NARRATIVE NONFICTION EN ESPAÑOL

Our fascinating narrative nonfiction articles are designed to build knowledge, vocabulary, and important ELA skills through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Available in both English and Spanish, this collection of articles and resources serves as linguistic support and scaffolding for the Spanish-speaking students in your classroom.

In this collection you’ll find:

• Five Articles: 
  • Scope narrative nonfiction articles in Spanish and English 
  • “Multilingual Learner Support” included for each article: questions and tips designed to help students respond to each article at the level that’s right for them
• Teaching Strategies:
  • Using Nonfiction
  • Vocabulary Acquisition
  • Summarizing Tools

Depending on the makeup of your classroom and the English proficiency of your multilingual learners (MLLs), here are some tips for how to use a narrative nonfiction feature in your classroom:

• Before reading, use the vocabulary- and knowledge-building resources found in the Resources tab for each article: Author Chat videos, Beyond the Story videos, Background Builder Slideshows, and Vocabulary Slideshows will introduce students to important people, concepts, and vocabulary they’ll encounter in the article. 

• Before introducing the English version of an article, have Spanish-speaking students read the Spanish article independently, with a partner, or with an ESL teacher. Then provide the article and its audio read-aloud in English. If students encounter challenges understanding particular words or phrases, allow them to consult the Spanish version.

• Have students read the article first in Spanish independently. Then have them join other Spanish-speaking students in the class to discuss the article in Spanish before joining a class-wide discussion of the article in English.

• Have each student in your class read the article in their home language with a partner. Have each pair verbally create a summary of the article. Then pair a student who read the English article with a student who read the Spanish article and have them share their summaries. Alternatively, have students work together to create a poster that summarizes the article.

• With a small group of students at the same level of language acquisition, do a choral reading of the English version in small chunks. Stop to show pictures or act out words that might be challenging. 

• As you read, check comprehension with yes/no or either/or questions. For example, if you are reading “Out of the Death Zone,” pause to ask questions like these: Is it expensive to climb Mount Everest? Did Poorna Malavath climb Mount Everest alone? As you go up higher on a mountain, is there more or less oxygen in the air? Did Poorna think it was easy to train for climbing Everest or difficult? (This can also be done in writing with a dialogic journal.) Challenge students to produce simple answers on their own with questions like What makes climbing Mount Everest so dangerous?

• Encourage students to elaborate on verbal responses beyond yes/no with prompts such as Tell me more about that, What do you mean by . . . ? What else . . . ? How do you know? Why is that important? What does that remind you of? Ask open-ended questions that require true communication from and between students.