Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate how class teachers and Swedish L2 teachers perceive their work with recently arrived immigrant pupils in grades F to 3. Six teachers were interviewed about how they teach so that these pupils will achieve the target skills in Swedish as a second language in grade 3, and about their view of the integration of newly arrived pupils in the ordinary class and the preparatory class. In the study the teachers say that they lack shared guidelines for receiving newly arrived pupils and that the charting of the pupils is inadequate. The teachers prefer direct placement in the ordinary class because the pupils learn from others and improve in their zone of proximal development. The informants feel that they have sufficient training to teach newly arrived pupils and that working with them contributes to their professional development. The results of the study indicate that development-based teaching can benefit newly arrived pupils. The teachers say that they teach many words and concepts and use concrete material.