Why This Integrated Literacy Framework is a Game-Changer for ELLs

What does it actually take to build student engagement and student participation for experienced multilinguals — not just in theory, but in every lesson, every day?

In Part 2 of my S5E39 Schoolutions conversation, literacy experts Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh break down the integrated literacy framework at the heart of their new book, Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals. This episode is packed with education strategies and instructional strategies you can use tomorrow.

You’ll learn about:
🔄 THE INPUT-OUTPUT LOOP: The single most powerful shift for active learning and attention in class. Stop delivering 40-minute lectures. Give students a small chunk of content, then ask for output immediately. Rinse and repeat. Beth and Tan show exactly how this works in a grade 7 science lesson on plate tectonics; a masterclass in effective teaching and lesson planning.

📝 THE STRUCTURED QUICK WRITE: A practical instructional routine that integrates reading, writing, speaking, and listening in one short activity. Tan walks us through building academic sentences using "comma-but" contrast structures; the kind of innovative teaching that produces real academic language, not just correct answers.

⚖️ EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION AS AN EQUITY ISSUE: This is where the conversation gets real. Beth shares a story about a professional multilingual woman whose career advancement is being capped, not because of her ability, but because no one ever taught her the academic language structures she needed. This is the cost of low engagement with explicit instruction. Equity in education and inclusive teaching aren't just values; they're instructional choices. An annotated mentor text, a sentence frame, a structured quick write: these aren't optional scaffolds. They're a right for every student.

💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & check out resources mentioned:
➡️Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals by Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh (their first book)
➡️Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals by  Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh  (the new book)
➡️Talk. Read. Talk. Write. by Nancy Motley - credited by Tan as the inspiration for the input-output loop sequencing
➡️Previous Schoolutions episode with Beth and Tan: an earlier, separate episode (distinct from this two-part series) where scaffolding is discussed in depth

Chapters:
0:00 Intro — integrated literacy framework overview
1:45 Why the four language domains can't be siloed
5:30 The badminton metaphor for language integration
8:00 What is the input-output loop?
10:00 Plate tectonics classroom example
13:00 Beth on shortening the loop for academic language
14:30 Using "while" and "comma-but" as contrast structures
17:30 The equity argument — explicit instruction is a right
20:30 What is an annotated mentor text?
22:30 The structured quick write in action
25:30 Stories of student and teacher breakthroughs
29:30 Key takeaways + outro

🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Book a coaching session with me here, if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

Don't forget to 🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE!

Next week's episode: I am sitting down with literacy expert Dr. Kay Stahl to unpack something so many students carry quietly: "I'm not a reader." We're talking about what that statement actually signals, why diagnostic assessment matters so much more than a standardized test score, and how families can build confident readers this summer without it ever feeling like school. You don't want to miss it. I'll see you then.

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When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] Welcome back for my part two conversation with Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh. If you haven't listened to part one, pause this right now, go back, and then come meet us here. In part two, we're unpacking the integrated literacy framework at the heart of their new book, the input-output loop, the four language domains working in concert, the structured quick write, and the equity argument for why explicit instruction isn't a scaffold, it's a right. This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical, try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive.

Welcome back, listeners. This is part two of my conversation with the wonderful Tan Huynh and Beth [00:01:00] Skelton. We are talking about their recent collaboration. It's just released. It's a fabulous read, Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals. Uh, this is the second time I've had the gift of being in conversation with both of you on the podcast. If, listeners, if you have not heard our first episode recorded, please go back.

I will put a link to that conversation in the show notes. I'll also show that book because I'm using it right now with coaching, um, Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals. Listeners, you really have to have both books, I'm just saying. But this is the most recent collaboration. We are going to talk all about the integrated literacy framework that you offer. It is brilliant. Um, the different ideas for scaffolding, again, but the input-output loop. I cannot wait to jump into the conversation. Um, let's start with just pointing out, you integrate the four language domains seamlessly: [00:02:00] listening, speaking, reading, writing. Beth, why does that integration matter?

