupportEd. In this role, Dr. Snyder coaches ML educators and develops and facilitates interactive professional development for teachers of MLs. She also works with the SupportEd team to offer technical assistance to school districts and educational organizations. Dr. Snyder has extensive instructional experience and has worked in the field of English language development for
over 25 years. She started her teaching career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. This experience ignited her passion for language teaching, culturally responsive instruction, and ML advocacy. Dr. Snyder is coauthor of Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity and contributing author to Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall. She served as an English Teaching Fellow at Gadja Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She earned her PhD in Multilingual/ Multicultural Education at George Mason University and her MAT in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Sydney@SupportEd.com or on Twitter at @SydneySupportEd.

Meghan Gregoire-Smith, MA, is a multilingual learner (ML) coach at SupportEd. In this role, Ms. Gregoire-Smith coaches ML educators and develops and facilitates interactive professional development for teachers of MLs. Ms. Gregoire-Smith began her career teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to young adults in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Her time in Ecuador sparked her love of language teaching. She then spent over a decade supporting MLs in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Maryland, first as an elementary English language development teacher and then as an ELD Teacher Specialist. As an ELD Teacher Specialist, Ms. Gregoire-Smith wrote the K–12 ELD curricula, planned and delivered professional development around best practices for working with MLs, and provided coaching for ELD teachers new to the profession. Ms. Gregoire-Smith’s experiences as an ELD teacher and teacher specialist led to a passion for supporting educators of MLs through high-quality professional development and coaching. She earned her Master’s in TESOL from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. You can connect with her by email at Meghan@SupportEd.com or on Twitter at @MeghanGSmith.