English Language Learners / Dual Language Learners / Multicultural Education Support – Language Lizard Blog

BILINGUAL BOOKS IN MULTICULTURAL LESSON PLANS

Reading bilingual books with bilingual children can be a wonderful way to help expand comprehension and vocabulary in more than one language. As you read in Dual Language Books Benefit Bilingual Children, children who can read the same story in more than one language reap many benefits. For example, they can transfer their comprehension and vocabulary of a story read in a stronger language to comprehension and vocabulary in a weaker language.

To help children strengthen their literacy skills even further, bilingual books can be incorporated into lesson plans for teachers to utilize in their classrooms and parents in their homes. Lesson plans provide targeted discussion topics and activities that can help make biliteracy fun and engaging for children.

An additional benefit of bilingual books is that they can be utilized to provide all children with an appreciation for cultures around the world, many of which may be represented in our children’s local community and classroom. Even children who do not speak another language will gain from learning about the languages and cultures of those around them.

As part of a joint project with Language Lizard, student teachers in the Elementary Education Teacher Preparation program at West Chester University designed creative units of instruction for use in grades K-5. These lesson plans can be obtained for free from the Language Lizard website.

Language diversity can result in an initial fear for new teachers who are unfamiliar with languages beyond their primary language.  And even experienced teachers may find it challenging to secure quality resources and develop lessons that encourage children to learn about and appreciate the diversity in their communities.  These lesson plans were designed to provide just such a resource.

Parents and teachers alike are encouraged to download these free multicultural lesson plans to utilize at home and/or in the classroom. Each unit indicates which books are included, the target grade level(s), the primary languages, and the key topics covered.

The lesson plans are designed to meet state and national standards in Language Arts and Social Studies. The units can be implemented as designed or adapted to meet the needs of a particular student body or grade level. Teachers and parents are also welcome to adjust the languages introduced in the lessons to better reflect their own diverse households and communities.

CLICK HERE to learn more about these free lesson plans.

Photo credit: Markus Rödder

Have you utilized any of our free lesson plans in your classroom or in your home? What have been your experiences? Have you created your own lesson plans that utilize bilingual books? We’d love to hear about it!

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