Reading to Become Bilingual Today, Changing the World Tomorrow!
My students need books in Spanish so they can build their Spanish skills. Research on second language acquisition shows that reading comprehensible texts is the most efficient way to become proficient in another language.
$292 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My students come from all over the city of Austin, with the same goals: attend and graduate from college, live a healthy and well-balanced life, and work toward solving global problems. They are so creative; they always go above and beyond my expectations with their projects. They make me laugh on a daily basis.
Many of my students have Spanish-speaking family members and/or friends that they yearn to be able to communicate with.
My classroom can be the starting point, or build on the knowledge they bring with them. I want to give them as much exposure to the language as I can, using words that they can understand, and expanding their vocabulary in context, little by little.
Students usually begin each class by reading independently. I was so thrilled when one of my Spanish 2 students who struggles with reading (even in English) wrote in her reading reflection how proud she was of herself for finishing a whole book in Spanish!
My Project
My students are readers. When I first started teaching at my school eight years ago, I always assumed that students were hiding cell phones in their laps when I saw them glancing down. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they were hiding BOOKS!
Not only do my students read voraciously in English, but they have learned to love reading in my class in Spanish, as well.
Last year I started each class by having them read independently, and then reflect on their reading. They were acquiring not only vocabulary and grammatical structures IN CONTEXT, but they were also learning about the different cultures around the world where Spanish is spoken, through engaging fictional stories about young people like them. I could tell from the questions they would ask in class and the phrases they incorporated in their writing that the reading we were doing was making a difference. Many students also expressed a feeling of accomplishment when they finished a book or could stay engaged with the plot for an extended period of time.
I am asking for more individual copies of books because I want my students to have a greater variety to choose from. I have about 25 different titles right now (including some duplicates), but some classes have more than 30 students, and Spanish 2 students will have read a number of these books in Spanish 1.
I am also asking for a class set of "Escape Cubano" to read with Spanish 2 students as a group. Independent reading is great for language acquisition and exposure to cultural details, but reading the same book as a group and being able to talk about and reflect on the cultural references will make their learning experience much richer.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Schnautz and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
