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Designing Learning Ecologies


How did you spend much of 2020? Hours online? And then came 2021, being both easier and more challenging than we could have ever imagined. Many within and outside the education world agree that the pandemic was a catalyst for change for multiple reasons. It was no longer about how we use technology to provide access to daily lessons or to enhance content and language instruction for our students. Our focus has shifted from how to use technology to support multilingual learners to how to use technology to create digital-age learning ecosystems for them.

Designing complex learning ecologies to advance language development and content knowledge requires that we consider the way we want students to interact with one another, learn by doing, and express their ideas using digital learning resources (Rubin et al., 2022). In our work, we identify several of the key features of digital-age teaching for English learners (or DATELs; see Figure 1) and we advocate for building digital-age learning ecosystems for multilingual learners to accomplish the following:

  • Increase social interaction and engagement
  • Provide authentic communication and contextually rich language practice
  • Reduce the affective filter so that more learning can occur
  • Support scaffolded instruction through digital tools and media
  • Incorporate all six literacy skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing)
  • Emphasize the five Cs for 21st-century ELs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and culture)

Digital-Age Teaching for English Learners (DATELs)

Digital-age teaching for English learners (DATELs) is the outcome of our decade-long work with English learners (ELs) and technology. The DATELs framework represents a wide range of opportunities for technology integration inside and outside of the classroom setting. This framework encourages teachers of ELs to embrace a student-centered, technology-infused approach that increases opportunities for students to have authentic language-learning experiences by engaging in synchronous and asynchronous class activities.

The DATELs framework supports the development of academic skills and content knowledge while also developing language learning in a low-anxiety environment that increases social interaction among all levels of language learners. This framework shifts the focus from traditional direct-instruction models to project-based learning experiences that increase student agency and develop 21st-century skills. A DATELs approach also leverages the use of students’ home languages and cultural experiences every step of the way.

The Five Cs for 21st-Century Learning

The key features of DATELs promote the use of multiple modalities to engage in the five Cs of 21st-century learning: communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and culture. The P21 Framework (2019) led the way to the identification of the four 21st-century skills most important for K–12 learners. These skills became known as the four Cs.

However, we added a fifth C—culture—to include culturally responsive and sustaining practices that recognize and affirm the diversity that all learners bring to the classroom.

We encourage all educators to use the DATELs framework as a starting point to reflect on current practices and take first steps toward creating a digital-age learning environment for a new generation of ELs.

Increasing Student Agency and Engagement

The goal of the DATELs framework is to increase student engagement. Today’s teachers are curators of information and creators of digital content. They design tasks and projects that set groups of students on exciting, technology-infused learning journeys. The DATELs framework outlines the necessary components for an interactive, student-centered learning environment and invites teachers to shift their instructional models to transform classrooms into active learning laboratories. This requires an understanding of project-based learning.
Designing project-based learning activities with the needs of ELs in mind increases access to language-learning opportunities and supports students as they actively engage in the process. At the same time, it helps to bridge the digital divide by supporting the development of essential 21st-century skills. For project-based learning experiences to succeed, educators need to create a sense of belonging for ELs and challenge them to create a product or service to address a concern that connects PBL to their lives, interests, and surroundings (Rubin, 2022).

When designed with intention, your digital-age learning ecosystem will increase student collaboration and communication. Select digital resources that provide more opportunity for ELs to use the target language to accomplish tasks while working alongside their peers. Include carefully curated resources that incorporate multiple modalities to personalize learning and support culturally responsive and sustaining teaching practices.

Designing Your Digital-Age Learning Ecosystem

Carefully designed digital-age learning ecosystems provide students with flexible learning options and choice over how and when they complete tasks. This flexibility, along with curated resources, develops student agency and increases peer interaction. Before you begin to select the appropriate digital learning resources for your classroom, reflect on how these tools will promote student engagement and equitable access to assignments. Empowering students to create and publish multimedia, such as videos, podcasts, e-books, and blogs, helps them to organize and communicate their ideas more clearly and effectively and allows them to reach authentic audiences.

