Best Support for Bilingual Paraprofessionals in Early Education
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Please welcome our guest blogger, Kelly Adams! Kelly is the English Language Development PreK Coach for an urban school district in Pennsylvania. The program serves 350 preschoolers and over 30% are identified as Dual Language Learners each year. Her years as a PreK teacher (ages 3-5) and then as an ELD Coach have allowed her to learn about and experience what this specific group of children has to offer and what can help them thrive.
photo courtesy of Bigstock.com
It’s no surprise our Early Childhood classrooms are welcoming more and more Dual Language/Multilingual Learners each year. What can catch us off
guard at times is how to know we’re best supporting them each day to allow their strengths to shine. Below you will find 11 effective strategies to do just that! These are strategies I’ve learned through research in the literal sense and also from a combined twenty years as a preschool teacher and English Language Development PreK Coach in an urban district that serves over 100 PreK Dual Language Learners each year. When partnering with classroom teachers, paraeducators, and our community partner classrooms, this list is a foundational piece of my support to help guide us when reflecting on what is currently happening in the classroom and what could be tweaked to ensure we are doing justice by our young learners who come to us with English as a second language. Each strategy includes a description, explanation of why it’s important specifically for our Dual Language Learners, and a reflection question to help you notice your current reality and adjust as necessary to improve your practice.
1.Do you have classroom routines in place? A classroom without structure or routines can be very dysregulating to your young learners. As soon as there is downtime and they notice, things can rapidly start to fall apart.
Why is it important for DLLs? The first step in language acquisition is listening and observing what the person in charge is saying/doing and what the other classmates are saying/doing. Having routines in place reduces anxiety and empowers them by knowing what is coming next and frees up brain space to focus on new learning.
Reflection: How do your students know what the daily schedule is? Is it posted and at student eye-level? Does it have visuals and are they crisp and large enough to be viewed and understood by all?
2. Are you singing songs? It is tremendously helpful for preschoolers to have songs sung in their environment for specific purposes. For example, you could sing a song at the start of the day when you say hello, when it’s time to clean up, when it’s time to rotate small groups, at the end of the day when you say goodbye, etc.
Why is it important for DLLs? Songs not only help DLLs learn vocabulary such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes”, they also serve as a signal to what is coming next. Be sure to attach motions whenever possible to help store words and routines in their long term memory. Encourage singing but don’t press it. Not all will sing every word and some not at all. Notice who is doing motions, whispering words, and watching others to gain information. Some of your students may be in their Silent Period. The goal of singing is exposing them to the sounds and cadence of language in a fun way.
Reflection: When are you singing each day? What is the goal of each song? Where can you add motions if you don’t already?
Level Up! Ask families of DLLs what special songs they sing at home and incorporate them into your classroom.
3. Are they being exposed to teacher talk? Teacher talk, or what is sometimes referred to as verbal metacognition, is talking about what you’re thinking while doing a task. Another way to describe it is providing an ongoing commentary of activities that are taking place in the classroom in order to expose children to language associated with the immediate context. For example, when looking for something you misplaced in the classroom, you might say aloud, “I thought I put the book I was going to read on my desk, but now I don’t see it. Hmmm (add gesture to model “wondering”), I’m going to look in the library area (point to library area) to see if maybe I left it there by accident. Oh! I found it! (add gesture to model success/accomplishment)”.
Why is it important for DLLs? Exposing children to rich language, whether through daily read-alouds or through teacher talk, has been shown to enhance children’s oral language development. Teacher talk provides yet one more opportunity to bump into language and offer clarity for our DLLs. They won’t have to wonder what you are doing, because you will be telling them. This strategy is also relatable because it is an example of daily, practical use of language.
4. Are you using realia? Realia is described as any real object related to the content the students are learning. For example, if you’re teaching about taking care of pets, you would have a collar, grooming brush, and pet nail clippers as part of your introduction to those vocabulary words. I can’t say enough about the benefits of using realia in a preschool classroom! It is specifically essential for Dual Language Learners. Realia can be used for direct instruction, small groups, games, incidental teaching, and assessment. You need a good inventory of toys, animals, pretend food items, clothes, etc. The more materials you can have to help increase comprehension, the better!
Why is it important for DLLs? Realia provides students with something tangible to increase understanding. It can make the learning experience more memorable and creates connections between objects and vocabulary words or other language concepts which makes it easier to recall information in the future.
Reflection: When could you increase realia in your classroom? Are you using realia only from your culture?
