189. From Theory to Practice: Kelly Reider on Making Language Visible in Every Classroom

In this episode of the Equipping ELLs Podcast, host Beth Vaucher is joined by renowned educator and language planning expert Kelly Reider for a deep dive into the world of functional language planning—a critical but often misunderstood approach to supporting multilingual learners in today’s classrooms.

With over 30 years of experience in education, Kelly shares how her journey from classroom teacher to district coordinator and national facilitator helped her shape a better way of aligning language development with content instruction. Together, Beth and Kelly explore the challenges educators face when planning for diverse learners, especially when co-teaching or pushing into content-area classrooms with limited prep time.

Kelly breaks down the five core principles of functional language planning, rooted in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), offering a practical, research-based alternative to traditional grammar-focused approaches. She emphasizes a context-driven, flexible planning model that helps teachers support student communication and academic achievement, regardless of curriculum changes or language levels.

Listeners will learn how functional language planning:

• Prioritizes real-time, context-based language needs
• Shifts from "what to teach" to "what students need to do with language"
• Incorporates grammar as a tool for meaning-making, not an isolated objective
• Empowers teachers to model, scaffold, and practice target language structures with students
• Simplifies planning through backwards design and alignment tools

Beth and Kelly also discuss the importance of student talk time, explicit modeling, and peer-to-peer interaction as foundational strategies that help students internalize and apply academic language in meaningful ways.

This episode isn’t just theory—it’s full of actionable insights. Whether you're a general education teacher, ESL specialist, or instructional coach, you’ll walk away with a renewed sense of what’s possible when we make language visible, intentional, and functional for multilingual learners.

🎓 Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.englishlearnerportal.com
• @EngLrnPortal on X
• @englishlearnerportal on Instagram
• https://www.facebook.com/englishlearnerportal
• https://www.youtube.com/@englishlearnerportal235
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-reider-7595a747/

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