Using PBL to Support Young English Learners

Early years English language learners (ELLs) are embarking on an exciting journey—learning a new language while navigating the world around them. It’s a remarkable adventure as they develop communication skills and engage with academic concepts at the same time.

Project-based learning (PBL) offers an excellent way to support this process, providing opportunities for hands-on exploration, meaningful collaboration, and growth in both social and academic realms within a language-rich environment.

Embracing PBL in the Early Years

Project-based learning is a dynamic approach in early childhood education, and it’s most effective when tailored to young learners’ needs. For the youngest children, this means plenty of movement, play, and interaction, and the freedom to wonder and explore. Projects shine when they are flexible, connected to children’s everyday experiences, and open to their questions and ideas.

At the heart of PBL in the early years, it’s not about perfection—it’s about offering experiences that are joyful, curious, and full of opportunities for children to express themselves in many ways, both verbal and nonverbal.

Connecting Language and Content

For ELLs, every moment in the classroom is a chance to grow their language skills. That’s why it’s crucial for teachers to design projects that tie together academic content and communication in intentional, meaningful ways. Here are some strategies:

Choose meaningful, child-centered themes. Young children engage best when they are immersed in topics they already recognize and care about. Here are some great themes for early years PBL:

• Animals and their habitats
• Building and construction (using blocks, cardboard, or recycled materials)
• Water: ponds, rivers, rain, and oceans
• Community helpers: firefighters, sanitation workers, librarians, police officers, etc.
• Gardening and plant life cycles

These topics naturally encourage conversation, questions, and exploration, allowing children to dive deeper into big ideas through play and discovery.

Use questions that spark curiosity. Strong projects begin with questions that matter to children. These guiding questions help make learning purposeful and inquiry-driven. Here are a few examples:

• Science: “Why do weeds grow in our playground?”
• Engineering and math: “What do we need to build a greenhouse in our school garden?”
• Social studies: “How can we, the early years children, help the firefighters in our neighborhood?”

When questions feel exciting and relevant, children become active investigators, and language naturally flows from their curiosity.

Making Language Come Alive

ELLs thrive when they’re immersed in rich, meaningful communication. Here are some ways to naturally incorporate language-rich experiences into everyday classroom life:

Invite experts in. Bringing an expert—like a firefighter, gardener, or builder—into the classroom gets children excited. They ask questions, hear new vocabulary and lexis, and connect classroom learning to the real world in a meaningful way.

Use storytelling and dramatic play. Stories and role-playing provide children with a safe, creative space to practice new words and sentence structures. In a “Community Helpers” project, for example, they might take turns being doctors, teachers, or shopkeepers, using real phrases and expressions modeled by the teacher.

Sing and move together. Songs, chants, and dance routines help children remember vocabulary, polish pronunciation, and practice sentence structures in a fun, rhythmic way. Movement and music engage the whole body, making learning memorable and enjoyable.

Let them get their hands dirty. Planting seeds, pouring water, and building bridges—these tactile experiences offer a perfect opportunity for language learning. As children engage, teachers might model phrases like these:

• “The plant needs water.”
• “If we give it sunlight, it will grow.”
• “This flower is taller than that one.”

Scaffold language naturally. Scaffolding is about making participation possible, not necessarily simplifying it. For young ELLs, this means employing the following:

• Visuals and real objects: Use pictures, gestures, and tangible materials to clarify and help students remember new vocabulary.
• Multisensory learning: Let them see, touch, hear, and move—it all helps the language sink in.
• Modeling language in play: Join their play and offer gentle language models they can imitate and use.
• Simple sentence starters: Phrases like “I see...,” “I think...,” or “My favorite is…” can help boost confidence.
• Home language bridges: Allow children to share ideas in their home language as well—it supports understanding and builds their sense of identity.

Building Bridges Between Home and School

When families are involved, children feel more confident, supported, and connected. Strengthen these home-school relationships through the following:

• Suggesting home explorations: If the learners are learning about plants, invite families to go on a nature walk and photograph or draw plants they find—even a houseplant or grass in the park counts!
• Sharing resources in multiple languages: Offer vocabulary and activity suggestions in both English and the home language to reinforce learning.
• Inviting storytelling from families: Encourage parents to share a childhood memory, family tradition, or job related to the project.
• Offering simple, inclusive tasks: Ask children to observe water use at home—whether it’s washing hands, watering plants, or watching the rain. Families can send drawings, stories, or photos to share with the class.

Observing and Celebrating Growth

When assessing young ELLs, it’s important to focus on growth over time in a gentle, natural way. Consider using these:

• Anecdotal notes: Listen and record how children are using new words and participating in group activities. If you will be recording the learners in audio or video, it’s best to obtain written permission from families or caregivers when documenting children’s progress through anecdotes, especially when they include identifiable or personal information.
• Portfolios: Collect photos, drawings, and recordings to show how their language and thinking have evolved. Again, it would be advisable to ask parents or caregivers to sign a consent form at the beginning of the school year to allow you to gather and share work samples.
• Interactive retelling: Ask children to retell a story or explain a project using flash cards, puppets, or props.
• Role-play reflections: Observe how their language develops as they engage in pretend play.

Why It Matters

When we integrate language learning with play, inquiry, and exploration, we create classrooms where multilingual children feel safe, capable, and excited to learn. PBL helps young ELLs do the following:

• Learn English in authentic, joyful ways
• Build confidence as communicators
• Deepen their understanding of content through real-world experiences
• Strengthen the connection between home and school through inclusive projects

By valuing their voices, interests, and cultural identities, we create learning environments where all children can thrive—curious, confident, and proud to be learning in more than one language.