Beth: Because language is not separate skills or separate domains. We do all of them together, and I can't talk about something that I don't know about. How do I learn about it? I've either heard it or I've read it. I've experienced it somehow. So the speaking that I do is not separate from what I've read or heard. The reading, I need background knowledge that I may have heard about or experienced, right? When I write, I have to write about something that I know about, that I've talked about, that I've read about, that I've heard about. 

So all of the domains work seamlessly together, and I have a story of, um, trying to teach them separately and the big fail. This is now well over 30 years ago. I taught at a [00:03:00] university for students who were experienced multilinguals who were just below the cutoff for being admitted with their English Language Development. And so the university decided that they would teach courses for those students who are almost ready to be admitted, and they created an intensive English program at the university, and they had a reading course, they had a writing course, they had a speaking/listening course.

And I did not know how to teach each of those courses separately without somehow connecting them. And they're like, "No, but this is how we teach it because this is how it's gonna be tested. They're gonna be tested on their reading skills. They'll be tested on their writing skills." I said, "But I, I, I can't not have them talk about what they're reading, and I can't have them write about something that we haven't read about." Like, I just couldn't get my head around it. So, um, without permission, I integrated the, the four courses that I had as separate courses. [00:04:00] I integrated them. The other teachers had completely separate books or workbooks or curricula for the four. And then I just did my own little experiment, like which students that had me for those four versus the others that were separate.

And the scores were significantly better from the ones that had an integrated approach because that's how language works. So that was years ago, and it was just my own private, like I have to integrate 'cause I can't imagine doing it as separate courses. Um, so that is a piece of what we put together in the book.

Olivia: It's, it's so brilliantly done, and it also speaks to, going back to part one, the idea of content classrooms, the criticality of making sure that students have time to read, to write, to talk, and not just have direct lecture for 40-minute periods. They need that interwoven [00:05:00] idea of the language domains as well for those content classes.

Tan: Could I add something from- 

Olivia: Of course ... 

Tan: From my, when I, when I first started teaching, the same thing, I would separate them, and I would do, like, a vocabulary thing. And then I would do, like, um, a writing, like a l- a reading thing. And then by the end of the unit, oh my goodness, we have to assess their writing. And then I would cram writing in. And at the e- and it was like, we-- it was so separate that the kids would say, like, "I don't know why I'm writing this that's connected to that." And we would just do separate activities, like separate worksheets. And it's, and I, and then my metaphor for integration is that, um, I, I play badminton. It's like the really fast version o-of pickleball for everyone who loves pickleball.

Um, and we have, like, really cute outfits, by the way. Um, and you-- when I'm coaching my students, I can't just tell them, "You're gonna have to hold the racket this way," or like, "Let's just focus on just holding." No, it's like holding the racket, [00:06:00] timing the racket, timing the swing, but then moving your body to a certain place, but then moving your leg to, like...I can't break it down like that because then, like, there's n- when, when, when kids try to put it together, they look like a hot mess. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Tan: And then I get all angry. So then I have to, like, now when I coach badminton, it's actually all integrated. It's like, what, what part of your body moves first that moves the next part of your body, that moves the next part of your body? And so I-- and, and that's what I do with, with, uh, in my class. Everything is like, let's first talk about, let's just read the text first to get the content. Then let's get you to talk about the text with me, with each other. Let's practice writing that. Let's practice reading what we read, and then let's co-write it together in pairs. And so it's all integrated. There's no like, "Well, it's the end of 80 minutes. Um, we'll do the writing next week." 

Olivia: Yeah. No, it- 

Tan: Let's do writing right now. 

Olivia: Yeah. [00:07:00] Yeah. And it, it also, it offers them that connective thread. And so they do see-- Because instruction learning has to be worthy of our students' time. And so then it does push teachers to ensure that they understand that thread that's connecting all of those language domains for their students before they're teaching that work to their students, so, um, or delivering that instruction. 