5. Are they moving?
Young learners need movement – it’s how they explore their surroundings and learn from them. Total Physical Response is a tried and true method to increase learning. Even if you have a small classroom, there are lots of movements they can do sitting or standing in one spot. Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of teaching language or vocabulary concepts by using physical movement to react to verbal input. The process mimics the way infants learn their first language. Additionally, it reduces student inhibitions which, in turn, lowers stress. The purpose of TPR is to create a brain link between speech and action to boost language and vocabulary learning. Not sure where to start? Choose a few vocabulary words you’d like your students to learn for a theme and then visit www.handspeak.com to learn them in American Sign Language.
Why is it important for DLL/MLLs? Check out these two videos to learn why:
Reflection: How can you increase movement to enhance language learning in your classroom?
6. Are you playing games?
Preschoolers naturally love playing games. There are early childhood development components that can be pulled out of any game!
Why is it important for DLLs? Games provide a pattern for DLLs to observe and give them confidence to join in and take risks through play. They also encourage rich language input (listening) and output practice (speaking).
Reflection: What’s one lesson you can restructure into a game that you’ll be teaching in the next 2 weeks?
Pro Tip: Keep the architecture of the game the same and adjust for each theme. “I have…Who has?” is a great example of this. The foundation of the game remains the same but the vocabulary words change. This allows students to focus on the learning and not get hung up in the rules of the game.
7. Are you planning both high-energy and quiet activities?
Within the set of short activities you have planned for your class, make sure to have a balance of high-energy games and activities (racing, singing, dancing), as well as calmer activities (breathing exercises, yoga, GoNoodle videos such as “Melting”) to give them the chance to settle down when they need to switch to being more focused.
Why is it important for DLLs? This demonstrates for DLLs of other cultures what activities and voice volumes are appropriate in different environments and at what times.
Reflection: Tally your activities done in a day and decide if they are balanced or need some improvement.
8. Are your activities an age-appropriate time length?
A good rule of thumb: the amount of minutes a preschooler’s attention can be held is equivalent to how many years old they are. WOW, right?! They need very short, varied activities to keep them engaged.
Why is it important for DLLs? Activities that are too long and/or not interactive can cause a DLL to disengage. There is more than meets the eye when a student is quiet and compliant. Same goes for when a student is loud and disruptive.
Reflection: Think about a structure of your day that could be broken down into smaller mini lessons. Ex) Instead of a “cold read” of a book, try an Interactive Read Aloud – 1) activate prior knowledge and introduce essential vocabulary with a personal connection and realia to draw them in 2) read the story with TPR included to get them moving and they’re brains firing 3) short and sweet post-reading review with Turn and Talk and 3 share-outs
9. Are you revising?
Not every activity will go as planned or as well as you hoped. It’s important to take time to reflect on how the lesson went and make adjustments as needed.
Why is it important for DLLs? Being able to access the information being taught is extremely important for DLLs. To access the information means they were able to successfully participate in the activity along with their peers. If they weren’t successfully participating, what can you do differently?
Reflection: Think back to an activity that didn’t goas well as you originally thought it would. How could you tell the lesson needed to be adjusted; what were the students doing/not doing and saying/not saying? How could you have scaffolded it differently for your DLLs to be able to engage better with the learning? This is a great time to include the other adults in your room by checking in with them about their observations and honoring their contributions.
10. Are you recycling?
Preschoolers are active learners and need repetition to make the learning stick (think: spiral curriculum). Everyday is an opportunity to expand on previous learning. What a relief, right?! This means less planning of a multitude of activities. Simply revisit and/or expand on an activity you’ve already done!
Why is it important for DLLs? Repeated exposure allows DLLs to revisit and solidify learning. It also helps them to continue to make connections and develop confidence. Additionally, their communication is enhanced by experiencing repeated modeling of the 5 High Utility Verbs (have, need, like, be, want) and modifiers (-ing, -ly) while being awarded time to practice using these verbs.
Reflection: Is recycling in your current practice? If not, where could you fit it in and how?
11. Are the families participating?
Caregivers are a foundational piece of any Early Childhood program. They should have at least an idea of what learning and activities are happening in your classroom. All families need to see some type of evidence and/or have communication of what is occurring. Try not to assume they are too busy or don’t want to be involved; just ask!
Why is it important for DLLs? Many DLLs have family units that may look differently than what we’re used to seeing or experiencing. Honoring their families’ preferences is seen as very respectful in many, if not all, cultures.
Reflection: How have your families been involved in the past month? Is successful communication a barrier? What translation/interpretation services do you have available to you at your center or school?
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/ttk-supporting-dll.pdf
https://kathyhirshpasek.com/language/
Bolstering Teacher Talk in the Classroom, Haase & Shahadi Rowe (2022) https://www.amazon.com/Bolstering-Vocabulary-Teacher-Talk-Classroom/dp/1032262168
Aukrust, 2007; National Early Literacy Panel, 2008; Bunce & Watkins, 1995; Tabors, 2008
