Distance Teaching and Learning
Supporting multilingual learners during COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, WIDA remains committed to supporting educators, multilingual learners and their families. This webpage features learning opportunities from WIDA Professional Learning and a list of resources that can aide educators in providing remote instruction to multilingual learners.
Visit the COVID-19 Updates page to learn about WIDA's response to the pandemic and read the latest updates.
“As we prepare our classrooms to welcome students, whether in a school building or virtually, or a hybrid model, we worry about reconnecting with students we have known from last year and finding, identifying and welcoming new students who might need language assistance in the coming school year.”
– Dr. Diep Nguyen, WIDA director of professional learning
Micro-Offerings from WIDA Professional Learning
To help navigate the unique challenges of teaching during the pandemic, WIDA has a new series of micro-offerings. The 30-45 minute courses are open to anyone and are designed for educators who work with multilingual children and youth across a variety of settings.
Resources
- What's New
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In the WIDA eSummit panel discussion Teaching Multilingual Learners During Extraordinary Times: WIDA Fellows’ Success Stories, ten WIDA educators share their challenges and successes of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar recording for this session is available to domestic WIDA Consortium members in the WIDA Secure Portal (password required).
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"Voices from the Field,” a WIDA International Newsletter series co-authored with global educators, features an asset-based collection of high leverage practices for teaching multilingual learners online. The first article in the series focuses on the importance of supporting students’ socio-emotional well-being and creating strong classroom communities during online learning.
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“Five Things We Can Do to Support Multilingual Students Online,” co-authored by Esther Bettney of the WIDA International School Consortium, offers an asset-based collection of high leverage practices for teaching multilingual learners online.
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The WIDA Focus Bulletin Educación en el mundo actual: Equity in bilingual settings offers strategies for advancing equity in bilingual settings during the mundo actual of COVID-19. The importance of valuing multilingual learners’ linguistic and cultural diversity, using translanguaging, and leveraging technological resources are emphasized. This Focus Bulletin is available in Spanish.
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- WIDA Resources
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The blog post, "Reflecting and Relearning our Craft: Supporting Multilingual Learners Online," co-authored by Esther Bettney of the WIDA International School Consortium, offers strategies to effectively support multilingual students while learning remotely.
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WIDA Español provides tips and resources for administrators and teachers to help coordinate communication and instruction with students and families this school year. Read "This school year, communication with students and families is crucial" in English or Spanish.
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Samuel Aguirre, director of WIDA Español, answers questions about English learners and distance learning.
- WIDA accommodations and accessibility experts share tips and information that aim to help multilingual students with disabilities find success in the virtual classroom.
- To help educators promote the importance of home language with the students and families they serve, WIDA has developed a visual resource in& English, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese.
- To support families with young children at home, WIDA Early Years is happy to share free, downloadable activity booklets, in English, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese that are appropriate for young children ages 2-7 years.
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WIDA Wallpaper for your computer, tablet or smartphone is available for download from the WIDA Resource Library in English or Spanish to brighten the virtual teaching and learning environment.
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The WIDA Focus Bulletin: Technology in the Classroom provides educators with support as they think critically about the ways different sorts of media and tech tools can help facilitate language development in their contexts.
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- Tips for Parents and Families
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Director of WIDA Early Years Lorena Mancilla provides parents and guardians with guidance on working at home with a young child in the following articles:
- Resources for State and School Leaders
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- The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Restart & Recovery: Access and Equity for English Learner Students and Families During COVID-19: Recommendations for State Leaders offers a set of recommendations to develop and refine statewide COVID-related guidance to prioritize access and equity for EL students and families. Recommendations include partnering with EL families, promoting continuity of language and content instruction across instructional models, and supporting EL-focused professional learning opportunities.
- The Migration Policy Institute offers policy ideas for states and school districts for “Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” This policy brief includes a summary of COVID-19's impact on English Learners and immigrant students, identifies key challenges states and school districts must overcome, and outlines policy recommendations to help ensure students are adequately supported.
- The CCSSO has put together a series of supports for states and school systems called "Restart and Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning." Resource topics include system conditions, wellbeing and connection, academics, and state policies and action.
- The Office of Educational Technology has a relevant toolkit for teachers and administrators called "Using Educational Technology — 21st Century Supports for English Learners."
- Statewide Summative Assessment in Spring 2021: A Workbook to Support Planning and Decision-Making draws from a series of webinars, blog posts and papers dealing with anticipated challenges for statewide summative assessments in the Spring of 2021. These resources have been sponsored and produced by a variety of organizations, including the CCSSO, the Center for Assessment, and webinar panelists and participants from many other organizations.
- Supporting English Learners in the COVID-19 Crisis is a guide developed by the Council of the Great City Schools to help districts during the 2020-21 school year. This guide specifically addresses issues facing the families of English learners.
- Testing
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Get tips for safer testing and find out what’s new with WIDA assessments.
- Educator Connection and Collaboration
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- New WIDA Facebook Groups have been established for educators to connect and share resources: the WIDA Educator Exchange and Supporting Success for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities.
- Teaching Multilingual Learners Online frames insights and resources from the global education community around the 2019 WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development.
- Two international educators share their insights and lessons learned in the April edition of the WIDA International Newsletter.
- April and June WIDA Featured Educator articles highlight virtual teaching resources.
- Teacher Collaboration During a Global Pandemic, co-authored by WIDA International Programs Director Jon Nordmeyer, outlines five key takeaways from educators around the world that are applicable to all learners.
- A Flipgrid for the WIDA global community of educators has been created as a space to stay connected and share ideas about teaching multilingual learners online.
- WIDA Staff Recommended Resources
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- The English Learners Success Forum has put together two relevant resources for teaching English Language Arts and Math in a remote setting: Distance Learning and English Learners: Making Lemonade from Lemons and Not Less Than, but Equal or Greater Than: Remote Math Instruction for English Learners.
- The National Science Teachers Association is offering a short-term free membership that provides opportunities for students to do science through distance and home learning with their Daily Do, and also offers interactive eBooks.
- The Center for Applied Linguistics is offering a Learning from Home Series.
- Ellevation Education Distance Learning is a new, free resource that includes K-12 research-based activities to support multilingual learning in a distance learning environment that includes videos and podcasts.
- iCivics is a digital education organization with games and resources that are free for teachers, students, and parents. Six iCivics games have built-in supports for multilingual learners with the option to play in Spanish.
- Lessons and guides by Teaching Tolerance help educators facilitate meaningful discussions around racism, bias, and stereotypes. Teaching Tolerance also provides an excellent guide for educators and students alike to learn how to “Speak Up” when faced with xenophobic or racist remarks.
- Draw me Safe: Coloring and Conversation help families and caregivers talk about how to stay safe and well during a pandemic.
- Newsela provides accessible text available in five different reading levels.
- UW-Madison faculty collaborated with scholars from across the country to create DREME's At-Home Early Math Learning Kit for Families. These downloadable kits include English and Spanish versions.
- Mental Health and Staying Well
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- UW-Madison’s Department of Psychiatry provides a COVID-19 Mental Health Resource Guide and Support, including a Guide for Families and Children.
- UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds provides a COVID-19 Well-Being Toolkit, discusses social distancing as “an act of generosity and compassion,” and provides Meditación en Vivo, en Español.
WIDA has compiled the resources on this page for your review. Schools, districts and states are responsible for making choices about appropriate and applicable technologies and products.