Science and Songs: Los Planetas

While I took piano lessons for many years, I am not what you would call a natural musician.  Still, I have seen over and over the positive impact that music can have on students' learning.  It has that "Velcro" factor that helps the content stick to the brain.

I spent the summer of 2002 working on staff at Teach for America's summer institute in Houston.  I was amazed by all the ways the Corps Members found to integrate music into the content learning with amazing results.  Ever since, I have been inspired to try it myself.  Below are some examples of the products my bilingual second graders created after a library research study on the planets.  We created "La Tierra" together (to the tune of "La Cucaracha") and then the students worked in small groups to create subsequent verses for their assigned planet.   They had so much fun and were so proud of our song!  It's kind of catchy too!
 

Frame It! Lightening the Linguistic Load!

My husband and I are promoters.  When we find a business or restaurant we like, we tell everyone about it!  We want everyone else to love our new favorite thing as much as we do.

That is how I feel about language frames.

I love them!  I believe in them!  I have seen them work over and over!

On Saturday, I spent the day with some fantastic teachers from Lufkin ISD and Nacogdoches ISD.  I led a session on using language frames to build academic language.  Because I always need an analogy, I titled the training, "It Just Needs a Little Salt:  Using Language Frames to Preserve and Flavor Your Content Lessons."

I believe that language frames are one of the simplest and most effective language acquisition strategies available to us.  Like salt, language frames are a small, CHEAP thing that can go a long way in preserving and flavoring the academic language of your lessons.


Ever since I first learned about language frames, I find a way to work one in to every lesson that I have planned.  I think they are especially important in the bilingual and dual-language classroom.  Teachers are often concerned that students are not using the target language when doing group work.  I believe that it is fine for students to process in their dominant language as long as they can ultimately produce the product in the target language.

The video above is from a small group math tutoring session where I had just introduced the game Multiplication Rio.  As you can hear, the students' natural tendency would be to just use Spanish but I gave them the frame #  multiplied by # is equal to #.  BAM!  This little math game is now doubly effective as these girls practice math while getting in a little English Language Development at the same time!

Want to read more about using language frames in the classroom?

• This document has organized sample language frames according to the language function (cause and effect, compare and contrast, summarizing, etc.) and has them color-coded according to language proficiency level.
• This site explains how one primary teacher uses language frames to build vocabulary.
• This upper grade science teacher shares how sentence frames make for richer discussions.
• Some of my very favorite researchers/authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey write here about the importance of using sentence frames to lighten the linguistic load so that students can focus on the content.

Do you use language frames in your classroom?  How have they made a difference with your students?

WOW Giveaway: We have a winner!

Thanks so much to Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan for sponsoring this week's giveaway!  Our winning number was:

This winning comment was from Monica over at Mommy Maestra. 

Congratulations to Monica and thanks so much to everyone who participated!  Stay tune for another giveaway coming up in two weeks!

Learning Disabilities and Cross-Linguistic Transfer

Don't forget to enter to win this week's awesome giveaway!

Do some of your students struggle with learning in two languages more than others?  Have you found little information and support on your campus for understanding how to best meet the needs of these students?

The author of our giveaway resource for this week is Dr. Elsa  Cárdenas-Hagan.  She is a speech pathologist as well as a well-known researcher and author in the field of bilingual education and cross-linguistic transfer.  Colorín Colorado interviews Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan in this webcast about English Language Learners with Disabilities.  It is loaded with excellent information!  It would be an awesome mini staff development for your planning time or a meeting with the other bilingual or dual-language teachers on your campus.  Discussion questions and a handout are included here.

Literacy Lesson: Kicking off Reading Strategy Study with an Online Game

Don't forget to enter to win a Spanish/English Vocabulary program focused on word roots. Go here for more information!  The giveaway ends Friday at noon.

In searching Pinterest for bilingual/dual goodies, I saw that Susan Orozco had posted a link to http://www.rtve.es/infantil/ which is the children's site of the Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española.  There are all sorts of online games available through the site.  Some do not seem educational at all (Bob Esponja? UGH!) but there are quite a few really good games that would make great computer centers or excellent whole class SMARTBoard activities to kick off the study of a new reading strategy. 

For example, this game is called Las 7 Diferencias.  It displays two elaborate pictures and you have to click on seven things that are different between the two pictures.  What a perfect way to begin talking with your little guys about semejanzas y diferencias? 

