As I reflect on 2018 and all the moments that have happened this past year, I wanted to take some time and reflect on what I hope to focus on for 2019.
First, I want to say that 2018 has been an extremely rewarding year both personally and professionally. In April of 2018, my sister married her best friend and fiance, and so our family expanded! Their wedding was an emotional, beautiful experience and being as though she is my only sister, it was truly one of the best days of our lives as a family.
In July of 2018 I traveled to Europe by myself and got to explore 6 new countries I had never been to before (England, France, Monaco, Italy, Germany and Netherlands)! Through this experience I learned a lot about myself as an individual, an adult and a traveler. I met people from all over the world and traveling by myself in that way truly made me feel like I could conquer anything I set my mind to.
I also began my 4th year teaching in our dual language program and my 4th year getting to work with my exceptional "work wife," whom I am grateful for always! In 2018 I also became our Dual Language Team's first Team Leader, which has become such an eye-opening experience for myself as an educator. I planned my first field trip, and within that, our first field trip for the K/1st grade dual language classes to a bilingual children's show. I feel grateful to get to work with such strong, amazing educators and privileged that I get to learn from and grow professionally alongside them.
Throughout 2018 I also have such fond memories of getting to know some coworkers (whom I now call friends!) better, and getting to experience these relationships outside of work! As I reflect on these experiences, I feel so appreciative to work in a school and environment with people who are friendly, warm, caring, genuine and truly just amazing individuals.
I also had the chance to travel to Cartagena, Colombia with my best friend, which was a wonderful and riveting experience! We laughed, talked about our friendship throughout the years, met people from all over the world, danced, ate amazing food, and discovered a gem of a city in Cartagena! We are both so busy with our studies and careers but decided that we will be taking a trip every year together and making it our own new best friend tradition! I wonder where 2019 will take us...!
Those were just the highlights and I am ending 2018 with a clearer vision of what lies ahead for me professionally and where I see my career heading. I will continue to expand my business, connect with amazing educators via Instagram and other social media platforms and continue to read about bilingual education (my passion!), keep up on the latest trends and research and continue to do the very best I can for my amazing students and their families.
All of these experiences and new adventures have opened my eyes to more of the world and more of what I hope to accomplish as an educator, a Latina, a young adult and an individual living in this (what often seems) chaotic world! With that, I leave you MY word for 2019 - CHALLENGE. I hope to challenge myself as much as I can in my career as a educator, as an teacherpreneur and as a young adult with a clear vision of what I want to achieve in the near future. I will work hard in 2019 to challenge myself to reach those goals and continue to welcome new experiences and adventures with open arms! Big things are coming and I am so excited for the new challenges ahead! Happy New Year, everyone!
What is YOUR one word for 2019?
Monday, December 31, 2018
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Raising a Bilingual Child
It might seem overwhelming thinking about how to raise a child
bilingually. You may be in a household where one spouse knows a different
native language than you, or you may be in a household where you both speak the
same native language but live in a country where another language is the
majority. Can I teach my child a language if I have a full-time job? What if my
child doesn’t want to learn? How can I balance this? What if their native
language suffers? What if they fall behind? These are all natural concerns for
parents and rightfully so! You want the best for your child no matter what. So,
I’m writing this post to give you some tips on how to approach raising a
bilingual child! I base a lot of my recommendations from my own experience as a
dual language teacher, a child who was raised bilingually and from two excellent
books titled “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” by Naomi Steiner and "The Bilingual Edge" by Kendall
Here are MY 6 main tips for raising a bilingual child:
1.
Define your goals as a bilingual parent/household
2. Create a
Bilingual Action Plan (from the book “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” by
Naomi Steiner)
3. Integrate the second language within the technology
already being used in their household (such as iPad apps, YouTube videos,
online books). For example,
these are some great YouTube channels in Spanish to utilize in your home:
c.
Kidsmmersion
4. Read, Read,
Read
a.
A strong foundation in a child’s native
language is a great predictor of their success in their second language
acquisition.
5. Write, Write,
Write (in a meaningful context)
a.
Give children the opportunity to use the
Spanish vocabulary they are learning in a meaningful context (grocery lists,
labels around the house, words around the community, etc).
6. Use the
target language in context (make it fun!)
a.
Whenever possible, create opportunities
for students to use the target language in a meaningful way and most
importantly – make it fun! Language learning should be engaging, exciting and
interactive!
