LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Learn more about English language learners

LinguaFolio training modules
In these LinguaFolio training modules, learn to use this language portfolio tool to help students assess their language competencies, document their intercultural activities, and become reflective and autonomous in their language learning.
Format: book (multiple pages)
Reading comprehension and English language learners
Teaching reading comprehension and helping English language learners are the responsibility of every teacher, but they are also within the abilities of every teacher. These articles provide strategies for building content-area reading comprehension before, during, and after reading that can help English language learners — and all learners.
Format: series (multiple pages)
Invention convention
In this integrated unit, students will draw upon language arts, science, and math while inventing a magnetic or electric product. The lessons in this unit provide accommodations for English Language Learners at a variety of developmental levels.
Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)
Scaffolding content for English Language Learners (K-5)
The course is designed as an introduction to working with English language learners in the mainstream classroom K-12. It contains an overview of some primary concepts for working with ESL students.
Format: article/online course
Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools
These articles provide background on Latino immigrants in North Carolina, administrative challenges in binational education, and strategies through which teachers can build on what Latino students bring to their classrooms to create a learning environment that meets the needs of all students.
Format: series (multiple pages)

Find all 237 resources in our collection.

Students (in U.S. schools) whose native language is other than English working to master English. They may be immigrants or children born in the United States. Usually such students receive bilingual education or English as a second language services.

See also English language development, English as a second language.

Additional information

Each state has a different way of ascertaining whether a child is an English language learner.

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is sometimes used to refer to students abroad studying English, or to students who speak more than two languages.

Examples and resources