7D) Children as language experts
Invite children to be experts and share their home language.
Video: Home Language as Foundation for English-Language Development
This video promotes the importance of supporting the child's home language along with learning English. Both languages should receive supports through intentional instruction, specific language interactions, and a culturally sensitive engagement with children and their families.Read More
Strategy Overview: Transfer as a Means of Leveraging Linguistic Genius
This is an overview of the concept of transfer for teachers, and explains how bilingual brains make use of both languages. Three types of transfer are introduced and the idea of how to leverage transfer in the classroom is explained.Read More
Video: Home Language
This video showcases different vignettes of families who have made an intentional decision to raise their children with with a home language different than English.Read More
Video: Brand New Words—Teacher Competencies
This is a video clip of three Multilingual Learners helping their teacher speak Chinese.Read More
Video: Soyul & Teacher Yvette—Beginning a New Language
This video is a series of excerpts from the first months of preschool for Soyul, a Korean-speaking Multilingual Learner. The video showcases instructional moves that the teacher, Yvette, makes to teach English language development during Soyul's initial silent period.Read More
Video: Dr. Linda Espinosa—A Commentary on Brand New Words
In this video, Dr. Linda Espinosa reminds teachers that when Multilingual Learners are acquiring new languages, they also must learn how to make new sounds. Video clips show a bilingual teacher working on this phonological awareness with children, and allowing them to share the expertise of their home language.Read More
Video: The Stages of Preschool Second Language Acquisition
In this video, the term the four stages of second language development for early education are described and then exemplified through teaching vignettes between one teacher and one Korean-speaking Multilingual Learner.Read More
Video & Video Guide: Adventures in Preschool Second Language Acquisition
This video showcases the relationship between one teacher and one Korean-speaking Multilingual Learner and her family. The video includes vignettes of teaching, interviews with the teacher, the family, and administrators, and many rich examples of English development teaching strategies. The accompanying guide suggests moments in the video to pause to notice teachers’ practice, along with prompts for reflection and discussion.Read More
Blog Series: Teaching For Biliteracy as a Monolingual English Speaker
This series includes 25 blog posts that speak to what the monolingual teacher can do to support biliteracy in the classroom. Topics covered include specific strategies, advocacy, collaboration, and intentionally bridging languages to support the language and content transfer of Multilingual Learners.Read More
Article: The Bridge Between Languages
This article introduces the term "the bridge" as the purposeful work to connect, compare, contrast, and transition between languages in lessons and activities for Multilingual Learners. Examples and instructional tips are shared.Read More
Strategy Overview: Ensuring the Presence of Each Child’s Language
This resource provides a comprehensive list and explanation of the actions teachers can take to acknowledge, affirm, and support multiple languages in the classroom. Included are tips for engaging with families as "language experts" and capturing their linguistic knowledge on a planning template, and phrase cards with basic greetings in 10 common home languages.Read More
Blog: 6 Strategies to Elevate the Status of Bilingualism
This blog post offers practical ideas to highlight the benefits and strengths of bilingualism in a school community.Read More
Website Article: Adapting Morning Meeting Greeting for English Learners
Morning meetings are a common part of the instructional day. This article offers strategies on how to make Multilingual Learners feel welcome and included, along with activity ideas that draw on students' linguistic diversity.Read More
Website Article: The Home Language-An English Language Learner’s Most Valuable Resource
This article offers a review of research and policy that supports home language development, and covers numerous strategies that teachers can use to support home language use in the classroom.Read More
Educator Toolkit: My Name, My Identity- Creating an Inclusive and Respectful School Community
This digital book supports the socio-emotional learning of students by introducing example lesson plans that center on Multilingual Learners' identity. The resource includes videos, book lists, lesson plans, and many extension activities and further resources to help teachers build a healthy, asset-based community in the classroom.Read More
Blog: A Chat About English/Spanish Pedagogical Connections
This blog offers a quick review of pedagogical connections between English and Spanish. Teachers can make linguistic connections visible for Spanish-speaking Multilingual Learners, and set them up to draw on all of their language resources for learning that they are familiar with, particularly on the differences and similarities between the two language structures.Read More
Strategy Overview: Use of Multiple Languages in the Classroom
In a bilingual classroom, or even when teachers do not speak the home language(s) of Multilingual Learners, there are many things the teacher can do to invite home languages into the classroom. This overview suggests the steps teachers can take to draw on all of their students' linguistic resources during instruction.Read More
Blog: ELL Students’ Home Language is an Asset, Not a “Barrier”
In this blog, numerous teachers share their thinking on why home languages are an asset to acknowledge and celebrate in the classroom. Additional links and resources are available to help teachers know how to draw on students' knowledge in their home languages, and structure activities that support Multilingual Learners' language development.Read More
Video & Video Guide: Integrated Thematic Unit – 3rd Grade
This video provides a rich opportunity to look inside a classroom and note the intentional supports for English language and literacy development embedded in a thematic unit of study. The teacher implements a Daily 5 structure, which allows Multilingual Learners to learn both academic language and content across multiple modalities and learning activities. The accompanying guide suggests moments in the video to pause to notice teachers’ practice, along with prompts for reflection and discussion.Read More
Strategy Overview: Si Se Puede
Si Se Puede is a set of strategies to elevate Multilingual Learners' perception of the status of their home language, countering the messages learners often receive about English dominance.Read More