Tan, there's a quote in the book, um, above a gorgeous graphic around unit planning, and I wanna read this quote directly. "Teaching language skills without content is like having tools but no seeds to plant." And that made me think a lot about really what you were just saying. It's critical. It's so important for our children to have that content and background knowledge, um, without all of these strategies and skills to just throw at the wind. It, it offers a stickiness. Um, and [00:08:00] the other section in the book that I want you to just take a moment and speak to is what is the input-output loop strategy that you highlight in the book? 

Tan: The input-output loop, um, I'm gonna bow first to, um, Nancy Motley, who wrote, uh, Talk. We Talk. Write.

And she basically sequenced integration. Let's talk about what we-- Let's talk about it, and then let's write about-- let's read about it. Let's talk a- about what we've read, and let's write about it. And so I was like, "Oh, why, why, why don't we do Talk. We Talk. Write." in like mini segments in the class? And it's because what we, we would do is we would notice when school administrators or teachers ask like, "What is one thing I could do to just increase effective instruction for MLs, and you give me, you, you're asked to give me just one strategy.

And I said, "Okay, one strategy is limit, [00:09:00] uh, prompt kids. Prompt kids as you're asking something, so that when you give content, you stop and you prompt them to give you an output." For-- And so that's, that's like talking, the teacher's talking not for 20 minutes, not for 80 minutes, and then like going, "Okay, here, do an activity." It's like, "I'm gonna give you a minute of content, and I'm gonna ex- give you a prompt that expects you to give me content back." 

Olivia: Hmm. 

Tan: And one, I'm gonna, I'm gonna move teachers in right now to a grade seven science class. And this happened like, uh, we were-- we just finished, um, the geography unit, and we were learning about plate tectonics, right? And so there are three types of plate boundaries. There are divergent, transform, and convergent. And the teacher sort of like went through that very quickly, and there were lovely images and the diagrams, but then we would go again throughout the day, like throughout the w- units, and students-- teachers would ask like the, the plate boundary, uh, like the divergent [00:10:00] plate boundary to transform plate boundary.

Instead of like expecting students to know what they i- that, that, what they are, I would have hoped the teacher would have said, "Okay, let's look at this picture of this boundary. When they are moving away, uh, c- sh- um, it's called divergent. Can you show me with your hands what do the ba- plate boundaries do if they are moving away?" And then the t- all the students have to do is just take their hands and then separate. Like, great. And let's move to then transform. Divergent, if divergent is separate, can you show me transform? We learned that they slide together. Show me with your hands what that looks like. And then so, so the students just go like this.

And that's a very quick input/output as an example to say, "Okay, you know what transform is, you know what divergent is. Let's move to the next." So that by the time they get to the third, uh, um, plate boundary, they're not lost. And that's what I learned about content, is that content it-- like when you learn [00:11:00] fact number three, it's actually dependent upon fact number two and fact number one. If you don't get fact one, you cannot build to fact two. And if you can't, can't build to fact two, you can't actually build to fact three. And that's why we have to get, uh, content teachers have to say, "I'm gonna give you one fact. I'm gonna stop, and I'm gonna ask you to give me some output." Immediately s- to see if I should reteach that, if I should celebrate that, if I should add another example. 

It's, it's what, um, Dr. Hattie, I know you had him on your podcast. He said one of the top factors, one of the most effective factors that move instruction is feedback. And just asking, taking one question and, and instead of moving it to comprehension questions at the end of the, of the lesson, turn to and complete, complete these questions about plate tectonics. We say, "There are three plate tectonics. Show me your hand when I say divergent." And [00:12:00] I quickly, I can see that, and I know they get it, and I can move to talking about the effect of plate boundaries. 

Olivia: Mm-hmm. It also, it really holds high expectations for students. Uh, teachers have to be so clear on what the learning outcome is that they want all students to leave that lesson or that concept with, in addition to then the scaffolding that you just shared, that one leading to two, two leading to three, uh, and th- also the scientific language to be woven in. Beth, what did you wanna add? 

