E17 - Firm Goals, Flexible Means: Writing From Day One with Multilingual Newcomers
Dr. Eugenia F. Krimmel is a nationally recognized multilingual learner educator, author, and instructional coach with more than 30 years of experience advancing equitable literacy instruction for multilingual learners across K through 12, higher education, and adult education settings in the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and the United States. She is the author of Accelerating Newcomer Literacy, founder of ELWritingProcess.com, a former ESL Bilingual Advisor at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and currently serves as an MLL instructional coach in a cyber charter school.
In this episode, Dr. Eugenia Krimmel makes the case that writing should not be delayed for newcomers because writing itself is a driver of language development. She explains how early writing supports thinking, phonics, vocabulary, confidence, and participation, while challenging classroom practices that keep multilingual learners on the sidelines.
Key Takeaways:
- Writing should begin on day one for multilingual learners, even at the earliest stages of English development. Waiting to write delays opportunities to build language, literacy, and confidence.
- Newcomers can participate in grade-level thinking when teachers adjust the task without lowering the goal. Students can compare, describe, explain, and narrate at the word or sentence level with the right supports.
- When teachers stop asking whether newcomers are ready to write, classroom access changes. Students begin to see themselves as thinkers and writers whose ideas belong in the learning community.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Welcome to Literacy Across Languages!
(01:39) Meet Dr. Eugenia Krimmel
(09:17) The Urgency of Writing from Day One
(15:09) Writing as the Engine of Language Acquisition
(20:52) What Does Writing from Day One Look Like in Practice?
(24:02) How Writing Evolves for Multilingual Learners
(26:42) Providing Effective Writing Feedback for Multilingual Learners
(29:33) Phonics Flexing with Multilingual Newcomers
(36:04) Incorporating Home Languages into the Writing Process
(39:40) How the EL Writing Process Transforms Classrooms
(42:33) Multilingualism as a Superpower
(45:45) Takeaways for Teaching
Episode Resources:
- Explore Dr. Krimmel’s EL Writing Process resources and professional learning materials.
- Learn more about the EL Writing Process in Dr. Krimmel’s conversation on the Teaching MLs podcast.
- Check out Accelerating Newcomer Literacy and its companion materials from Routledge.
Stay Connected:
- Visit us at literacyacrosslanguages.com.
- Email us with questions or episode suggestions at literacyacrosslanguages@gmail.com.
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Keywords: multilingual learners, newcomer students, newcomer literacy, writing from day one, language acquisition, literacy development, structured literacy, EL writing process, teacher underwriting, draw to draft, word line tool, translanguaging, phonics flexing, write to spell mini lessons, early writing, oral language, academic language, equitable literacy instruction, multilingual education, newcomer English learners, student voice, writing workshop, grade-level rigor, flexible supports, language and literacy, corrective feedback, confidence and agency, alphabetic principle, phonics and writing, inclusive classroom instruction