Using Picture Books to Teach Multilingual Learners: Strategies from Lee & Low Books

In the evolving landscape of education, many teachers encounter both challenges and opportunities in engaging students from diverse backgrounds. Recognizing the importance of inclusivity, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is proud to partner with Lee & Low Books, the largest multicultural children’s book publisher in the United States. RIF and Lee & Low share a commitment to supporting multilingual learners (MLs) through the power of literacy. Read on to learn from Katie Potter, the Senior Literacy Manager at Lee & Low Books, as she shares tips for selecting and using picture books as a tool to connect with MLs. Visit Literacy Central and RIF’s Early Childhood Education Center to find additional multilingual resources, available in Spanish and Amharic.

Picture Books are powerful tools. They’re an excellent resource that help celebrate the voices and cultures of multilingual learners’ lived experiences while also affirming and validating children’s identities. When students speak a variety of languages in your classroom, students’ comfort and engagement with the story are paramount. There is no better feeling when students are all gathered around a book, sitting on the edge of their circle spot, enthralled with every word.

MLs are defined as developing proficiency in multiple languages, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (WIDA, 2024). There are many benefits to learning different languages, including higher executive functioning skills (AIR, 2022).

When we select a read-aloud for our literacy block, we want to make sure that we’re emphasizing ML students’ strengths by building on and using their prior background knowledge and interests to provide that connective thread.

Selecting a read-aloud, particularly when you have MLs who speak different languages, can prove challenging. How can we make sure that we’re accommodating all of our students while also providing critical learning opportunities and meeting ELA standards? It’s a lot of pressure!

Thankfully, we’ve acquired tips and strategies over the years at Lee & Low Books from our authors, editors, librarians, educators, and caregivers. These are some common themes that emerge:

Common concepts (foods, family structures, weather) are meaningful to children

Opportunities for engagement create connection (acting out, talking with a partner, even if it’s just a few words)

Clear, coherent illustrations and text are key

After you’ve selected the read-aloud, these are some tips to use throughout the story with your MLs:

Introduce key vocabulary words before the story (different nouns, verbs, adjectives)

Create individual picture cards of main vocabulary words in the story (fruits, vegetables, etc.)

Connect to students’ home language: names of family members that they enjoy spending time with, names of fruits and vegetables that they see at the market, in their home, or in other settings

While these are some initial tips, we’ll discuss more strategies during the Every Book is a Multilingual Learner Book webinar on Wednesday, October 16^th at 7pm ET, and we hope to see you there.

Organizations like RIF and Lee & Low Books work tirelessly to ensure that books are available for all students’ needs. Lee & Low Books has an extensive collection of bilingual books (simultaneous English and the language’s text on the same page) and dual language texts (separate English and other language editions). Additionally, we are the exclusive distributor for the COLLTS Early Childhood Resource with the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talents in Students – COLLTS – is a read-aloud-centered resource to improve oral language skills in multilingual learners in preschool and kindergarten. Available in English or Spanish, this six-unit resource easily integrates with your current curriculum and supports the development of foundational literacy skills, oral language proficiency, and topical and conceptual knowledge.

For additional resources, check out our collections online, and please reach out to me at kpotter@leeandlow.com if you’d like to learn more about customizing ML collections for your own setting.

Lee & Low Bilingual Titles

Lee & Low Dual Language English & Spanish Titles

COLLTS Early Childhood Resource

As you think about building your classroom book collection, share some of our bestselling recommended titles for MLs:

Bebop Books Early Readers (Independent Reading Texts in English and Spanish)

Still Dreaming/Seguimos soñando (Bilingual English/Spanish text)

The Mangrove Tree and El mangle (differentiated parts of text, Dual Language English and Spanish nonfiction)

All Around Us and Por todo nuestro alrededor (Dual Language English and Spanish fiction)

The Story of Movie Star Anna May Wong and La historia de la Estrella de cine Anna May Wong (Dual Language and Spanish nonfiction)

Confetti and Confeti (Dual Language English and Spanish poetry)

Family Poems for Every Day of the Week/Poemas familiars para cada dia de la semana (Bilingual English/Spanish poetry)

Sam and the Lucky Money and Sam and the Lucky Money (Chinese) (Dual Language English and Chinese fiction)

Ten Blocks to the Big Wok (Bilingual English/Chinese)

I’ll Build You a Bookcase (Bilingual English/Arabic)

Katie Potter (she/her) is the Senior Literacy Manager at Lee & Low Books. Katie writes and develops the rigorous teacher’s guides and educator resources found on the Lee & Low website. She also works with university professors and nonprofit organizations on incorporating diverse, multicultural literature into curriculum and syllabi. Katie is a former educator and educational researcher and has a Master’s Degree in Childhood General Education Grades 1-6 and Literacy from Bank Street College of Education.