Moving Beyond for Multilingual Learners: The Blog

 My heart is pounding and I didn't sleep a wink last night! FRIENDS! My book is now OUT in the world! I am so thankful for the love, support, and encouragement throughout this process. I'm so new to all of this and many days I felt like my head was spinning, but the book is now out and I'm so excited to bring this work to the world.  After serving in EL, Bilingual, and Dual Language programming for over 15 years, I have become itchy around certain words and phrases. I grew tired of hearing that the multilingual  students I served had “gaps” or were somehow “at-risk” because they were acquiring an additional language. I became angry after hearing the blanket statement of “just add visuals” to help students navigate language, culture, and content simultaneously. This is how my book came to be!  I wanted to write a book that spoke to the heart of all educators and leaders serving multilingual students and families. We know that our role extends far beyond that of instru...

Bingo ( Link to Generator ) I will be honest here- I first did this as an undergrad student in college when a certain professor was known for his unusual phrases that he'd utter throughout lectures. After a while, other students began to write down his quirky comments and eventually, Bingo Boards were discreetly passed out amongst students in class. We'd listen for him to say his words/phrases and we'd quietly mark up our bingo boards with our pencils. If we got a Bingo during class, we'd stretch our arms up high and snap once. However, now that I'm in education myself, I can see this as a fun listening activity. By clicking on the above link, you will be taken to a Bingo Board generator. It provides up to 30 free Bingo Boards. You can customize your board by theme, add in words/phrases/entire sentences, and print! You don't need to set up an account or pay for anything. The possibilities are endless!   Listening Guide or Note-Taking Doc     - You can set up a C...

 Have you seen the viral TikTok account ( @Jongraz ) dedicated to Noodle the Pug? I keep seeing stories pop up about this sweet senior posted by his owner Jonathan Graziano, like this one from the New York Times . I myself am a dog-lover, so I absolutely enjoy tuning in to see not only the adorable Noodle, but also hear the energetic narration by Jonathan.  If Noodles stands, he calls it a Bones Day, referring to the fact that Noodles "has" bones to help him stand up. On these days, Jonathan encourages us to chase our dreams, take risks, hustle, and go after whatever's on our hearts. If Noodles flops back down into his cozy bed, he calls it a No Bones Day. On these days, Jonathan tells us to take it easy on ourselves and take extra good care of ourselves. As the NY Times Article points out- both are good for us!  How FUN would it be to share this with your students? **PLEASE NOTE-- these videos are the content of the creator, so he doesn't create them with schoolchild...

 **This is the 3rd part in the #LoveOurLanguages campaign series!** Click here to read Part One.   Click here to read Part Two . You've made it to Part Three! Now that we've had time to have conversations with students and teachers about languages present in our lives, and we've discussed ways to actively incorporate languages inside of our learning spaces and schools, you may be wondering what's next!  This post will help us to start thinking beyond the walls of our schools. After we have posted our languages in the hallways, take a moment to notice what happens the next time we invite families into the building.  I'll never forget when I attended an event after one school participated and displayed their posters outside of their classroom doors. I watched as a father took his son's hand after exiting their classroom. He paused to look at the languages on the poster, and he nodded. Then they turned to exit the building, but the poster across the hall caught his...

 I *loved* cheerleading. I loved the choreography, the energy, the teamwork, the Friday night lights, the competitions, and the stunting.  When I was in college, I was a flyer on my squad and I loved every second. However, there were moments were certain stunts scared me. I didn't think I had the right timing, the right skill, or the right strength to test out new tosses.  My coaches were always so encouraging. They prepped me by helping me to scaffold my skills (did any other flyers practice their one-legged stunts on cinderblocks or park benches?) and built stunt up progressions over time with my stunt groups. Even with the scaffolding and the progressions, I of course was not able to stick all my stunts.  There were moments that I had some nasty falls. There were moments that led teammates to black eyes or bloody noses. There were moments were I went to the ER for an injury- a tear, an x-ray, a brace, or a shiny new pair of crutches.  What I remember most is ...

 **This is Part Two in a multi-part series on creating a #LoveOurLanguages campaign in your school or district! Please check out Part One by clicking here .** By now, you (hopefully) have several posters on classroom doors around your school. How exciting! Teachers have led conversations with students about languages that we have present in our classrooms, and students have started to become more aware of the languages all around them!  What next? Now is the perfect time for us to start taking some actions, one of which is to start conversations with colleagues and teammates about how to actively incorporate heritage language usage into our day .  Wait! Don't panic! You don't have to be multilingual in order to do this! By exploring various ways to do this, you are demonstrating the value and respect you have for languages of those you serve - which is powerful and goes a long way in modeling linguistic appreciation, respect, and validation. You may wish to start with a ...

**This is Part 1 of a series! Stay tuned for the next post to continue this work! I would like to personally thank Clara Vaz Bauler for her thoughtful collaboration and insightful feedback in this piece, which helps me (and all of us) move from passive "appreciation" to intentional action in our classroom spaces, so that we can better serve our students, families, and communities! Follow her on Twitter! ** A few years ago, I was wondering about all the ways to invite conversations about how many languages are present in our classrooms. Generally, the EL or Multilingual Learner teacher has stacks of papers that indicate all students' home or heritage languages - but does the rest of the school staff? How about the students? In a country of anti-immigrant and English-only rhetoric, it is important that we are intentional about honoring students' identities by acknowledging, recognizing, and celebrating their languages.  Let us begin by having conversations with our stu...