Today, teachers need to provide welcoming and inclusive educational environments for their diverse student populations. By building culturally responsive classrooms, all students develop a greater understanding of, and respect for, diverse cultures, enhancing community in the classroom. A new book helps educators embrace multiculturalism in their classrooms with lesson plans, games, and fun diversity activities.
Practical Manual to Build a Culturally Responsive Classroom
Building Bridges with Bilingual Books and Multicultural Resources: A Practical Manual of Lesson Plans, Literacy Games, and Fun Activities from Around the World to Celebrate Diversity in the Classroom and at Home helps teachers and homeschoolers incorporate cultural diversity into their teaching.
This timely and practical manual saves educators significant time by providing numerous ready-to-use lessons and activities to:
- Build culturally responsive classrooms
- Create positive connections with dual language students & families
- Teach children about other languages & cultures
- Support literacy development among English language learners
- Foster a welcoming and inclusive learning environment
Multicultural Lesson Plans Support Literacy & Culturally Inclusive Classrooms
Building Bridges includes numerous multicultural lesson plans that use bilingual books and diversity activities to support literacy development and build culturally inclusive classrooms.
The lessons meet Common Core State Standards and include detailed procedures, assessments, cross-curricular extension activities, and vocabulary-building flashcards. Each lesson incorporates optional ESL activities, accommodations for language learners, and suggestions for involving dual language families.
Multicultural Games, Foods & Crafts
Also included in the book are foods and crafts from around the world, as well as both physical and literacy-related games and diversity activities.
In addition, this manual includes:
- Diverse language profiles
- Handouts to build community in the classroom
- Unique multicultural holidays and events to celebrate diversity
- Useful links and resources
- Special bonus offers
About the Author
Author Anneke Vanmarcke Forzani is the President and Founder of Language Lizard LLC, which provides multicultural resources in over 50 languages to schools, libraries, and literacy organizations. She has presented workshops about using multicultural resources in diverse classrooms at educational conferences.
Building Bridges was written with assistance from Dr. Heather Leaman, coordinator of the Master’s of Education program in Applied Studies and Teaching at West Chester University, and elementary school teachers Edmond Gubbins and Ellen O’Regan.
Building Bridges with Bilingual Books and Multicultural Resources: A Practical Manual of Lesson Plans, Literacy Games, and Fun Activities from Around the World to Celebrate Diversity in the Classroom and at Home is available now.