Maybe you are working on describing words or characterization.  Have you ever played the Guess Who? Board Game?   ¿Quién es quién? is an online version of that game and it is so much fun!  I may have just wasted invested the past half-hour playing it myself.  In order to guess the person that your partner has chosen, you pick from a long list of questions to guess who they are "thinking" of.  Based on your computer partner's answer, you must go through your grid of pictures and eliminate all of the people that do not match that criteria.  Awesome critical thinking opportunities for our little guys!
 

I used to always "anchor" my reading strategy studies with a favorite picture book.  I would call my students to practice a strategy by reminding them of the book that we had read when we first learned about how to use that strategy.  I still believe in the power of mentor/anchor texts but why not anchor with a game as well?  Seriously, so fun!  Okay, I think I'm going to go back and play ¿Quién es quién? one more time!  :) 

GIVEAWAY: Words of our World (WOW) Vocabulary Program

The summer before my senior year of college, I spent two months studying Spanish in Spain.  Afterwards, my brother met me for two wonderful weeks of travel in Italy.  As we visited museums and cathedrals, I was amazed by how I could read practically anything in Italian with fairly good comprehension because of its similarity to Spanish.  My brother, who had studied French, was able to do the same thing.  At the time, I had never heard the word cognates but I quickly learned how useful they were in understanding another Latin-based language. 

In the years since, I continue to learn how cognates not only help us make sense of a second or third language, they deepen our understanding of our first language as we make connections between words.  Did you know that over 90% of English words of two or more syllables are of Greek or Latin origin?  If we truly want to help our students develop a stronger vocabulary, we must help them deepen their knowledge about words.

Guess what?  We have the perfect resource to help you do that and, are you ready for this, IT WAS MADE JUST FOR YOU!  It is a vocabulary program designed with the intention of building word knowledge in both Spanish and English.  

Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan of the Valley Speech Language and Learning Center is the developer of the Words of our World (WOW) vocabulary program and she recently posted here about Vocabulary Development for English learners.  

From the Valley Speech website:

Words of our World (WOW) is a vocabulary program which addresses the use of cognates and common roots in Spanish and English to further develop word knowledge.  Students in bilingual and/or dual language programs can benefit from this program.  Students who are interested in learning Spanish can use their knowledge of English to develop Spanish vocabulary.  

Would you like to win the WOW program for your classroom?  Here is how you can increase your chances with up to five entries (one comment per entry):

• Become a follower of I Teach Dual Language (see the right margin of this blog) and leave a comment that you did or that you had already joined.
• Visit Valley Speech and Learning Center's website and explore their products.  Leave a comment here telling them which products would be the most useful in your classroom.
• "Like" EL Saber Enterprises on Facebook and leave a comment that you did.
• Blog about this giveaway and leave the link here OR send an email about the giveaway to at least five other teachers and copy me in your email (cgrover@elsaberenterprises.com).  Of course, leave a comment here so you get credit!
• Read Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan's guest post at Vocabulogic, leave a comment there, and leave a comment here telling us that you did.

Anonymous entries cannot win because, well, that makes announcing the winner a bit difficult!  Make sure you leave your email so that I can contact you if you win!  The giveaway will close at 12pm CST on Friday, March 23rd and the winner will be announced at 3pm.  Good luck!  ¡Buena suerte!

If you would like to read even more about using cognates in your classroom, check out a previous ITDL post titled Becoming Cognizant about Cognates.  

Stay Tuned for a BIG Giveaway Announcement on Monday!

Bulletin Boards: You are SO Punny!

Spanish is not my first language.  Of all of the things that could stress me out as a teacher teaching in a second language, what was at the very top of my list?  BULLETIN BOARDS!  Not only was I expected to write something grammatically correct and spelled correctly, I wanted it to be CUTE and funny like all of the monolingual bulletin boards down my hall.

I will never forget the very first bulletin board outside my first classroom.  The entire second grade made shape bears as a part of the first week of school activities.  In preparation for parent information night, all of the monolingual teachers had written variations of bear puns like "We are BEAR-Y excited to be in 2nd Grade!"  I knew that would have no meaning for the parents of my students but I had no clue what to write in Spanish.

