Saskatchewan: Teaching Math with Multilingual Learners

Quick answer: Hold the outcome steady and change the indicator. Saskatchewan Curriculum states outcomes as what a student must know or do by the end of the grade, with indicators showing the breadth and depth of acceptable evidence, and teachers may add their own. That single feature is the most useful tool a math teacher has when a student is still learning English.

What does an English-language learner actually need in Saskatchewan math?

The room is familiar in divisions across the province: a class where several students are working in a language they are still acquiring, alongside classmates who have been here since kindergarten, and one teacher covering the full grade outcome for all of them. Mathematics is rarely the barrier. Reading a three-clause word problem at speed, and writing an explanation under time pressure, usually is.

Begin with something concrete that needs no reading at all. Counters, a hundred chart, a number line drawn on the floor, a set of cards to sort: each of these lets a student show place-value thinking before a single sentence is required. Free Math Resource Pack – Number Sense for Grades 1–4 costs nothing and covers number sense for grades 1 through 4, which makes it a low-risk way to test whether a visual entry point changes what a particular child can show you.

Can I change what counts as evidence for an outcome?

Within the indicators, yes, and that is deliberate. The curriculum names indicators as illustrations of the depth expected, and teachers are permitted to add indicators of their own. An added indicator that lets a student demonstrate proportional reasoning through a labelled diagram, rather than a written justification, keeps the outcome fully intact while removing a language barrier that was never part of the mathematics.

Write those added indicators down before the unit rather than improvising them while marking. A short list in your planning document is what you will point to when a colleague, an administrator or a parent asks why two students in one class produced different-looking work for the same outcome. Material for this province, organized that way, is gathered on Saskatchewan Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12).

What goes wrong at reporting time?

Saskatchewan has no universal provincial graduation examination, and students earn the graduation certificate through a 24-credit requirement, so the grade on the report is a professional judgment made by you. That freedom cuts both ways. Where the only evidence collected is written, a strong mathematician who is still building English vocabulary will be recorded as weaker than they are, and that record follows them into course selection.

Senior classes need the same care, with rather more riding on it. Students heading toward calculus, in the schools that run advanced or AP sections, deserve practice that separates procedural fluency from wordy question stems, and AP Calculus Exam Prep Workbook | AP Calculus AB & BC Review is structured so the mathematical demand stays high while the reading load does not quietly climb along with it.

How do I keep this sustainable over a whole year?

Differentiating for language becomes unsustainable the moment it means maintaining a second set of resources. Building the supports into the shared task instead, through visual models, a small word list for each unit and consistent sheet layouts, means one preparation serves everybody and the routine carries from unit to unit without new work each week.

The heavier constraint is usually your own time rather than the material itself. Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates) takes the workload side seriously, with planning templates and organizational routines, which is what most teachers actually run short of by the middle of November. Colleagues comparing how other provinces frame the same expectations can find them organized province by province on Canadian Curriculum Navigator: Resources by Province.

Frequently asked questions

Does lowering the language load mean lowering the outcome?

No, provided the mathematical demand is untouched. Changing a written justification into a diagram plus a spoken explanation alters the form of the evidence, not the thinking behind it. The outcome stays exactly as the curriculum states it, and the indicator you added records how that student demonstrated it.

Are these resources connected to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education?

No. They are independent classroom materials, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ministry of Education, any school division, or any exam authority. Teachers map them onto the outcomes and indicators they are teaching, which is quick because the content is organized by mathematical topic rather than by provincial code.

How do I know whether a resource suits my class before buying?

Check the grade band and the preview, and start with a free item where one exists, as a way of seeing the layout and question style before committing anything. Because everything is a digital download rather than a shipped product, questions about an order are covered by the store's refund policy.

Related reading

• Saskatchewan Math: Planning a Unit to the Saskatchewan Curriculum
• Assessment and Reporting in Saskatchewan Math
• Saskatchewan Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12)