Vocabulary Foldable

A vocabulary foldable is an excellent strategy for learning and using academic vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. There are many ways to create a foldable. In this blog post, you will find one way, but remember that you could modify it or make yours any way you want or best for your students. Check out my video creating the foldable from the picture here. 

Benefits of Foldables: 

• They are Interactive and student-made. 

• They serve as a reference for class work and for studying.

• Let students explore and use academic language in different ways while creating and using the foldable.

• Promote comprehension of academic vocabulary by allowing students to make connections, think of examples, take notes, add drawings or pictures, and re-use the foldable to expand their learning of a topic. 

• Encourages the use of all language domains and student created language. 

• They can be used in any content area. 

Suggestions When Making this Foldable: 

• If your students are younger, it might be a good idea to give them the foldable so they would only need to add the information (sentences, words, phrases, labels and/or pictures depending on their age and level). Remember that if you follow the video directions from this post, you will make 2 foldables at a time.  

• Plan ahead the number of words you want your students to have on the foldable, so that you can give them all the materials and have enough paper for everyone's foldable.

• The words that might need more information or visuals written down inside should go on the bottom layers of the foldable since those will have more space available to add information than the layers at the top. If you can, make the foldable for you first and then make another one with your students, so that you think of pictures, and possible guiding questions to lead the discussion while creating the foldable. 

• Once your students have the foldable ready, add the information together. Try not to give your students all the information and just copy from you. Instead, have them think of the information with you. Ask them prompting questions to guide their thinking so they tell you what to write, like if doing shared or interactive writing. Depending on the English proficiency level and background knowledge of your students, they could fill out the foldable with a partner or a small group. 

• To add all language domains, students can use the foldable to work on an extension activity or create a project. Also, students can present their foldable to the group or class.

If you want to learn more about other types of foldables that are good to use with multilingual learners, click here.