The most important tip I have for language learning is to make it
“comprehensible” which means, to make sure you are doing everything you can for
your child to understand. This is mostly done through using as many visuals
(images, videos, songs, poems) as possible! Remember that language learning is
a long journey and any small stride is a success! Another important aspect of
language learning is for it to be “interactive” – give your child opportunities
to interact with other children who are being raised bilingually (playdates,
outings, etc) and provide them activities where they will be interacting in a
meaningful way with the target language. Therefore, it is crucial for you to
give your children opportunities to produce the language orally and to interact
with other children who are bilingual or being raised bilingually.
Here are some recommended books that are great reads for parents wanting
to or already are raising their children bilingually:
1.
The Bilingual Edge by Kendall King and Alison Mackey
2.
7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child by Naomi Steiner
3.
Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zurer Pearson and Living
Language
Hands-On Centers
One of the focal aspects of our daily routine include our learning centers, math centers and our literacy workshops. An important facet of these centers includes engaging students with exploratory hands-on games and activities that aim at teaching the standards/content area goals for each week! One of the most exciting ways to get students engaged is to #SetTheStageToEngage and provide students with exciting and engaging activities that will have them looking forward to doing that center.
One of the main things that I try to do is include centers related to our thematic units of study. Below are some examples of some centers I have done that are related to our units of study:
Pilgrim/Native American Unit:
Space Unit: I print yellow stars with sight words on them and tape them underneath a table. Students have to lay down under the table and write down 10 sight words on their papers, as if they're looking up at the night sky.
Community Helpers Unit: Each week I organized a mini-dramatic play/literacy center where students got to be construction workers, doctors, vets and bakery chefs. The main literacy focus of the center was to have students find the missing syllable/vowel that completed words that were printed on buildings (construction workers), animals (vets), and pastries (chefs). I set up the area to simulate that occupation and students got to dress up, use tools and record their answers on a corresponding response sheet.
Animal Unit: I bought the caterpillars from Insect Lore and gave each student a butterfly life cycle recording journal. Every few days the students would get an opportunity to record what they were observing through the use of illustrations and words!
Now, of course you won't be able to include these specialized centers every week (just not physically feasible!) but there is an opportunity to make your centers hands-on and engaging every week! With simple things such as including games (spinners, using dice, using manipulatives, using magnetic letters) and with activities that allow students to get up from their chairs and move around! Especially with our dual language learners, I find it so immensely important to create an environment where they are excited about going to centers and being in class that their "affective filter" (Krashen) is lowered and they are at ease and comfortable!
What kind of centers and activities do YOU use in your classroom? Can you think of ways to revamp your centers?
One of the main things that I try to do is include centers related to our thematic units of study. Below are some examples of some centers I have done that are related to our units of study:
Pilgrim/Native American Unit:
- Students get to "fish" for sight words! I have sight words glued onto fish cut-outs and then attach a paper clip to each fish. Students utilize magnetic fishing rods to "fish" the sight word, read it and then write it on their paper.
- I put out Lincoln Logs and images of actual log cabins and homes that the pilgrims/Native Americans used to live in. Students had to utilize the logs to build/recreate those images.
Space Unit: I print yellow stars with sight words on them and tape them underneath a table. Students have to lay down under the table and write down 10 sight words on their papers, as if they're looking up at the night sky.
Community Helpers Unit: Each week I organized a mini-dramatic play/literacy center where students got to be construction workers, doctors, vets and bakery chefs. The main literacy focus of the center was to have students find the missing syllable/vowel that completed words that were printed on buildings (construction workers), animals (vets), and pastries (chefs). I set up the area to simulate that occupation and students got to dress up, use tools and record their answers on a corresponding response sheet.
Animal Unit: I bought the caterpillars from Insect Lore and gave each student a butterfly life cycle recording journal. Every few days the students would get an opportunity to record what they were observing through the use of illustrations and words!
Now, of course you won't be able to include these specialized centers every week (just not physically feasible!) but there is an opportunity to make your centers hands-on and engaging every week! With simple things such as including games (spinners, using dice, using manipulatives, using magnetic letters) and with activities that allow students to get up from their chairs and move around! Especially with our dual language learners, I find it so immensely important to create an environment where they are excited about going to centers and being in class that their "affective filter" (Krashen) is lowered and they are at ease and comfortable!
What kind of centers and activities do YOU use in your classroom? Can you think of ways to revamp your centers?
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