For ELs, the use of images, text, and audio and video assets not only facilitates the acquisition of content-area knowledge but also accelerates the language-learning process by providing a multisensory, multimedia experience for the student.
This type of learning environment promotes student voice and choice while considering the needs of each individual student. Include linguistic, social–emotional, and academic considerations in your decision-making process.
Then, select digital learning resources that you and your students can use together to accomplish a variety of tasks and learning goals.
Consider tools that target different needs, such as:

  • Tools that encourage collaboration and communication between students
  • Tools that allow teachers to manage lessons, create and share content, and connect with colleagues and parents
  • Tools that give students the opportunity to be creative and demonstrate mastery
  • Tools that develop language skills through all six modalities (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing)
  • Tools that allow teachers and students to collect and share information with authentic audiences

Here is an example of categories and digital learning resources to consider when designing your classroom ecosystem:
Look carefully at the digital learning resources you are currently using and think about how you might refine your selections. Here are a few questions to consider:

  • Which digital learning resources do you currently use? Why?
  • In what way do the tools you have selected provide instructional support and more equitable access to learning experiences for English language learners?
  • How do the tech tools you have chosen foster the five Cs for 21st-century learners?
  • What digital literacy skills will your students develop while working within your digital-age learning ecosystem?
  • What challenges do you face in designing and managing your digital-age learning ecosystem? What type of support would be helpful?

Supporting All Six Literacy Domains

Utilizing digital resources not only can help reduce language barriers but also develops students’ abilities to interpret and utilize multiliteracies via the six literacy domains. In 1996, the New London Group coined the term multiliteracies to address how cultural, communicative, and technological changes were impacting educational practices in a globalized society. In 2014, Boche described multiliteracies as follows:

“Multiliteracies recognizes both the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the new globalized society and the new variety of text forms from multiple communicative technologies. There is also the need for new skills to operate successfully in the changing literate and increasingly diversified social environment” (p. 116).

To develop the six literacy domains for the 21st-century language learner, educators need to design learning experiences that provide students with multiple ways to access content and express their ideas, while making connections to spoken and written language through the use of multiple modalities and multiliteracies. Here are a few ideas to think about when designing instruction and integrating technology to support the development of receptive and expressive literacy skills.


Receptive Skills

  • Listening
    Digital media offers ELs the opportunity to listen to authentic language with the ability to control the rate and to pause and repeat the listening activity. ELs can listen to language lessons, story read-alouds, news reports, interviews, and a wide variety of podcasts at any grade level and in multiple languages to experience the target language in context. Platforms like Wonderopolis, News-O-Matic, and Podbean provide various listening opportunities for students.
  • Reading
    English learners can use electronic texts and e-books to interpret and relate information to their own personal experiences. Online digital resources such as Newsela, TumbleBooks, and Common Lit provide information to ELs at a reading level that’s right for them.
  • Viewing
    Viewing requires skills similar to reading comprehension for English learners. Viewing can include everything from images to video presentations. Instructional videos, images, and resources found in platforms such as Discovery Education, Khan Academy, TedED, and YouTube provide multiple modalities for ELs to gain understanding of concepts.

Expressive Skills

  • Speaking
    English learners can express thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively using various forms of digital media to communicate orally. Students can record their own podcasts, provide audio feedback to peers, and narrate digital stories by making use of tools like GarageBand, Anchor, Kaizena, and VoiceThread.
  • Writing
    English learners can communicate through print by using digital learning resources in everyday writing tasks. Students can be authors of e-books, class websites, and blogs. Students can practice writing skills in a more supportive and low-anxiety environment in mediated social networking chats with peers. Platforms such as Storybird, Weebly, Edublogs, and Perusall facilitate writing and collaboration.
  • Visually Representing
    This form of communication requires ELs to collect and organize information, decide on the best way to convey it to others, and produce a visual product to accomplish this communication, often incorporating print and sound (including speech) with the visual images. Tools such as Screencastify, ThingLink, Educreations, and Instagram facilitate communication through the use of visual imagery.

Multiple Forms of Assessment

The digital-age learning environment ensures that ELs have authentic learning experiences, digital tools that facilitate student learning, and multiple ways to show their success in the classroom. When teachers design assessments that include technology, ELs have more ways to demonstrate their learning and more ways to experience success.

A well-designed digital-age learning ecosystem helps transform many traditional assessment practices to assets-based models that better inform instruction and more accurately reflect academic progress. By using multiple forms of assessment, teachers can target students’ performance more effectively, provide modifications and accommodations, and engage in meaningful conversations with students. In a student-centered learning space, those conversations start by creating positive feedback loops.

Hattie (2009) suggests, “The teacher provides supportive feedback and helps students to learn by acknowledging and using the student’s prior knowledge and experiences, and monitoring to check if students know what is being taught, what is learnt, or what is produced” (p. 6).
This is one essential element for assessment. Another essential assessment practice for the digital age is the use of student-created learning portfolios that provide evidence of mastery and measure student growth over time.

Authentic assessments that incorporate digital learning resources and set clear expectations allow ELs to show what they know and what they have accomplished. Teachers can design equitable and fair assessments that are scaffolded to provide multiple access points to content while lowering the language barrier, thereby making learning more visible.

