Teaching Math to Second Language Learners

Hi everyone,

Teachers want to include the instructional strategies that will increase comprehension in second language learners. Here is a list compiled by Virginia Department of Education Division of Instruction back in 2004.  These are tried and true methods that still hold true today.

•  Integrate the four language modes (listening, speaking, reading, writing) into mathematics class.

• Model the process. Talk aloud while solving problems on the overhead or chalkboard to show the thinking process and common errors.

• Have students explain their thinking process aloud to a classmate while solving a problem.

• Integrate reading and writing through the use of journals, learning logs, poems, literature, etc.

• Give explicit instruction and practice in reading and writing word problems. Teach students to identify key words in word problems that indicate a certain mathematical operation.

• Begin class with warm-up activities using mathematical language to give students practice in sentence construction.

• Write a cloze exercise (a short paragraph with key words missing) or sentence starters (i.e., Perimeter is the…) on the board for students to copy and complete when they enter class.

• Give students a computation problem to solve, and then have them write the steps they used to solve it in complete sentences.

• Post labels and vocabulary cards around the classroom on completed word problems, number lines, rulers, fraction diagrams, and/or objects in the class.

•  Have students paraphrase and write complex concepts in their own words (individually, pairs, or whole class).

• Review mathematical vocabulary and concepts using games such as TIC TAC TOE, BINGO, Concentration, Charades, etc.

Use a variety of modes of instruction

• Design multi-sensory lessons (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic).

• Use visuals whenever possible to reinforce auditory instruction (i.e., charts, graphs, manipulatives, diagrams, models, real objects).

• Use graphic organizers to visually represent mathematical concepts.

• Design hands-on activities.

• Vary groupings throughout the lesson (i.e., independent work, pair work, small groups, whole class).

• Use real-life problem-solving situations to teach new concepts.

• Make interdisciplinary connections whenever possible.

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  Happy Teaching!