How can we improve engagement among our emergent bilinguals? Here are some ideas:

1. Welcome your students one at a time just to remind each child how important they are to your classroom community.

2. Provide opportunities for interaction. Have students post messages, engage in group discussions using sentence starters, and create videos to share with classmates.

3. Make it fun. Spend some time talking about things of interest to students. Play games. Remember that conversations develop oral language. 

4. Keep your fun activities culturally relevant. For instance, if you play a scavenger hunt with students, ask students to bring “something that makes their food taste good” rather than ketchup.  All families may not use the same condiments.

5. Have “special days” like hat or pajama days. These “special days” can encourage students to turn on their cameras.