Engaging English Learners (ELs) is one of the most important—and challenging—responsibilities for K–12 teachers. When students are developing both language and content knowledge, engagement must be intentional, scaffolded, and sustained. Research-backed practices, supported by the SIOP® Model and strengthened through high-quality K–12 staff development, give teachers powerful tools to help multilingual learners thrive.
1. Make Content Comprehensible
When students don't understand what they are hearing, viewing, or reading, engagement drops immediately. Teachers can make instruction more comprehensible through visuals, gestures, realia, slower speech, and chunked instructions. They can use active listening strategies and reading techniques that make everything more accessible and more easily understood. This reduces cognitive overload and ensures ELs can access the lesson. It also boosts confidence and competence.
2. Build Background Knowledge
Many ELs lack the cultural or linguistic background assumed in lessons. Activate and build background using anticipation guides, quickwrites, video hooks, and KWL charts. This boosts motivation and prepares students for deeper learning. Also, many ELs may be immersed in a language other than English (e.g., thinking, speaking, listening) before the class begins. Building background knowledge builds a bridge between where the were and where the lesson begins.
3. Teach Academic Vocabulary Explicitly
Vocabulary drives comprehension. Teach high-impact words using student-friendly definitions, visuals, examples vs. non-examples, and multiple exposures. Make vocabulary instruction routine, lively, and multimodal. Most importantly, provide students with intentional opportunities to use specific vocabulary and grammar structures to express their knowledge of the content.
4. Increase Student Talk (With Language Supports)
Engagement increases when students talk more than the teacher. Provide structured opportunities for ELs to speak, such as Turn & Talk, conversation stems, dialogue frames, and partner retells. This improves more than comprehension. Getting students to speak with one another boosts oral language development, listening comprehension, and community.
5. Embed Scaffolds Intentionally
Scaffolds help ELs stretch without sinking. Use sentence starters, graphic organizers, word banks, and modeled responses. The more teachers chunk the lesson, the more confident and competent students feel. Effective K–12 staff development trains teachers to add and remove scaffolds with precision. Scaffolding is much more than, “I do; We do; You do.”
6. Use Clear, Consistent Routines
ELs thrive when they know what to expect. Routines reduce anxiety and free up cognitive space for learning. Examples include entry tasks, rotations, discussion protocols, and predictable pacing.
7. Integrate All Four Language Domains
Engaged learners listen, speak, read, and write every day. Content-area teachers can incorporate small tasks such as math process explanations, science evidence frames, short social-studies readings, or ELA multimodal responses. TESOL Trainers provides K-12 staff development on practical ways to integrate the four domains of language.
8. Check for Understanding Frequently
ELs benefit from rapid, low-risk ways to show comprehension: whiteboards, fist-to-five, exit responses, polls, and concept checks. These allow teachers to adjust instruction in real time. Checking for comprehension is more than just asking, “Do you understand?” It’s also more than saying, “Thumbs up if you got it; thumbs down if you don’t.” Effective teachers get students to show what they know.
9. Design Lessons That Promote Interaction
Participation—not passive listening—is the heart of engagement. Use interactive structures like jigsaws, group problem-solving, Numbered Heads Together, and gallery walks to deepen learning. Students learn far more from one another than they do their teachers. The most effective educators get students to interact more with each other than with them. TESOL Trainers provides effective, experiential staff development on cooperative learning.
10. Create a Welcoming, Inclusive Environment
Belonging is the foundation of engagement. ELs take academic risks when they feel valued. Learn to pronounce names, use multilingual labels, include culturally relevant materials, and celebrate linguistic assets. Using scaffolds that help ELs interact with the other students in class promotes safety and a sense of belonging. Too often ELs feel like they are apart from the classroom community; TESOL Trainers provides K-12 professional development on how to make ELs feel a part of the classroom community as opposed to feeling a part from it.
Conclusion
Engaging English Learners is not about working harder—it’s about working smarter with research-based strategies that make content meaningful and accessible. When teachers apply these 10 practices consistently, students’ academic language, confidence, and motivation rise dramatically. Their participation with their peers and instructors increases. This lifts student learning outcomes dramatically.
Districts can accelerate teacher expertise through high-impact, SIOP®-aligned professional development. TESOL Trainers supports schools nationwide through our popular, remote English Learner Institute (ELI) and SIOP for Administrators.
Contact Dr. John Kongsvik, the director of TESOL Trainers, for more information on its onsite and online K-12 staff development.
<
