The Big Book of Tasks for English Language Development, Grades K-8

Ready-to-go English Language Development tasks that focus on students “doing the doing” of talking, reading, listening, and responding.

In recent years, the percentage of English Language Learners (ELLs) has increased in almost every state, so most teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching literacy to students acquiring English alongside English-speaking students. However, in many integrated learning situations, English Language Development (ELD) instruction is strikingly different than the teaching we provide students whose first language is English.

The Big Book of Tasks for English Language Development helps teachers meet that challenge head-on! Bestselling author and esteemed education consultant Nancy Akhavan shows that teaching multilingual learners requires changing our instruction to focus on practices that have high impact for students as they acquire language. Yet it’s not about doing more— it’s about doing smarter. It’s about having high expectations for all students and providing scaffolds to support students at all levels of English language proficiency as they learn and grow more confident. All the ready-to-go activities in the book

• Center on active tasks where students do the thinking, talking, reading, and writing, with appropriate support


• Activate the domains of language — listening, speaking, reading, and writing —  and recognize that these do not develop at the same rate


• Honor the continuum of language development and build on what students can do


• Provide teaching tools such as learning targets, suggestions for when to use a task, basic instructions and “teacher talk” for launching a task, and “Watch Fors and Work-Arounds” 


• Focus on the linguistic assets multilingual learners bring to the classroom and provide opportunities to help them collaborate with peers

With Akhavan’s signature straight-forward, teacher-friendly style, this book offers an uplifting reminder that with the right teaching strategies, educators can support multilingual learners to achieve their full potential and thrive in their learning journeys.