This handbook provides dual language and immersion educators with rich information and practical resources that address common concerns with children who struggle with language, literacy and learning. In response to practitioners most pressing questions this book offers case narratives that recount lived experiences with struggling learners from a range of educational specialists, administrators and teachers; background information and research summaries that provide important information about the existing knowledge base on this topic; discussion of issues as they relate to language minority and language majority learners; and guiding principles to inform program policies and practices. Additionally, the handbook includes reference materials and useful web resources to assist educators in meeting the needs of a wide variety of language and learning challenges."
Language immersion is a remarkable educational opportunity in which young children acquire a second language beginning the first day of kindergarten. Students learn basic elementary school curriculum even though their teachers only speak to them in the language they are learning, not in English. Readers are encouraged to explore the goals, challenges, successes and lifetime benefits of immersion education through stories and statements gained through the survey of hundreds of former students, parents, and educators. The author helps us understand how immersion education not only offers students fluency in both English and a second language but also develops global and cultural understanding that positively impacts students as they launch into the world. Dr. Mellgren has over 40 years of experience in education with most of that time spent working with immersion programs as teacher, parent, administrator, researcher, consultant, and advocate. She shares from those varying perspectives to give insight into the full immersion spectrum. This guide provides information to help the decision-making process prior to entering an immersion program and then continues with insight into the first year of school, development through the elementary grades, and the transitions and in middle and high school. Experiences shared by students and parents encompass kindergarten through high school graduation, as well as the entire family's lifestyle. Discover tips for helping with schoolwork, assisting struggling learners, and participating fully in the immersion school experience. Immersion education becomes a gift to a child that lasts a lifetime. It impacts everything about a child's personal growth-brain development, social skills, academic advantages, and acceptance of individual differences. Young immersion students become adults who are adaptable and successful in an ever-increasing global world where understanding and relating to others is critical. This book will help you understand the language immersion concept, guide you in enrolling in a program, and then assist you in navigating the path through the language immersion life. "This book is a valuable contribution to the field and to every parent considering or experiencing immersion for their child." - Dr. Carol Ann Dahlberg, co-author, Languages and Children: Making the Match
This volume showcases the practice and promise of immersion education through in-depth investigations of program design, implementation practices, and policies in one-way, two-way and indigenous immersion programs. Contributors present new research and reflect on possibilities for strengthening practices and policies in immersion education to increase programmatic impact and promote higher levels of language proficiency and literacy among learners.
Make the right instructional and eligibility decisions to help your English Learners! Do your students' reading difficulties reflect language acquisition issues or a learning disability? Now in an updated second edition, this essential guide helps educators make informed choices about strategies and services to support English Learners, and includes: Nine common misconceptions that can lead to wrongful placement of students in Special Education A new chapter on evidence-based practices for success in teaching reading to students learning English Appropriate techniques to use when assessing students for special education Expanded coverage of Response to Intervention to include a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS)
Aimed at facilitating cross-context dialogue & knowledge exchange, this volume brings together an international roster of scholars to offer theoretical perspectices, research reviews & empirical studies on teaching, learning & language development in immersion education.
This volume builds on Fortune and Tedick’s 2008 Pathways to Multilingualism: Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education and showcases the practice and promise of immersion education through in-depth investigations of program design, implementation practices, and policies in one-way, two-way and indigenous programs. Contributors present new research and reflect on possibilities for strengthening practices and policies in immersion education. Questions explored include: What possibilities for program design exist in charter programs for both two-way and indigenous models? How do studies on learner outcomes lead to possibilities for improvements in program implementation? How do existing policies and practices affect struggling immersion learners and what possibilities can be imagined to better serve such learners? In addressing such questions, the volume invites readers to consider the possibilities of immersion education to enrich the language development and educational achievement of future generations of learners.
This innovative planning guide provides a thorough understanding of the skills that contribute to learning-and a systematic way to help K-12 students with a wide range of learning difficulties.
In this supremely practical book, award-winning principal Ruth Swinney and college professor Patricia Velasco focus on the careful planning needed to develop the academic language of all students. For English learners especially, it is critically important to integrate language development with the content that the curriculum demands. What makes this book unlike any other is the detailed guidance it provides to: help students advance from social to academic language; encourage verbal expression in the classroom; plan language arts, social studies, and science lessons that connect language and content; and use shared reading and writing, read alouds, and conversation to teach language skills. Hands-on tools include graphic organizers, sample lesson plans, concept maps, semantic webbing, word walls, and worksheets, and everything teachers need to help emergent bilingual and struggling students master the academic language they need to excel in school.
"Students with learning disabilities face a wide variety of struggles throughout their education career. Many question whether or not they can overcome these struggles when placed in an immersion school due to the added challenges of learning in another language. In order for these students to succeed, teachers and parents need to work together to provide the support they need. Being able to identify characteristics of struggling learners allows a teacher to begin interventions immediately. It is important for teachers to have an understanding of the students and how to provide interventions. There are incredible benefits when students receive interventions. This research gives all learners access to the immense benefits. There is a parent handout that can be given to parents with students with disabilities included, along with a PowerPoint presentation to educate staff on working with struggling learners."--leaf 3.
Dual language education is a program that combines language minority and language majority students for instruction through two languages. This book provides the conceptual background for the program and discusses major implementation issues. Research findings summarize language proficiency and achievement outcomes from 8000 students at 20 schools, along with teacher and parent attitudes.
