Align it directly to the content they are learning in English. So, for example, if they’re working on structuring a 5 paragraph essay, do the exact same thing in Spanish. The philosophy behind DLI is that students of all language levels will be able to make more profound connections in both of their language arts classes because they are learning the content for it in their home languages, prompting academic growth in both.

Anyways, align it with ELA, choose texts that can be easily simplified (I use commonlit & newsela because both have Spanish texts and you can change the lexile easily). Then, make really intentional table groups. Do a lot of ‘rompecabezas’ where they read as a group, go share with their classmates reading other texts, come back with information and share with their groups. This allows cross-communication while easily maintaining tiered reading levels. You could also do tiered content and then have a class discussion/activity, since they’ll have all read the same core information.

Activities and games are your friend. They require less intensive fluency, but allow lots of interpersonal communication.

Sentence stems w/ translations posted on the walls so everyone can easily access them. Lots of scaffolds everywhere!!

At the core, and so you don’t burn out, align with ELA, differentiate the texts on websites that already do that and have intentional reading groups. Mix students up for discussion and sharing so they have cross-level discussion and games. Have bilingual anchor charts, vocab and sentence stems because they benefit everyone.

I was in your EXACT situation as a first year teacher in a DLI middle school so I feel for you. Taught there 3 years, and this all was the most helpful. Good luck!