Beth: So the input-output loop from what Tan just described, that's one purpose for it, and that is to process the content. Do you comprehend the comp- content? So let me give you a tiny chunk of new information. You process that content. And that might be in your home language, it might be with gestures, it might be a drawing, um, some way for the students to say, "Did I comprehend it?"

The second reason for the input-output loop is I think what Tan [00:13:00] is going to describe in a moment, and that is to process the language. So I also need a chance to just get my mouth around divergent or to use divergent, um, plates, uh, in, in a full sentence. And so that's the second reason to loop, and it's like, let me give you more input and now try to output that.

Use your language. And that's how we explicitly build the academic language that students need by giving them opportunities to output either in speaking or writing regularly. So that input-output loop is if, like Tan said, could you get more processing time? I would say, can we shorten the loop? Rather than input, input, input, input, input, input, input, and then a little bit of output, I would like a little input, a little output, a little input, a little output. Like that, if I could shorten that loop to multiple loops throughout the class period, that would be a win. 

Olivia: Beth, before-- Tan, before you jump in to, um, offer an example of [00:14:00] that, uh, if you're not watching the, this episode, if you're only listening, I wish you could have just seen Beth's finger going back and forth in this gorgeous infinity symbol, figure eight, because it really is. It's not a circular loop. It's that infinity symbol of input, output, input, output. Um, and I can close my eyes and picture that. So Tan, can you then illuminate the example that Beth was just offering as a cla- in a classroom? 

Tan: Yeah. So she talked about, okay, now that you know what, uh, divergent, transform, and convergent boundaries are, I want you to compare and contrast them, or contrast them really, because they're all different. And look at that language. Contrast means to show differences. I-- We, we want-- We-- To get students to write like geologists, we have to have certain structures of when they say... 'Cause, because, um, geological features are, there are differences in geological features, so we use contrast. And when you use contrast, you [00:15:00] have to use words that show differences.

So for example, we might say while. While shows contrast right away. It, it also can mean time. It's one of those words that can mean two things, but while can show ch- contrast. So, uh, while the divergent boundaries, wh- while, um, plates in a divergent boundaries separate, in a convergent, uh, plate boundary, they collide together. And so we want that kind of language instead of students saying this: "Okay, go and tell me, uh, uh, compare, contrast, comp- contrast the differences between the boundaries." A, a student would say, um, "Divergent boundaries is when the boundaries separate," full stop. "Convergent boundaries is when the plates collide." Technically correct- 

Olivia: Yeah ... 

Tan: But not, but academically, the register is not, um, as high or as com- um, I [00:16:00] wouldn't say complex. It's the, the academic language is supposed to be concise. So we don't need two simple sentences. We need just a complex sentence that shows contrast and get to the point and move and done. And that's what we want our students to not just, uh, learn content, but use language to express their understanding of the content. So when I- when the teacher says, "Contrast the plate boundaries," they know I can use the word while to con- to express that these two boundaries are different.

Olivia: It also gives such a glimpse into the meaning behind transitional phrases and the purpose behind them. Um, and so I'm just, a- again, I'm thinking of all the layers of instruction. There is a high expectation in everything you're saying for students that you will live like scientists. You will live like historians. You will live like mathematicians [00:17:00] in this work. And that is serving them far beyond their years in Pre-K to 12 schooling. And that's why I am just obsessed with the way you two approach not just instruction for experienced multilinguals, but I think what you write about is good for all children, Beth, as we talked about.

Um, I want to just talk about the equity argument that the book also illuminates beautifully. This really gives a nod to the systemic underserving that many experienced multilinguals, uh, e- experience in s- the school system. What does it cost us as a society when this group of children are not exposed to the language so that they can fully participate, Beth?

