classroom

What’s the Real Home Language Story? Making your Head Start Classroom Welcoming for Multilingual Kids

by languagelizard May 3, 2013 classroom

  Every Head Start teacher has the privilege and responsibility to make his or her children feel valued and comfortable from day one in the classroom.   Enrollment form information can help with this: knowing all you can about a student’s background will help you to help them get used to their new school.  Sometimes, it’s [...]

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World Folktales and Fables: Effective Teaching Tools Educate & Entertain Children

by languagelizard March 22, 2013 At Home
World Folktales and Fables Week

By Anneke Forzani Photo credit: Murgelchen94 Children love folktales and fables. With their simple characters and settings, as well as an enticing conflict early in the story, folktales immediately grab a reader’s attention. Recall The Three Billy Goats Gruff, in which all three goats need to get to the other side of the bridge for [...]

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Bilingual Students: The Benefits of Narration

by languagelizard January 29, 2013 classroom
Bilingual Students: The Benefits of Narration

As we mentioned in our previous post, Bilingual Students: Using Holiday Celebrations to Promote Language Development in Multicultural Classrooms, bilingual students often have a lot to say right after they return from their winter holidays. They are eager to share activities that they engaged in with family and friends and to talk about the gifts [...]

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Bilingual Students: Using Holiday Celebrations to Promote Language Development in Multicultural Classrooms

by languagelizard January 10, 2013 classroom
Bilingual Students: Using Holiday Celebrations to Promote Language Development in Multicultural Classrooms

Now that the New Year has arrived and school is back in full swing, students are sure to be filled brimming with enthusiastic stories of what they did during their winter holiday. Ice skating in the park, opening gifts at the fireplace, lighting candles in beautifully wrought candelabras are just a few  activities that children [...]

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Teaching Thankfulness in Bilingual Classrooms

by languagelizard November 19, 2012 classroom
teaching thankfulness bilingual classroom

What a perfect time of year to focus on gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness! Having family and friends to share our lives with, food on the table, clean water to drink and a roof over our heads is something that adults and children alike can take time to reflect on during this holiday season. In bilingual [...]

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Bilingual Children and the First Days of School

by languagelizard August 22, 2012 classroom
Bilingual Children and the First Days of School

Starting school for the first time can be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience for a young bilingual child. Aside from possible language barriers, cultural differences may often play a role. Things that are done in the classroom often do not match what a child is used to at home and this can make a [...]

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Bilingual Students: Preparing for the Coming School Year

by languagelizard August 7, 2012 classroom
bilingual students preparing for the coming school year

The start of the school year is just around the corner. Where did the summer go? It seems like just yesterday that we were watching our students head out the schoolhouse doors. Before we know it, they will be rushing back through those doors again. With the coming school year so close, it is important [...]

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Bilingual Children: Make Storytime Their Favorite Time of the Day

by languagelizard July 12, 2012 classroom
bilingual children: storytime favorite time of day

Reading out loud is one of the most wonderful ways we can help our children learn language(s). It helps to build vocabulary (in many languages) and helps children fall in love with literature and the written word. The more we can make storytime a great experience for children, the more they will look forward to [...]

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Bilingual Books in Bilingual Classrooms

by languagelizard April 19, 2012 classroom
Bilingual Books for Bilingual Classrooms

Picture this: A classroom bustling with students engaged in a variety of activities. On one side of the room, the teacher mingles with a group of students who are working on a collage. It is spread out across a wide table and students are discussing, in English and Spanish, where to place the different items. [...]

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Springtime Language Learning Activities: Scavenger and Treasure Hunts

by languagelizard April 5, 2012 classroom
springtime language learning: scavenger and treasure hunts

Flowers are beginning to blossom in and the talk of eggs, bunnies and little yellow chicks is underway. It must be springtime! Students are excited and invigorated by the changing season, so it is a perfect time of year to incorporate activities that match the energetic mood of your classroom. Even though many of your [...]

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