6E) Separate language and literacy activities in each language
Provide separate (and complementary) oral language and literacy opportunities and materials in each language to allow children to become immersed in each language
Strategy Overview: How to Use Picture Books (with math)
This resource offers guidance on how to use picture books to develop not only language, but mathematical content learning for Multilingual Learners. It includes prompts for before, during and after reading, along with booklists for five different areas of math.Read More
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
Booklist: libros en español—”espejos y ventanas”
For students to feel affirmed and visible at school, it is critical that their identities and experiences be reflected in the stories read in the classroom. This includes the language in which it is written. The books in this bibliography provide “mirrors” and “windows” into the myriad of identities for which we hold space. Through these books, listed in alphabetical order by title, students will have opportunities to see themselves and others and educators will have opportunities for rich discussion, follow-up lessons and exploration.Read More
Booklist: Spanish Literature for P1-3rd grade
This is a booklist of Spanish-language texts for 1-3rd grade.Read More
Booklist: Spanish Literature for PK-1st Grade
This is a booklist of Spanish-language texts for PK-1st grade.Read More
Video: Cross Language Connections
This video shows a variety of language-transfer lessons to help Multilingual Learners develop meta-linguistic awareness and compare and contrast their two (or more) languages.Read More
Planning Template: El Dictado
The Dictado is a routine in which the teacher dictates a series of phrases or sentences, and the teacher and students collaboratively correct them. The Dictado serves to teach and reinforce basic writing skills within each language, and to highlight cross-language transfer. This template helps teachers analyze their Dictados.Read More
Video: El Dictado
In this video, the teacher dictates a series of phrases or sentences, and the teacher and students collaboratively correct them. The Dictado serves to teach and reinforce basic writing skills within each language, and to highlight cross-language transfer and reinforce the teaching points presented over the three days of implementation.Read More
Resource Guide: A Deeper Look at Early Literacy
This interactive guide offers a comprehensive approach to literacy for Multilingual Learners. It is an overview of the language and literacy skills and instruction that children need at different stages of development. Common literacy terms are defined, instructional strategies are offered, and a picture of instruction, aligned across the grades is explained.Read More
Video: Sharing at the Easel—Transference
This clip is an example of a teacher listening to a child narrate what she has drawn, and carefully labeling it with the child's exact words. The teacher acknowledges responses given in both English and Spanish.Read More
Early Childhood Examples and Definitions for Multilingual Learners
This document illustrates how to integrate concrete representations, realia, and objects from home to support oral language and vocabulary.Read More
Blog Series: Beginning with Biliteracy-A Kindergarten Story
This series includes 10 blog posts that share information from a bilingual Kindergarten classroom perspective. Some posts are written in English and some in Spanish. They cover topics such as setting up a biliteracy classroom environment, making language connections and bridges for young learners, and instructional strategies for biliteracy.Read More
Stragegy Overview: El dictado
"El dictado" is a strategy that a teacher can use in Spanish or English to model and structure language practice for students in spelling, grammar, and fluency. This overview includes an example sequence for instruction, a rubric for assessment, and tips for differentiating the activity.Read More
Website: SALSA Spanish Language Series
This is a collection of 30 episodes of puppet-based Spanish language programming for children. Each episode is roughly 20 minutes long and comes with supporting materials and vocabulary lists.Read More
Blog: Dictado with Dr. Mónica Lara & John Seidlitz
This blog post introduces the Dictado strategy and shares tips and pitfalls for teachers who hope to implement this strategy with Multilingual Learners.Read More
Webinar: Promoting Oracy in Spanish Language / El desarollo de la oralidad en español (Spanish)
This webinar given in Spanish focuses on developing oracy for Multilingual Learners. The research-based considerations for lesson design and example activities are introduced to support the development of oral expression, fluency, and comprehension during instruction.Read More
Webinar: Teaching Practices and Translanguaging Pedagogy
Educators at a newly formed 50-50 Spanish-English bilingual program in New York discuss their program design. They discuss how they systematically implement bilingual curriculum, use thematic units, and purposefully employ translanguaging techniques to integrate content and language instruction. Researcher Ofelia Garcia offers a reflection on translanguaging pedagogy at the end of the webinar.Read More
Strategy Overview: Translanguaging
This resource offers guidelines on the various ways teachers can implement translanguaging in the classroom.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
Video: Model Curriculum for English Learners—Justice, Courage and Fairness (2nd grade)
In this video, a designated teacher for Multilingual Learners talks through her objectives for a fairness and justice lesson. The bridge lesson incorporates opportunities for Multilingual Learners to share their thinking and practice oral language in English. The content matches up to prior learning they have done in Spanish.Read More
Tip Sheet: How to Use Bilingual Books
This resource explains how to use a variety of bilingual books to support Multilingual Learners’ language and literacy development. This tip sheet also includes a list of books with side-by-side translations, books that include a second language throughout the book, and books available in multiple languages.Read More
Website: Teacher Interactions and Strategies to Support Reading for Dual Language Learners
This resource provides many strategies that teachers can use to support Multilingual Learners’ reading and literacy skills.Read More
Video: Transfer and Integrated ELD in a Bilingual Classroom
The teacher in this bilingual classroom makes an intentional plan to develop literacy and oral language skills in two languages. She begins content instruction in Spanish to strengthen Multilingual Learners' understanding of key concepts, and then purposefully transitions to an integrated ELD block to offer speaking and writing practice in English.Read More
Strategy Overview: Testimonios
Testimonio, a Spanish term for "witness account," is a storytelling pedagogy that emerged from Latin American culture and narrative research methodology. Used in the classroom, testimonios can be written, oral, and/or visual representations of Multilingual Learners' experiences that support home language development and engage families in children's learning.Read More
Strategy Overview: Sentence Patterning Chart / La tabla de formación de oraciones
This resource introduces a strategy to model and write good descriptive sentences with Multilingual Learners. It combines language-based supports with opportunities for children to practice academic vocabulary and apply it to structured, content-based writing.Read More
Strategy Overview: The Dictado
The Dictado is a routine in which the teacher dictates a series of phrases or sentences, and the teacher and students collaboratively correct them. The Dictado serves to teach and reinforce basic writing skills within each language, and to highlight cross-language transfer.Read More
Strategy Overview: Bridging School to Family Assignments
This resource offers examples of projects and activities that provide families with opportunities to connect school-based content with learning at home. Examples demonstrate how teachers can also invite home language into the classroom.Read More
Video: Bilingual Provider Preview and Review
In this video, a teacher explains how to preview books in children’s home languages. The teacher introduces and explains new vocabulary words and reads a text in the child's home language before reading the text in English. The teacher also uses the home language to preview concepts to activate and build background knowledge.Read More
Video: Monolingual Provider Preview and Review
In this video, a teacher explains how monolingual English-speaking teachers can support Multilingual Learners. The teacher previews books with children, uses props and tangible materials, and provides parents and other speakers of the home language with books and materials for them to use with children.Read More