Beth: Ugh. I'm gonna start the answer to this with a, a story that, um, just came to me this last week. I was at a conference that had nothing to do with education, [00:18:00] and I was interacting, um, with a woman who runs a medical practice. And she is a lawyer, and she is extremely advanced in her field. And I was sharing what I do and my background, and she had this light bulb moment. She said, "I think I understand why my office manager, I, I can't promote her." She said, "She is amazingly socially gifted. She's, you know, uh, she is so good with the clients, she's so good with her team, but I need her to do more. And when I see what she writes for me, um, it's not at all what I expect." And so the woman that was talking to me and about what I do and how I support language learners, she said, "English is not this woman's first language, but she's lived in the US since she was in second grade, and, and she's so accomplished, and she's so good with people.

I, I want to give her more responsibility, but when I see the [00:19:00] documents that she produces, I, I ca- I can't use them." And she said, "I'm wondering if it's possibly a language issue." And I said, "Maybe. Have you given her a mentor text? Have you shown her what it looks like about what you expect for a workflow?" I don't know what a workflow looks like, but, you know, "Have you given her an annotated mentor text? Have you shown her?" And she's like, "No, I just thought she should know." And it's that same thing. So here we have a language learner who is in a profession and in a career in the medical field who may be held back simply because they haven't been explicitly taught what's expected. And because the social language and her oral skills are so advanced, she's made it very, very far, but is now being held back and capped.

And I-- my wonder is how much is that happening for students in the, in the school system and then later in their careers because there are assumptions [00:20:00] made that you've lived here since you were five, you've been in this country since whatever age, you've gone through our system, you've graduated or you've gotten through this class, you should know. You should know. What do our assumptions about what kids should know limit what they could do if only we were explicit about what we expect and how to do it, if we just taught them rather than assume that they should know? So I think that story brought tears to my eyes, and I was like, "I think that she's capable. We just have to be explicit." And that's for all of the kids, and I'm wondering how our lack of explicit instruction is really what's holding them back. 

Olivia: I love that you offered her the tool or the strategy of a mentor text. That could serve a lot of adults in all different professions right now. If you are in a profession where you think it would benefit, study these texts, look at the [00:21:00] scientific texts that are out there. They have to be read a very specific way. Scientific writing that you're talking about has to be written in a very concise way. Um- 

Tan: But notice what Beth said. It-- she wa- she went, and, like, this, this is the evidence of why she's such a wonderful, um, educator. She just didn't say mentor text. She said annotated mentor text.

Olivia: Ah. 

Tan: Beth, you wanna talk about what an annotated mentor text is instead? 

Olivia: Point taken. 

Beth: Well, it's easy for me because I don't know what a workflow looks like. And so she said that the person couldn't create a workflow the way that I wanted it. And, and I said, "Well, if you were telling me, 'I don't know at all a workflow,' what would you-- how would you show me?" And she's like, "Well, I'd give you one of my workflows." I'm like, "Yeah, and then I'd want you to highlight, here's the title, this is what comes next, here's the next slide, this is the steps. I want you to number the steps one, two, three, four. I want y-" You know? Like, I don't know. You have to h- actually label on that. Don't just give it to me, but then [00:22:00] tell me what each part is so that I can transfer it to my own workflow. 

Olivia: Yeah. Oh, Tan, I'm so glad you brought us back to that. Uh, that's critical. And for people to understand, annotating isn't just highlighting and underlining. It is the labeling, Beth. It is the unzipping of that person's brain expertise to say, "Oh, this is the title, and this is why it's a strong title. This is the flow." Th- that's so interesting. Tan, the book also, you do a beautiful job highlighting different instructional routines. So some of the routines, the structured quick write, the sentence deconstruction and reconstruction, the co-editing, the co-revision. I'm going to ask you, I'm sure this will be a challenge. Pick one of those routines and then paint a picture for us of what that looks and feels like in a classroom. 