Digital resources can deliver content and assess student performance in ways that traditional methods cannot for ELs. Traditional methods are largely text-based and limit ELs from participating effectively in academic discourse. When the right technology tool is integrated into content-rich, collaborative learning activities and assessments, it provides multisensory access to that content and increases student engagement and motivation.

The following are some ideas to effectively implement technology to deliver content and to assess student performance.

The use of video discussion platforms like Flip encourages ELs to capture their ideas to post video responses to classroom topics. Student-created speaking rubrics can assess content knowledge and language skills and allow students to take ownership of their learning.

Technology resources and online polling tools allow for comprehension checks. Resources such as Google Forms, Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet, and Gimkit can show what students have learned, increase participation for ELs, and inform instruction.

Virtual collaboration boards like Padlet, Jamboard, and Exit Ticket allow students to easily share their work by posting text, images, links, or videos to answer questions, extend discussions, and demonstrate what they’ve retained at the end of a lesson.

Digital portfolios such as Seesaw empower ELs to document their learning by inserting images, videos, drawings, texts, links, and voice recordings to reflect, revise, and complete their work. Students are given a voice and a choice when selecting the work they feel best represents their learning over the course of the school year.

When teachers design authentic assessments and set achievable goals and outcomes, it not only improves instructional practices but supports student growth and diversity. It is essential that teachers implement fair and equitable assessments to ensure progress is measured and the integration of technology prepares our students for the future.

Conclusion

As we reflect on how best to prepare our English learners for the digital age, we must consider how we provide all learners with equitable access to content knowledge and 21st-century skills within a culturally responsive and sustaining environment. We must also ensure that students can transfer their newly acquired knowledge to career skills and lifelong learning. This type of student-centered learning requires the use of creative, original thinking to find solutions to real-life problems. An important step toward achieving this type of classroom is the intentional design of digital-age learning ecologies that develop multiliteracies and incorporate multimodalities for our 21st-century language learners.

References

Boche, B. (2014). “Multiliteracies in the Classroom: Emerging conceptions of first-year teachers.” Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 10(1), 114–135. http://jolle.coe.uga.edu
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge.
New London Group. (1996). “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing social futures.” Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–93. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
Partnership for 21st Century Learning (2019). “Framework for 21st Century Learning.” www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/frameworks-resources
Rubin H., Estrada, L., and Honigsfeld, A. (2022). Digital-Age Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Equitable Learning for All Students. Corwin Press.
Rubin, H. (2022). “PBL and ELs: An essential practice for equity and digital age teaching.” Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2022/01/pbl-and-els-an-essential-practice-for-equity-and-digital-age-teaching

Heather Rubin is an administrator for the NYSED L.I. RBERN at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, where she designs professional learning experiences for K–12 educators.

Andrea Honigsfeld is TESOL professor at Molloy University and author/consultant. https://andreahonigsfeld.com

Lisa Estrada is the former supervisor of TESOL, bilingual education, and world languages in Hicksville Public Schools.

Italian Watchdog Rejects Gender-Neutral Symbols


The institutional language “guardian” of Italy has decided that the country’s court system should continue to use traditional language and avoid adopting the “novelty” of gender- neutral terms and symbols in official documents.  

Equal opportunities committee the Corte di Cassazione — the highest appeals body in Italy, asked The Accademia della Crusca to provide an official opinion on inclusive language to illustrate a national debate over gender issues and political correctness.

Beautiful young woman whispering a secret into her boyfriend's ear

Like many other Latin-based languages, nouns in Italian can use a feminine or masculine form, however the masculine form tends to take precedence with the use of plurals. 

Surrounded by controversy, some see this as an expression of a dominant patriarchy and support the introduction of gender-neutral noun endings — most importantly relevant to the LGBTQ+ community and those identifying as non-binary. Gender-neutral terms have previously included the ‘@’ sign, and more currently feature as asterisks or the phonetic term schwa — visually presented as an inverted e. 

Proving popular and easiest to define in terms of gender-neutrality, the schwa is easily recognizable as a sound and it has its own plural: the long schwa.

Removing an ending entirely has been proposed as another option. For example a letter to a man or a woman would no longer start with caro or cara (dear), but with the gender neutral car, which would also replace the plural cari. 

In response to the Corte di Cassazione, the Accademia della Crusca strongly rejected these changes for legal documents, arguing that they would be false and supported only by minority groups —”however well intentioned”.

In an opinion-based document first reported in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the Academia said “Legal language is not the right place for minority innovative experiments” — adding the Italian masculine plural form remains “the best instrument” to collectively represent “all genders and orientations.” They also acknowledged a wider use of the feminine form for professional titles.

