May 22, 2025
Thursday Edition
Empowering Dual Language Immersion educators with best practices, relevant research, classroom tips, and fun ideas that will inspire you into, through and beyond your teaching week.
Our Craft
A Time to Reflect
Last Thursday, I shared a few ideas on reflecting on our DLI programs. It's the end of the school year, and I hope DLI teams are given time by their administrators, for example, during a staff meeting, to reflect on the successes and needs of their DLI program. A time to come together, center the conversation around the pillars of Dual Language Education, and ask yourselves: How did we do?
Which DLI Pillars need some attention in the 2025-2026 school year?
Examining the effectiveness of your DLI program through the lens of the DLI Pillars gives you a framework to engage in a conversation with your team. Are your students becoming bilingual & biliterate? Are students performing academically across both languages? Are we addressing sociocultural competence? What's going well? What needs attention? How do we know? The answers to these questions may vary by grade level, but ultimately, the answers to these questions help us understand if the program is working for all students.
The process of learning in two languages while increasing proficiency in both languages is a process that spans the entire program. The process of becoming bilingual & biliterate takes time. Each grade level offers students an opportunity to continue to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the quest to ultimately become balanced bilinguals. While it's important to reflect as a DLI team, it's also important to include students.
Student Reflection
Ask your students to compare the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year. Can they identify and express that they have gained language skills across both languages? Do they feel more confident expressing ideas in their new/newer language? You can ask the class to engage in a discussion with a partner, followed by sharing ideas with the whole class that you list on a chart, such as the one here:
The example above is for Spanish, however, you should do this in English as well. You could also create a chart with Spanish on one side and English on the other side. The point is allowing students to reflect on their trajectory of bilingualism and biliteracy honors the work they've been doing all school year.
Using Video
This article Why Student Created Videos belong in Family Conferences, got me thinking about using video as a tool for students showcasing their growth with their new language. Video recording students (with parental permission) shows their progress as they continue to gain language skills.
During COVID lockdown, I was teaching Kindergarten. Our school mascot was a beaver, and our class mascot was a stuffed animal named Castorcito. I took a picture of Castorcito, and mailed each student a flat Castorcito with the prompt, ¿Dónde está Castorcito? The students were tasked with placing Castorcito somewhere in their home, and videotaping themselves asking and answering the question ¿Dónde está Castorcito? The students had fun and were using oral language to describe where they put Castorcito. I also had students look for objects at home that started with the letter of the week and videotape themselves describing each of the items.
In both instances, the videos were very short, but they showcased students' ability to speak in the language of the assignment, which in this case was Spanish.
Read the article and see what ideas come up for the use of video in your classroom to showcase students' bilingual abilities. The students will have fun and may be surprised by how much they have grown as bilingual citizens.
Interactive Read Aloud
Interactive Read Alouds provide an opportunity for both
oral language and vocabulary development.
Author Maritere R. Bellas has a new book published by Li'l Libros coming out in October. Tío Ricky is a story about Enrique, a bilingual boy who thinks speaking Spanish is a chore until he has to use his ability to speak English and Spanish is help his Tío Ricky. This story is a great way to engage students in a conversation about the value of being bilingual. This book is available now for PREORDER.
Although it will not be released until September/October, PREORDER sales are very important for the success of a book. Consider ordering it now as a PREORDER and support this Latina author.
Tío Ricky Doesn't Speak English/No habla inglés
Bookshop Amazon
Also by Maritere R. Bellas: I Have a Secret/Tengo un secreto
Bookshop Amazon
Summer Reading Programs
Reading Is Fundamental Summer Reading Program provides booklists by age, free resources, and read aloud videos.
Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program in Spanish and English. Participants can earn a free book.
Check out your local library! Public libraries offer summer reading programs.
Read Conmigo Grant Program
The application period for the fall 2025 Read Conmigo Educator Grants is now open. Applications are due by June 16, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. local time. Grant awardees will receive $3000.00 to support their dual language immersion classroom. Click the button below for qualifications and the online application.
Upcoming Conferences
There's still time to attend ATDLE!
For registration information. Click HERE
Directory of Dual Language Programs in the U.S.
Dual Language Schools.org counts 4894 Dual Language programs across the United States. There are more programs than are listed. Check the link above to see if your school is on the list.
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