Help me give my students a greater way to access literacy. While we know that speaking additional languages has benefits, it is important that children themselves buy into this knowledge. Bilingual books open the door to conversation.
I work with a diverse population of English Language Learners (ELL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) students are students who first learned to speak, read and/or write a language(s) other than English. ESL students may have recently (im)migrated to the US or may have been born in the US and live in homes in which the primary language is not English.
I work with over 80 students in grades 3-5 in an inner city school of 850 students of various nationalities.
Generally, most of our students were born in the United States and can speak English fluently, however in the last two years, I have had an influx of students that don't speak any English from Latin American countries and Vietname.
My Project
While we know that speaking additional languages has benefits, it is important that children themselves buy into this knowledge. Bilingual books open the door to conversations about the pragmatic advantages of all languages. As well as increase student involvement in idependendent reading activities and promote a positive learning environment. These books will also increase student confidence as they learn the English language.
Bilingual books are wonderful tools to help create a bridge between languages.
They give teachers the opportunity to educate children in the school language, while at the same time they foster an appreciation for the home language. Bilingual books encourage parents to continue using their home language, knowing that it will benefit, not detract from, their children’s school language learning.
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