Activists warn Russian languages are disappearing faster than data suggests

Activists in Russia have warned that hundreds of rare languages spoken by Russia’s ethnic and indigenous minorities are disappearing at an alarming rate. 

It is thought by linguistic experts that these languages are becoming obsolete even more quickly than recently-published census data suggests as language policies in Moscow are doing little to preserve the linguistic diversity of the country as a whole. 

In October 2022, Russia lost one of its last indigenous speakers of Aleut – a language native to the Kamchatka region of Russia’s Far East and Alaska. Gennady Yakovlev who passed away aged 86, was one of the last few native speakers of the Mednyj Aleut language, predominantly spoken on Bering Island. 

Speaking to The Moscow Times, Tatar language activist Marsel Ganiev said “The number of people who identify-themselves as non-Russian and consider their native tongue, their primary tongue is declining year by year, because the space for using these languages is shrinking dramatically”.

Official data from the 2021 census shows that linguistic diversity is in rapid decline, the situation is thought to be considerably worse at community-level.

Other Russian Far Eastern languages that appear to be close to extinction are Kerek and Central Siberian Yupik. Both languages are native to the Chukotka region and are recorded as having just one remaining speaker of each.

Russia counts 193 ethnic groups in total, speaking over 270 languages and dialects as reported by official statistics. The most linguistically diverse groups can be found among the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus, Siberia, the Far East and the Russian Far North.

In 2021, census data indicated that the number of speakers of almost all of Russia’s minority and indigenous languages has declined over the last decade.

From 2010 to 2021, the number of Chuvash speakers (a Turkic language spoken primarily in and around the republic of Chuvashia in Russia’s Volga region)  dropped severely from over 1 million speakers to 700,000. In the same time frame, Karelian – a Finnic language spoken in the northwestern republic of Karelia, lost more than 11,000 speakers.

Despite the amount of useful data collected by censuses, experts are debating their accuracy when it comes to monitoring linguistic diversity. 

Linguist and co-founder of the digital platform Country of Languages Vasiliy Kharitonov said “The number of speakers of the vast majority, or maybe even all, languages of Russia’s minorities is declining rapidly and that’s no secret,” – adding “But I’m not sure we can assess these dynamics through censuses.”

Despite the rich linguistic diversity in Russia, there is limited policy directed at minority languages and therefore few measures ensuring the protection of indigenous and native tongues. 

Existing programs are often hindered by a lack of funding, a shortage of specialists and bureaucratic drawbacks. As there is currently no government department dedicated to language policy, it is handled by the Education Ministry. 

In Russian government and education, there is a big push towards monolingualism, but language activists and educators are working towards a greater demand for minority language learning. Some believe the war in Ukraine may fuel this process. 

Marsel Ganiev, who additionally runs a Telegram channel for Tatar-language users said “Interest in Tatar has certainly grown since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine” – “People have become more interested in their ethnic identity and want to identify less as Russians and Russian-speakers”. 

Why Focus on Monolingual Solutions to Improve Biliterate Reading?


Most dual language programs across the country have felt the increased focus and attention on the teaching of reading. What should the learning environment look like in classrooms that put the science into practice? How should teachers allocate instructional minutes to reflect the science? What instructional resources and practices should be considered if the science is to shape how all students are granted access to reading instruction with evidence of yielding results? The increased focus has been a long-overdue conversation with huge implications and potential for all stakeholders. However, many conversations aimed at answering these questions are still largely dominated by monolingual stakeholders and centered on research on monolingual reading and monolingual readers. This begs another question—if at the core of dual language programming is the need for equity and access to an educational approach that helps students succeed in becoming bilingual, biliterate, and academically successful in two languages, then why are so many schools focusing on monolingual systems and solutions to improve bilingual and biliterate reading results?


I choose to believe that proponents of the science of the monolingual reading brain have overgeneralized the findings to include dual language and emergent bilingual students out of the best of intentions. After all, we do need a shared definition of effective teaching and learning of reading across classrooms. However, this shared definition must reflect a deep understanding of the science of the bilingual reading brain that matches the distinct student populations, program models, and languages found in our classrooms. Unfortunately, many dual language teachers are asked to work from a monolingual definition as they build a monolingual understanding of research that has been conducted with monolingual readers through district-wide professional learning with the idea that they will simply implement what is learned in two languages. But ensuring dual-language students are successful in becoming biliterate readers, writers, and thinkers is much more complex than teaching reading in the same monolingual way in two languages. What’s more is that teaching reading in the same way in two languages but with the same number of instructional minutes is not even mathematically possible. Dual language and emergent bilingual programs need bilingual and biliterate reading solutions with systems designed to account for the range of factors needed for those solutions to work within these complex spaces.