On my drive home from school one night, I had an idea.  I'm convinced it was divine intervention because I am just not that punny even in my native English.  The phrase that came to me on the highway that night was:  ¡Somos maravill-OSOS!   It was my first pun in Spanish and I was SO proud!

Since the springtime is often a time for Open Houses and sprucing up the ol' bulletin board, I thought you might like to see some boards that I have seen in my visits to lots of different campuses.  Most of these photos were taken at the beginning of the year so that explains why there is no student work up yet.  Use an idea now or pin it to remember at the start of next year!

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have a beautiful bilingual bulletin board (that is some serious alliteration!) you would like to share?  Please post your link here so we can take a look!

Joining the K-2 Linky Party

Are you looking to connect with other K-2 blogging teachers?  Visit this linky party and see LOTS and LOTS of them, including several bilingual and dual-language teachers.  Thanks to Kindergarten Lifestyle for organizing this!

Taller de Escritura: Cinco pasos para la escritura, PARTE II

If you are just now joining us and haven't viewed this yet, PLEASE go here and do so.  Seriously.  Don't make me use my teacher voice!  HA!

Okay, so what did you think?  Are you eager to see what those little five and six-year-olds can do with that kind of daily modeling?  

Well, here you go.  Prepare to be amazed!

Velarde Writing Workshop Children Write from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.

Velarde Writing Workshop Student Progress 1 from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.

Velarde Writing Workshop Student Progress 2 from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.

These students love writing because it is meaningful to them. They spell most of their words correctly because they verbally segment the syllables just like they see their teacher model for them EVERY DAY.  When Kay trained other teachers in Mesquite about how she did Writing Workshop, she admitted that it required a huge investment of her daily schedule.  However, she infused so much phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, and grammar into her modeling that it provided a bountiful return on that investment.

Another teacher that began using Kay's 5 Steps created these desk strips to remind her students of the steps.

What are your secrets to making Writing Workshop successful?  Do you have a video of your students in action?  Please share the link so we can continue to learn from you!

Taller de Escritura: Cinco pasos para la escritura

Writing Workshop.  My experience has been you either love it or hate it.  Usually, if you hate it, it is because, like me, you struggle to find a structure that works for you and your students on a daily basis.  I had read books and attended trainings but, it wasn't until, I visited a certain teacher's classroom that Writing Workshop actually seemed doable and absolutely necessary.  That teacher's name is Kay Velarde and she is a bilingual educator in Mesquite ISD. 

These videos give you a peek into one day of Writing Workshop in Kay's Kindergarten bilingual classroom several years ago.  Using the Lucy Caulkins's Units of Study for Primary Writing, Kay modeled five simple steps (shown in the above bulletin board from another teacher's classroom) to help her students understand the cycle of writing.

If you are looking for a new way to do your writing workshop or just want to watch an amazing teacher, check out these videos.  They are in short segments due to Vimeo's length restrictions but you can watch them in order below.  On Tuesday, I will post more videos of how the students apply Kay's modeling to their own writing!  It is AMAZING! 

Velarde Models Writing Process Think & Share from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.


Velarde Models Writing Process DRAW from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.


Velarde Models Writing Process LABEL from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.


Velarde Models Writing Process WRITE from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.

Literacy Lesson: El viejo y su puerta (Minimal Pairs)

Are you at the time of year when you and your students could really use a laugh?  You cannot read this book and keep from cracking up!  I love Gary Soto's sense of humor and the great thing about this book is that even first and second graders can "get" the funny parts.

This book provides a great entry to talking about minimal pairs (pares mínimos) with your students.  Minimal pairs are pairs of words which differ in only one phonological element and have distinct meanings.  

In El viejo y su puerta, the old man is not very good at listening to his wife so when she asks him to not forget to bring the puerCa to the barbacoa, he mistakenly hears puerTa.  The old man is a bit confused but the door proves useful en route to the party and there is plenty of food to eat thanks to the friends he makes along the way.  The book begins with this explanation:

En México hay una cancioncita que dice “La puerta.  La puerca.  Al viejo lo mismo le da.”  Eso es porque a un viejo las dos palabras le suenan muy parecidas – sobre todo si no escucha con atención.  Así es que sean jóvenes o viejos, escuchen atentamente porque si no, ¡se pueden meter en un lío!

