On this page you will find a walkthrough of an artifact submitted for the “Implementing Instructional Strategies for English Learners” micro-credential. In this Spotlight, the author focused on building her students’ background knowledge on cultural experiences that may be particular to the US. Oftentimes reading activities and stories revolve around experiences that newcomers are yet to encounter, which can limit students’ opportunities to demonstrate their language skills. This activity consists of three components: 1) a “hanging hashtag” graphic organizer, 2) an associated story book, and 3) a “word wall” graphic organizer. The “hanging hashtags” help students gather their observations and generate descriptive captions that summarize the activity. Students are then presented with a story book that introduces them to new vocabulary words. New vocabulary words are then put on a “word wall” graphic organizer to help them write sentences on the unfamiliar subject. This approach targets students’ familiarity with new vocabulary and could be implemented with any subject matter that may be unfamiliar to them.