Category Archives: Coach’s Corner

Below the Tip of the Iceberg

This summer I took my family to Spain!  I was reacquainted with my love for jamón serrano, and for a culture that honors finishing conversations instead of ending them abruptly to get somewhere on time. I also remembered my experience living with a Spanish family 15 years ago, when I was a less proficient Spanish speaker. I had countless moments of frustration, wishing my Spanish family could only see into my English-thinking brain and realize that I had ideas far Read More...

Las 5 excusas más comunes para no presentar en español

En algunas semanas, el personal docente regresará a un nuevo año escolar, y muchos de nosotros presentaremos talleres de capacitación de maestros. ¿Estaremos presentando en inglés o en español? Una de las premisas de la lectoescritura bilingüe en los Estados Unidos que nos plantea Teaching for Biliteracy es que el español es un idioma minoritario, y hay que ser intencional en elevar su estatus y no dejar que el inglés domine. Sin embargo, la capacitación de maestros en escuelas bilingües Read More...

RtI and Biliteracy: How can we gather data on oral language?

Last week I had the privilege of attending the TfB Summer Institute and leading a session: Intervention in a Biliteracy Framework.  This post will spotlight one hot topic that arose from the session, and invite readers to chime in with their thinking. Let’s face it: the term “RtI” and “intervention” carry a certain connotation, not always positive. Yet if you’re reading this post, chances are you recognize their importance. (After all, this is optional reading, and this is July!)  Chapter Read More...

La orientación a un libro nuevo

La comprensión es la meta de la lectura, pero el lector emergente necesita ser guiado en cómo encontrar el sentido de lo que lee. Una oportunidad para desarrollar el significado de un texto es presentar el libro nuevo a los alumnos. En el capítulo 7 de Teaching for Biliteracy: Strengthening Bridges between Languages, Urow y Beeman hablan de “un paseo de dibujos”, en conjunto con charlas en pareja y un marco oracional . El propósito es construir el significado Read More...

Wai du mai students rait laik des?

It’s like a secret handshake... a secret code. Bilingual teachers, and teachers who have worked with English language learners know it. In fact, our students know it too! We are able to read messages that might appear as gibberish to our monolingual counterparts. This was made clear to me when my 5 year old daughter, a dual language learner, sent this message to her monolingual grandma:    "I lab  may  famali  ivin  Yesica tu  but Tessa is crezi"   Grandma responded similarly Read More...

Literacy Processing and Language Development

Lately I have been thinking about how principles of literacy processing and language development apply to the reader who is  learning to read in a language she is also developing.  Let me introduce a student Valeria.  Valeria has the brightest smile of any child at our school. Valeria is a student at a two-way dual language immersion school with a 90:10 model. She received initial literacy instruction in Spanish, which happens to be her more “dominant” language. Now in Read More...

Putting the “Literacy” in Biliteracy

What is reading? Today I asked this question to students in the cafeteria and here is what they said: “Leer es ver las letras” (Margot, first grade) “I look at the picture, say the words, turn the page, look at the picture, say the words, turn the page” (Ayla, first grade) “To read is to go like this:  ssss---ooo----llll” (Celia, kindergarten) “Leemos para subir el nivel para leer libros con chapters.” (Betsy, third grade) “When you read you try your best. You do it to Read More...