Dual language and emergent bilingual teachers and leaders need the opportunity, time, and dedicated attention to develop their own deep understanding of the science of the bilingual reading brain if they are to achieve biliterate reading goals. To build this understanding and capacity, most of the dual language schools with whom we partner provide their stakeholders from the cabinet to the classroom with focused professional learning around the science of the bilingual reading brain. This foundational learning is vital to shifting teacher practice and ensuring that the science of the bilingual reading brain lives in the classroom. However, these “one and done” professional development opportunities rarely create systematic and lasting change or improvement. Instead of relying on just this stand-alone professional learning, many of our dual language partnerships heed the words of Robert Collier, who said that “success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Effectively designed coaching cycles that reflect an understanding of the science of the bilingual reading brain are one way schools are supporting dual language teachers in their day-to-day effort to shift their practice.


Dual language teachers can deepen their understanding of the “sum of small efforts” using the evidence of biliterate reading results. These efforts center on holistically examining bilingual and biliterate progress by using authentic student work, day in and day out, during team meetings. Although team meetings are often left out of the conversation, these widely used practices hold the key to how schools can account for the range of factors needed for dual language teachers to use curricula, plan instruction, and respond to data within and across languages in ways that reflect the science of the bilingual reading brain.


For many of our school partners, the protocol “Looking at Dual Language and Emergent Bilingual Student Work” (Guilamo, Dual Language Data Framework®, 2022) is a natural place to begin this day-to-day effort needed to build a deep understanding of the science of the bilingual reading brain. Why? Well, the protocol itself stems from and leads teams to the science of what gives dual language and emergent bilingual students a biliterate reading advantage. It does so by asking teams to regularly examine student work throughout the year using three distinct lenses, or sorts. The first lens is focused on learning. The second shifts teams’ attention to access to and opportunity for that learning. The third empowers teams to engage in a close examination of how students use language as they communicate their learning, and the implication of those language choices on more responsive instructional decisions that teachers must make.


The first lens focuses on who is learning. When we partner with schools around this holistic examination of student work, we often must take a step back. To examine or know who is learning, teams must first be clear on what it is that students must learn. When teams understand what dual language and emergent bilingual students must learn at different stages of their biliterate reading trajectories, powerful shifts are possible. What we find is that teams begin to understand just how important things like transfer and cross-linguistic connections are through this first lens. At times, this aha moment happens when teams notice that both partner language teachers are supposed to teach the same priority learning standard to mastery, so students are learning it in both languages. These teams inevitably find themselves trying to understand why students would need to learn one-to-one correspondence, how to ask and answer questions, or how to form and make meaning of compound words twice. At other times, the first lens brings teams to their own sense of urgency to find a solution for how to plan for students to transfer their learning when the sequence for learning in each language lives in isolation.


Using the same student work, teams then shift their attention to the second lens—the lens of access and opportunity. Through this second sort teams examine how the approach or strategies selected to teach the priority learning reflect the evidence of what is needed to provide dual language and emergent bilingual students with every advantage and opportunity to learn it. This is where the science of the bilingual reading brain truly comes to life. Fundamentally, teams must look at the patterns of learning from sort one to determine the extent to which the instructional approach or strategy helped all students be successful in that learning. For many of the teams we coach, it is through the second sort that they begin to understand exactly whom the science of the monolingual reading brain is serving. Often, this realization happens when teams repeatedly see that emergent bilingual and dual language student work is being identified as “not learning yet.” Even teams that begin by responding to this pattern with monolingual approaches and strategies eventually start to explore other methods and evidence of what will work to change that pattern. But they only get there when student work is regularly examined throughout the year as an essential part of the team structure itself. When this happens, this second lens urges and “appeal[s] to… [team members’] sense of how to think about these things within the context of what you do” (García, p. 4) in dual language and emergent bilingual spaces. It is the lens that opens the door to the systematic integration and planning of practices that support the oracy, transfer, and metalinguistic awareness needed for dual language students to truly become biliterate readers, writers, and thinkers.