After you read and enjoy the book, you can have a discussion about minimal pairs and the importance of careful listening using these cards (you can download them for free over at Teachers Pay Teachers):

You can represent the sounds in the words with magnetic letters or by simply writing the letters in the sound boxes.

It is really important to help our students understand minimal pairs in Spanish so that we can better help them understand minimal pairs in English.  Several years ago, I attended a PASA Conference and heard Dr. Elena Izquierdo talk about why our students struggle with English words like "meat" and "mitt".  She said we really need to do a lot more work in the younger grades to train their ears to distinguish the differences.  

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite way to train those little ears?

My big fat (WRITING) secret!

I have a secret.  It's the secret to getting your kids to write better and more.  

What's the secret?  Before they write, you absolutely MUST let them TALK!  

Very few kids (or adults) like to revise or edit.  When they write their first draft, it is usually the best they know to do at the time.  Because of that, we don't ever use the term "sloppy copy"!

If there was something you as the teacher could do to improve that first draft, would you want to do it?  I'm telling you.  Let them TALK before the write!!!

One of my favorite ways to do this is with Inside-Outside Circles.  I split my class into two groups.  Sometimes those groups are random but usually I secretly group them according to language level or writing ability to make it even more productive.  Half of the students make the inside circle (facing outwards) and the other half form an outside circle facing an inside circle partner.  

I stand in the very middle of the circle (mushpot anyone?) so I can easily listen in on the different conversations.  The inside partner shares what he/she is going to write about (a verbal rough draft).  The outside circle partner listens as an active listener so he/she can TAG at the end.

After about 2-3 minutes of sharing and TAGging, I call for partners to switch roles and repeat the process.  Then (this is VERY IMPORTANT), I have the outside circle move clockwise so that everyone has a new partner.  Each student needs at least a second or third opportunity to verbally revise their draft.  Some may need to abandon their first idea and try out a new one.  They also need the chance to interact with different partners that will provide examples of quality drafts as well as constructive feedback.

Once students have shared their writing with at least 2-3 other partners, I send them to their tables to begin writing.  It is amazing the difference that talking makes!  Their juices are just flowing!  You know those students that are typically slow-starters when it comes to writing?  They get up to sharpen their pencils, they go to the restroom, they try to distract other students.  Why?  They don't know what they want to say!  But, if they have talked and listened to others' ideas, they are so much more likely to get right to work.  

I have tried this with students in grades Kindergarten through sixth grade and with adults.  The time that you invest in talking will pay off dividends in higher quality writing.

Okay, so my secret is out or maybe you already knew.  Have you tried talking before writing?  Did it make a difference with your students?

Estudiando palabras: Palabras con r/rr

Do your students struggle with spelling in Spanish? Even though Spanish is a much more transparent language than English, there are plenty of confusing letters that can give our students problems. I've created a unit focusing on the sonido fuerte and sonido suave of the letters r/rr based on the methods described in one of my favorite books, Words Their Way. You can download the printables for $1 here!

No matter what the grade, I think picture sorts are a great place to start a unit, especially with the letters r/rr. Ask students to identify whether the r sound in each picture sounds fuerte or suave. When students are able to do this successfully, begin using the word cards. I would suggest using Level A for first grade, Level B for second grade, and Level C for third grade. Of course, you could also use all three levels to differentiate in one grade level!

After you sort the word cards based solely on the sound, ask students to look closely at the r or rr in each word. Use the second sorting mat to divide the cards in the sonido fuerte column into two more categories. Ideally, your students will figure out this pattern on their own but if they are still new at sorting, you may need to point it out.

If you have time during that lesson, have the students wipe their mats clean and do a speed sort a few more times. Throughout the rest of the week, students can pair up and do a no-peeking sort that will help them remember and apply the pattern. To do a no-peeking sort, have one partner read the word while the other partner writes the word in the appropriate column on the sort mat (sticking the mat in a sheet protector with dry-erase markers works great!). The first partners checks the spelling and then they switch roles.

Here is a game board for a spelling center. Place the word cards on the mat. Each student takes a turn drawing a word card. He reads the card and then hands it to the person to his right. He writes the word on a dry erase board or scrap paper. The neighbor checks the spelling. If it is correct, the player rolls a dice to move his railroad car forward. The first person to make it to the train wins!

So what do you find are the most confusing letters in Spanish for your students? Let me know what spelling units you would like to see!