Students who are English Learners come with knowledge of another language. To help them use their previous knowledge, support cross-linguistic transfer by learning about their native language, its sounds, alphabet, vocabulary and/or grammar. Use this knowledge as a Tier I support to engage the student in applying their previous knowledge to their learning in the English language and ability to decode words and comprehend text.

A great resource for learning about your students' native language, go to Mylanguages.org and select the language of the student you are trying to support:

Then select "alphabet" to identify sounds that transfer, or you can choose another point of comparison (like a component of grammar) to predict or respond to students' needs for additional linguistic supports to support cross-linguistic transfer.

Why this Matters:

General Considerations for Spanish-Speaking English Learners
- Overview of how to consider and respond to the needs of your Spanish speakers

Examples of sounds in English that do not exist in Spanish:

For a more comprehensive look at the phonemic inventory of a language to better understand what sounds another language does or does not have compared to English, go to Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages (asha.org) This resources uses the international phonetic alphabet and assumes extensive background knowledge in phonology.