While the second lens ensures that the science of the bilingual reading brain is used to shape evidence-based practices and approaches, it is the third lens that creates a true biliterate reading advantage for each dual language and emergent bilingual student. The third lens empowers teacher teams to take a closer look at student work for the sole purpose of learning from students’ language choices about how to best respond to them. For me, it is the lens of examining still at work that I find to be magical. I say this because it is through the third lens that teams of teachers begin to see the undeniable truth of what the science has been trying to tell us. Becoming bilingual and biliterate “is a lot more complex than just two languages… [and the] language practices, in which all bilinguals are engaged, are completely interconnected” (García, p. 4). It is during this stage of examining student work that teachers put their asset-based lenses to the test. When I work with schools, we must often have frank conversations about what we have typically labeled as errors. These so-called errors are identified during the third sort to understand them better. In doing so, what most teams find is that what we typically call errors are not errors at all. Rather, they are approximations of spelling patterns, word choices, grammatical rules, and discourse features that can be explained by how each of these things works in the partner language. It is fascinating to watch the collaboration between partner language teachers and English dual language or monolingual teachers as they work together to identify and understand the spelling or grammar approximations found in student work that can be explained by how English (as an orthographic, morphologic, or language system) works.

And it is equally captivating to observe the curiosity and awe of monolingual teachers as they work alongside dual language teachers to identify and understand the spelling or grammar approximations found in student work that can be explained by how Spanish, Arabic, Haitian-Creole, and so on operate as well. It is through this third lens of examining student work that teams begin to internalize that the vast majority of what we call errors in decoding and encoding are simply the inconvenient ways that our language system is always whispering to our reading mind.


Teams are empowered by developing this deeper understanding of how the language choices students make not only reflect their language development but also offer insight into the reading skills that have been solidified. This depth of understanding provides teams with more accurate and specific details of the precise instructional path that is needed in the moment. It is the kind of responsiveness to learning partnered with systematic biliterate reading instruction that our dual language and emergent bilingual students need us to provide.
The science of monolingual reading and dual language programs share an important goal of working to create greater equity for students who have not been allowed access to evidence-based instruction. Yet using a one-size-fits-all solution for what that will look like in the classroom was never intended. In fact, and quite ironically, for many dual language programs, this monolingual-fits-all solution and approach is producing greater inequities. But this does not need to be the reality. This reality is already shifting for those program providers willing to listen to all the science needed to give students a bilingual and biliterate reading advantage and to adapt the systems designed to ensure that advantage is realized.

Alexandra Guilamo is a dual language expert, author, keynote speaker, and chief equity and achievement officer at TaJu Educational Solutions (a company dedicated to professional development, coaching, and technical support for DL and bilingual programs). Visit www.tajulearning.com or follow Alexandra @TajuLearning on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Creating a Community of Readers


Ruben Alejandro, superintendent of an economically challenged district, shares his secrets for getting students—and their parents—reading.

I was born and raised in Weslaco, a city of about 35,000 that sits in the Rio Grande Valley about eight miles north of the Texas/Mexico border. I have worked as an educator in Weslaco Independent School District since 1977 and have been the superintendent of schools there since 2012. I know the potential of the students, and I know the perception of the Valley outside the area. We serve a mobile population of 17,500 students at eleven elementary schools, four middle schools, two “regular” high schools, one early college high school, and one alternative, self-paced school. Our students are 98.5% Hispanic, 86% economically disadvantaged, and 30% migrant. About 30% of Weslaco students are English language learners (ELLs). One of the ways we are preparing our kids for college and careers is by creating a community of readers.

Here’s how we’re doing it.

Teaching for the Future

We are preparing kids for an uncertain future. One thing we do know is that our average student will change careers seven times in his or her lifetime. We want to prepare our kids for the positions that will be available in the next five to ten years. In our part of Texas, many of those jobs will be related to space exploration. Space X is building a launch pad near Brownsville, Texas, where the first Mars colony is rumored to be launching. For the past couple of years, our academic calendar has been themed on the Mars colony. Because we always want to be futuristic, this year’s theme is “Weslacoland,” alluding to the movie Tommorowland.

To give our students the best possible chances at success in a changing world, when I became superintendent of schools in the summer of 2012, I put together a team of administrators, parents, and teachers to create a vision for the district called Empowering 21st-Century Learners. We are making our vision a reality in two ways. For students, we are teaching communication, collaboration, and creative and critical thinking through project-based learning. With these 21st-century skills, if they want to, they can go from being plumbers to lawyers over the course of their lifetimes. We teach robotics and STEAM starting in kindergarten and are now including three- and four-year-olds. With the help of an engineer, our youngest students are building a Mars rover—a modular car that they can put together and drive. The rover will have a handle that controls a claw so students can learn by picking up blocks with numbers and letters on them. We will have mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and systems engineers to help build the rover and take it through an obstacle course. As far as I know, nobody in the world is bringing this level of STEAM and robotics to three- and four-year-olds.

