Your Good Intentions Are Widening the Gap: What ENL Teachers Need to Hear

What does "stuck" actually look like in a classroom and whose job is it to fix it?

In this S5E39 Part 1 episode of Schoolutions, I sit down again with Beth Skelton and Tan Huynh to discuss their newest collaboration, Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals. They talk about why the phrase "long-term English learner" needs to go, and what "stuck" looks like in a classroom. This episode is a must-listen for any teacher looking to improve their English language instruction and support every student.

Beth shares a powerful classroom story about a ninth grader who could explain physics perfectly in social language but needed explicit support to reach academic language. Tan shares what it felt like to arrive in the U.S. as a five-year-old Vietnamese refugee and later be told his "creative" science writing wasn't science writing at all.

Some episode mentions👇
💫The Writing Revolution by Natalie Wexler and Judith Hochman
💫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)
💫The 2020 WIDA framework
💫The original WIDA "Can Do" philosophy
💫Ruslana Westerlund — contributor to the 2020 WIDA framework
Publications
💫Scientific American — mentioned as an example of science writing for non-scientists

🔑 Topics discussed:
➡️ Why "experienced multilingual" replaces deficit language around student engagement and student motivation
➡️ What stuck looks like and how it starts as early as 4th grade (classroom behavior vs. academic language)
➡️ Social language vs. academic language: the continuum and why it matters for active learning
➡️Why every content teacher is responsible for the language of their discipline and how that supports inclusive teaching
➡️Good-intentioned practices that actually increase the gap (a must-hear for instructional coaching and teacher support)
➡️ The equity argument for explicit instruction as the most generous form of culturally responsive teaching

More resources from Tan & Beth:

• Huynh, T. & Skelton, B. (2026).A Scaffolding Strategy to Help Experienced ELLs Express Complex Ideas. Edutopia
• Huynh, T., & Skelton, B. (2025).Sentence-Level Scaffolds That Foster English Learners' Independence and Growth. Edutopia
• Huynh, T., & Skelton, B. (2025).Adapting Gradual Release of Responsibility for English Language Learners. Edutopia
• Huynh, T., & Skelton, B. (2025).Using an Input-Output Loop to Help Newcomer Students Learn Class Content. Edutopia

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome & guest introductions
1:45 Research nugget: The Writing Revolution (Tan)
2:55 Research nugget: WIDA 2020 framework (Beth)
3:50 Why this book? Origin of Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals
5:40 Why "long-term English learner" needs to go (asset vs. deficit language)
7:50 What "stuck" looks like: the convex lens classroom story
11:00 Social language vs. academic language explained
13:00 Every content teacher IS a language teacher
14:40 Beth's husband's geology thesis (and why science writes in passive voice)
16:50 Tan's "sandwiched" rock layers story (two Englishes)
18:45 Lightning round: Q&A with Beth and Tan
22:00 Preview of Part 2 with the input-output loop & language domains

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