Tan: Oh, if I had-- If those were my kids, I'd just have the first one. The first one's my favorite, which is structured quick write. And a structured quick write is, like, the integration of reading, writing, speaking, listening.[00:23:00] After we read a segment of text, and a segment of text is, like, a few paragraphs, depending on the kids, maybe a page. Not pages, a small section. Just manageable content. Right? Or maybe if we-- L- let's go to the, the science example, like the plate boundaries. We shared two plate boundaries, just two. Um, then I would create a prompt, and the prompt always starts with a v- a thinking verb, and I'm gonna say contrast.

Contrast means different. So I'll say, "Contrast, um, what happens at a divergent plate boundary com- uh, compare, uh, c- to a convergent." Divergent compared to a divergent. Use the comma, uh, use the comma-but structure in the middle of your sentence, right? Or noun-verb-detail, comma, noun, uh, but, noun-verb-detail. That's a structure. Um, so I'm gonna model for you. I'm gonna-- And I'm gonna give, uh, the-- I'm, I'm gonna pre-write two guiding questions. The [00:24:00] first question is, and Olivia, can you help me answer? Um, what does-- What happens at a divergent plate boundary? 

Olivia: They move apart. 

Tan: Yes. Done. Now the second guiding question: What happens in a convergent plate boundary?

Olivia: They move together. 

Tan: Yes. Now can you put the sentences to- those content sentences together with a comma-but? Can you combine them? Go ahead. 

Olivia: (In) a convergent boundary, the layers go together, move together. But a divergent boundary, the layers move away from each other. 

Tan: Perfect. You just created an academic sentence where you compa- you combined two facts and you met the contrast. You just provided the content, but then you wrote it in an academic way that uses comma-but, and that is a structured quick write. It processes the content, but because we identified a very specific sentence structure, kids now actually have to force themselves to [00:25:00] think, "If the teacher wants me to use a comma-but, I have to show differences." So it's not just give me an answer, it's give me an answer within this, these confines. And the confines are the sente- is the sentence structure. 

Olivia: What a perfect springboard too then for the teacher to also get to the why behind those different scientific concepts happen. Because once they understand the contrast, the difference between, then they can get to that why as well. Oh, that's so exciting. Um, I want to end part two with a story, a moment where each of you have seen the, the clicking, uh, the, the confidence, um, the participation in the conversation with a student. So Beth, start us off. Share a moment. 

Beth: Probably came [00:26:00] from an interview with an experienced multilingual and asking them about their favorite classes. And the answer was that moment where the student said, "I love math." And when I asked why, and they said, "Because the teacher shows exactly what to do and how to explain what I did." And that teacher being so explicit in not just the process, but also how to explain it. And I-- uh, you could see the light bulb, and this student wants to go on and do more math because they get it. 

Olivia: That's beautiful. Tan, how about you? 

Tan: So I'll slightly switch the-- Instead of a student, I'll do it with colleagues because I collaborate with colleagues a lot, and then I see the impact of their work. So my colleagues are a social studies teacher in, in the IB world. They're called, uh, indi-- uh, INS, Individuals and Societies. And the first part of their project [00:27:00] is to-- for students to write, um, a research question. And I said, "Okay, wait, how do you want..." And they're like, "This is unit four. We're not gonna give them a, a, frames anymore. Like, to what extent, add this, uh, impact, add that. No. We're-- We just want them to write." And I said, "Well, some kids are not gonna be totally ready for that.

So can you give me the sentence structure you want them to use?" And they said, "Okay. Well, to what extent?" And then they said, "Or they can add how." Great. What's the next part of the sentence structure? Uh, the research question. They have to say, uh, "To what extent did," add your cultural element. I said, "What are the cultural elements?" They're like, "Oh, there's 12." I'm like, "Let's list them all." So we put them in there, and then the teachers-- And I said, "What's next?" And the teacher said, "Oh, uh, to what extent does this cultural element, um, in..." And I said, "What's next in?" "The country." Oh, so add [00:28:00] country. And the last part was time period. And then I said, "What do you want them to do during time period?" Oh, time period means there's a start date and an end date. And they-- I added all those. 