For our staff, we are providing professional development to build tech literacy for everyone who works at Weslaco ISD. Everybody gets tech training, including custodians, security officers—anyone who comes into contact with our students. For our “tech illiterate” employees, we start with Tech Bingo, so they can just get used to seeing the logos of the technology that students are using. We all have a responsibility to learn as much as we can, because all of us are working together to help our children.

Training Digital Citizens

We want all of our students to have access to online learning resources, but we can’t afford a 1:1 initiative. Instead, we have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy. We give everyone at school internet access via our filtered network. And because our entire staff has been trained in technology, they provide a safety net to make sure students are using the web responsibly. On top of this, all of our campuses constantly teach digital citizenship. One of our campuses is a Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certified School, and we are working to get all of our campuses certified.

Helping Kids Read Before They Can Walk

I have a strong focus on early learning, and a big part of that is early literacy. About two and a half years ago, the district started using an online library (myON) for K–8 reading, and then we worked with the company to launch an initiative called Zero to Three: Weslaco Reads, so kids who are 0–3 can download books and read them, too. The program highlights and pronounces words, and one can change the speed of reading so young kids can get started at their own pace. Our initial three-year pilot has been extended for another three years, It’s not only students who are using the program. We have seen parents who didn’t speak English start using the same books as their kids to learn the language. Studies show that children who succeed in school should hear 21,000 words a day, so we encourage our parents to talk to their children as much as possible and to encourage them to use complete sentences. If they want a glass of milk, we want them to say, “Mom, I want a glass of milk.” We have students and parents who speak English, Spanish, and a mixture I call Tex Mex. Students who speak Tex Mex don’t learn proper English or proper Spanish, and our hope is that giving them 24/7, anytime, anywhere access to digital or printed reading material will give them the push they need to learn both languages correctly. This year, we formed a partnership with Head Start to help three- and four-year-olds who are economically disadvantaged and have challenges.

Weslaco early childhood teachers go to Head Start locations and teach there for half a day every day. Now when these kids come into public schools, they’ll already be reading. We are looking at extending this program to two-year-olds, and we want to provide curriculum to kids as young as one.To keep all of our students reading, we have reading and writing camps during Christmas, spring, and summer breaks. Kids can go to the library and download books to read for free. We have a competition called the Millionaire Club, which pushes kids to read a million words. Over last Christmas break, we had one little girl who read 40 books. We also have writing competitions to get students writing for pleasure and to prepare for state assessments.

Connecting with the Community

Our entire community is working together to keep our students reading. Our local public library system partners with us on the reading and writing camps. They give kids somewhere to go when they are not in school, and we help them with a staffing issue by having school librarians work in the public libraries when needed. This also means that students who go to the public library see familiar faces. The libraries have Family Literacy Nights in fall and spring; students bring their parents at night to show them the work they are doing. Kids can buy books, and parents are eager to buy books for them. We also have a partnership in the works with a local hospital. We want to put posters and pushcards in pediatricians’ and obstetricians’ offices, showing how anybody can log onto myON using any mobile device. The more access to the internet students have, the greater the development of literacy is going to be, so we are working with businesses and the city to reach our goal of providing connectivity to 100% of our students. When he heard our plans, our mayor said that he wanted to help provide connectivity not just within the city but to all of our remotest students who live outside the city limits, too. We are partnering with vendors to get the infrastructure for free. We are looking at towers with a range of 18 miles. Once we pull this off, it will be the first of its kind, anywhere. We want everyone to have access because, when students access the internet, their understanding will depend on how much literacy development they’ve had and how early they were exposed to it.

We are also looking to partner with a local bank to provide $200 loans for students to purchase Chromebooks. Their parents would co-sign the loans, and students would pay off these loans, with interest, within a year. This plan would mean we wouldn’t have to depend only on BYOD in our classrooms. It would also develop students’ financial literacy, and they would care for their Chromebooks because they would own them. My next plan is to do a spin-off of the national Everybody Reads day. On the birthday of our community next December, I want to do Weslaco Reads One Book, where everyone in town uses myON to download a book called VIPs of the Barrio, which was written by our former mayor. This will give us a focal point for a roundtable discussion where students can learn about the birth of the community, and it will inspire them to read other historical books. We are doing everything we can to keep not just our students but all the residents of Weslaco reading. We want them to develop vocabulary and comprehension of science, math, and social studies terms. We want our kids to be CEOs, so we’re starting to build their literacy from birth and supporting them through the day they retire.

