The Early Start of Language Endangerment Among our Students
In a previous post, we analyzed this graph to understand the linguistic repertoire of our simultaneous bilinguals. Simultaneous bilinguals, who make up the majority of our emergent bilinguals nationwide, are those exposed to more than one language before reaching age 5. In the United States, we generally refer to simultaneous bilinguals as those who speak…
Assimilation Myths: Who Truly Belongs?
The Other An interesting theme that I have noticed on the Internet is the idea that only immigrants who are willing and able to “assimilate” should be permitted entry to the United States. Everyone else who wants to continue being the “other” should be denied entry. There’s a lot to unpack in this sentiment, but…
Can You Truly Be Colorblind?
It’s been a while since I have written about sociocultural competence, but a number of you have asked that I re-approach the topic, especially when it comes to the idea of being colorblind. To be fair, many of us grew up in the “colorblind era” when the topic of race was taboo. We were taught…
Separation of Language vs. Translanguaging
The topic keeps coming up. “I have kids in my class who don’t know English yet. Why can’t I just give them work in their native language?” “I have kids in my class who prefer English. Why can’t they translanguage during Spanish time?” Who said you can’t or that they can’t? Of course, translanguaging is…
How to Ensure Our Students’ Second Language Acquisition Success – From Soleado, DLENM
Hi, everyone. Today, I would like to share an article I wrote for Soleado that discusses how to ensure our students are successful learning their second language regardless of which program they are in. Thank you to DLENM for publishing the article.
Celebrations That Build Sociocultural Competence
Sociocultural competence, one of the three pillars of Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) and encompassed in the 5 C’s of World Language, is more than creating a Cinco-de-Mayo style afternoon of activities. It is more than an International Day where there are various activities from different countries with no real discussions about the practices. And…
Similarities Across Multilingual Programs
by: Dr. Aradhana Mudambi So for starters, my apologies for not being on target with my weekly blog. I’m determined to be back on schedule from here on out. An early New Year’s resolution, shall we say? But the good news? For the past year, I have been working on my book, and it’s out! …
Multilingualism in the United States Does Not Threaten The Status of English
The idea of “English only” evokes a sense of nationalism and nostalgia for many, but in reality, the United States is a multilingual country and always has been. The majority of our founding presidents were in fact multilingual. For example, President Thomas Jefferson spoke French and Italian and had some literacy in Greek and Spanish.…
Translanguaging in Multilingual Education
In my last post, I talked about the importance of avoiding consistent translations. This topic tends to be a source of debate as people wonder where translanguaging fits into the conversation. Therefore, also in my last article, I promised that my next piece would be about translanguaging. In this article, we will discuss the difference…
Why Translations Hinder Language Acquisition in the Classroom
This topic comes up often when I conduct professional development sessions. Can’t we just provide translations for our emergent bilinguals or our multilingual learners? And the answer is no. Translations are not a language acquisition strategy. Whether you are teaching in a Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) classroom, an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom,…
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