These, these are called embedded, uh, scaffolds. So we gave the embedded scaffold. Initially, it was just write a research question, and then now we have all these things. To what extent or how, add the cultural element, add a, add a country, add a specific timeframe, which means start date and end date. We gave it to all students, and then the week, week after, I'm sitting with-- Like, I'm circled around with students who are learning support, EAL, non-anything. I'm just working with them because I want them to work with me because I know they need a little more attention. And I'm watching-- I had the documents open up on my laptop, multiple tabs, and I'm noticing all these kids writing.

Some writing with to, to what extent, some writing with how. Then there are some kids picking food, [00:29:00] some kids picking music, some kids picking agricul-- uh, architecture and art. And I'm getting chills. I'm like, and I'm just silent The students are able to do this without me guiding them. They're reading the instructions at the end of this. All their sentences needed s- a little bit of tweaking, but they were able to do it. And that's the story I wanna leave teachers with, that when we plan backwards, uh, to make language, our expect language expectations of them explicit, they are capable. 

Olivia: Yeah. They sure are. And we have to hold and maintain high expectations, and then scaffold as necessary. I will also, again, drive listeners back not just to part one, but to our other original episode that we recorded, because you both illuminate what scaffolding is, what it is not. And you've said something v- a year ago that has [00:30:00] stuck with me, that scaffolding is much easier to put up than to take away. So we have to be so thoughtful what we offer students, and that it is not a one-size-fits-all. There's choice involved. And Tan, the example you just offered, there was copious amounts of choice that students got to pick and, and really create an identity for themselves with w- how they chose to get the word on the paper. Both of you, uh, the work you're doing, not just for experienced multilinguals, but for children in general, for your colleagues, Tan, um, and, uh, just nurturing expertise and collaboration. I am so lucky to know both of you, and, um, I'm grateful that you took the time to have this conversation. Thank you. 

Tan: We're als- again, so honored to have you, um, sh- lovingly read the book and, like, bring out the highlights, and we're so excited for your book, Olivia. 

Olivia: That is a wrap on part two of my [00:31:00] conversation with Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton. I wanted to leave you with three of my key takeaways. First, language and identity are inseparable. The shift from long-term English learner to experienced multilingual isn't semantic. It's a philosophical reframe from deficit to asset. What we call students shapes what we believe they can do. 

Second, integration isn't optional. It's how language actually works. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing cannot be siloed. The input-output loop, give a little, get a little back, and repeat, mirrors how the brain builds both content understanding and academic language simultaneously. And third, explicit instruction is an equity issue. When we assume students should know academic language structures simply because they've been in our schools for years, we are capping their potential. [00:32:00] An annotated mentor text, a sentence frame, a structured quick write are scaffolds that some of our students need in order to thrive. 

And listeners, coming up on Schoolutions next week, I am sitting down with literacy expert Dr. Kay Stahl to unpack something so many students carry quietly, that voice inside their head telling them, "I'm not a reader." We're talking about what that statement actually signals, why diagnostic assessment matters so much more than a standardized test score, and how families can build confident readers this summer. You'll have to join our conversation next week. 

Schoolutions podcast is created, produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son, Benjamin, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts, or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Thank you to my [00:33:00] guests, Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh, for reminding us that experienced multilinguals are not struggling learners. They're students who have been waiting for explicit asset-based language instruction that honors what they already know and teaches them the academic language they deserve.

Reach out to me at oliviawahl.com to book a coaching session. I would love to be a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in. Tune in every Monday and Friday for part one and two of my guest conversations with the best evidence-based, classroom-ready strategies that you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. And your 60-second bite-sized piece of learning from our conversation will be waiting for you on Wednesdays to share. Take care, and thank you for forever getting better with me. See you next [00:34:00] week