Teaching Conceptual Understanding in Multilingual Classrooms

A practical guide combining theory and best teaching practices to enable teachers to support multilingual learners to reach a level of deeper, conceptual understanding.

This book guides educators through a concept-based curriculum designed to foster deep, enduring understanding for multilingual learners. The authors provide language scaffolds for this curriculum to allow all students to develop conceptual understanding and the ability to express it in multiple languages. The book opens with the underpinning theories of learning, offering an accessible overview of the relevant research from cognition, education and multilingualism. It offers examples of concept-based inquiry and translanguaging pedagogy, and proposes a combined approach that addresses the complexities of teaching new language learners. It concludes by addressing the challenges of implementing new curricula and offers advice for school leaders and educators on effective change management.

This practical resource includes sample lesson plans as well as access to videos and teaching materials online, allowing educators to easily adapt ideas to their own context for a more inclusive classroom environment. Designed for pre-service and in-service teachers, end of chapter reflection prompts and activities make this an ideal resource for teacher training and professional development programs.