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Professional Development (PD) is one of the most effective strategies that school districts can utilize to ensure that they have the most qualified teachers possible to provide instruction to their students.  PD is an essential classroom component, which ensures academic success of students. Furthermore, PD is essential for teachers who serve English Language Learners (ELLs), as ELLs face unique challenges … Read More

Learning and retaining vocabulary is pertinent to reading comprehension and language skills in both English and Spanish.  Bilingual children are exposed to double the amount of words than monolingual children. Therefore, bilingual children are better equipped to understanding texts.  By using a variety of teaching methods to teach words in Spanish and English, it will increase bilingual children’s ability to … Read More

Teachers oftentimes notice that their English Language Learner (ELL) students struggle with reading – especially if there are native English language speakers in the same classroom.  Furthermore, it can be difficult to pinpoint whether or not the ELL student truly has weak reading skills, or if the vocabulary and/or text just hasn’t “clicked” or “registered” for them.  Some ELL students … Read More

Creating a culturally relevant environment helps to foster parental engagement of English Language Learners (ELLs).  Cultural relevancy is important because it recognizes the diverse experiences, creates connections, and encourages more parental involvement, which leads to greater academic success.  For schools and classrooms to be culturally responsive, school officials and teachers need to openly learn from and respectfully share with ELL … Read More

English Learners (ELs) make up a large population of the student body of U.S. schools.  EL students in the U.S. hail from over 400 distinct language backgrounds.  Around 76 percent of elementary students born in the U.S. are ELs, while 56 percent of middle and high school ELs were born in the U.S.  However, 80 percent of their parents were … Read More

Family Engagement is a shared responsibility between schools and other agencies to engage parents in meaningful ways.  Parents learn about their commitment to supporting their children’s development and academic progress in school. Research shows that students with involved parents earn higher grades and test scores, have better social skills and show improvement. The first step in reaching out to Hispanic … Read More

Reading is a process that involves extracting meaning from printed words.  Young children gain early reading skills by the direct teaching of words and sounds.  It is important for young children to be able to distinguish between varying sounds of oral language.  ELLs in elementary school grades first through third must be able to differentiate between sounds of oral language … Read More

Professional development workshops have been used over the past few decades to help train teachers to become “better” teachers.  However, not all teachers feel that these professional development sessions have been meaningful or career altering.  Take a look at some of the top things teachers really want to experience in professional development workshops. A Voice When it comes to professional … Read More

3 Suggestions for Hosting a Parent Meeting with Spanish-speaking Parents Teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) sometimes struggle communicating with their students’ parents, especially when said parents cannot communicate comfortably and openly in English.  Take a look at these 3 suggestions for hosting a parent meeting with Spanish-speaking parents. Suggestion 1: Encourage Attendance In order to prepare for a successful … Read More

Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 was amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.  Title III was enacted to assist English Learners (ELs) attain language proficiency in English, as well as meet state academic standards.  Therefore, as immigrant and EL parents are part of that matrix, it is important to include … Read More