Dr. Ruben Alejandro is a 1972 graduate of Weslaco High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and biological sciences as well as a PhD in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin. His master’s degree in educational supervision is from the University of Texas Pan American. Since 1977, he has worked for Weslaco ISD in positions including chemistry and biology teacher, district technology-curriculum coordinator, federal programs director, assistant superintendent, and deputy superintendent. He was named superintendent of schools in 2012.

Spain leads digital reading revolution in Spanish language market

Results from recent data on digital reading show that Spain currently tops charts in the Spanish-speaking world for numbers of digital readers and book sales. 

According to the Annual Digital Book Report released by digital culture and education platform Libranda, Spain sells the most digital books in the entire Spanish speaking diaspora, beating Mexico and the United States.

The report concluded that Spain is responsible for 66.3% of digital book sales in Spanish, and identified a thriving Spanish digital book market as a whole. Globally, the market saw a  4% increase in 2022, and a 5% increase in Spain alone. €119 million was taken in overall digital Spanish book sales last year, with €79 million of that coming from Spain. 

In Europe, Spain is quietly sailing towards a digital revolution of its own, becoming the latest European country to offer Digital Nomad visas for remote workers. The government initiative ‘Digital Spain 2025’ has objectives of mass digital platforming and connectivity in business, tourism, agriculture, finance and further economic digitization. 

Educa en Digital – a separate strategic initiative approved by the Council Ministers of Spain, began in the academic year 20/21 and aims to support the digital transformation of the education sector in Spain. 

It identifies shortfalls in the education system due to dated frameworks and recognizes vulnerable communities and students, and those more likely to be left behind in digital innovation. 

Educa en Digital as a whole has establishes assistance platforms for teachers, students and educational authorities through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), 

promoting a more personalised approach to education and training. In doing so, there are objectives to close three major digital educational gaps in: access to technology, the quality of use of digital tools and adequate training to develop and use digital tools in the context of information and communication technology (ICT) skills.

Reading Materials

World Of Reading

For over 30 years, World of Reading has offered readers in a variety of languages from publishers worldwide—from Albanian to Vietnamese books. They have readers for preschool, elementary, middle and high school, college, and modern and classic adult fiction. They offer bilingual and monolingual readers. They have affordable paperback editions and durable hardback editions. Some of the readers include glossaries and/or activities for vocabulary, reading comprehension, and extension. Other readers offer workbooks and/or teacher guides. Some series offer graded levels of readers, and many include downloadable audio. Some readers may cover certain themes or topics and others relate to science, math or technology, great for immersion programs. Whether a teacher is looking for readers for a beginner level, intermediate, or advanced, translations or authentic literature, they have it covered. Teachers want engaging readers to motivate their students. World of Reading can help them find the best readers for their needs.
www.wor.com/pages/foreign-language-and-esl-books-and-games

VOCES DIGITAL

Voces Digital, a division of Teacher’s Discovery, offers online language curricula to world language teachers in the US. They have recently developed Our Storyscape, a digital EFL curriculum designed for native Spanish speakers. With a focus on stories and storytelling, as well as culture, authentic materials, and assessment, Our Storyscape provides a strong foundation for language development and acquisition in levels A1 and A2. Try it out and start a 30-day free trial today. 
https://ourstoryscape.com

Educational Academic Publishing

Build a functional mastery of the English language in one year or less.
Direct Instruction Spoken English (DISE) is the answer to English language acquisition. The program addresses the needs of English language learners by building their knowledge of English through carefully designed, systematic oral instruction. Designed for students ten years or older who have an understanding of basic concepts in their first language, DISE is a systematic, mastery-based program that introduces and practices the essentials of spoken English:

  • Semantics—word and language meaning
  • Syntax—grammar and word order
  • Pragmatics—the contexts in which different types of language are appropriate (such as informal vs. formal language).

All instruction is delivered in English, fully scripted in a teacher presentation book. All student material is in the form of displays that are projected or viewed on a tablet or computer screen.
Learn more about DISE at eapublish.com or email them at [email protected].

Crabtree Publishing

For over 45 years, Crabtree Publishing has been a trusted source for pre-K–9+ curriculum books and resources. Each resource blends accuracy, immediacy, and eye-catching illustration with the goal of inspiring nothing less than a lifelong interest in reading and learning in children.

Beautifully illustrated books and educational resources on curriculum subjects include animals, cultures, life and physical sciences, geography, history, mathematics, digital technology, social–emotional learning, and biographies. Colorful and entertaining fiction has also become a strong part of Crabtree’s product line for young readers.

Crabtree’s imprint lines feature early and emergent reading, hi–lo, and nonfiction titles to support pre-K–9 curriculum. Leveled fiction, first chapter books, and high-interest reading are among Crabtree’s collections that support classroom and independent reading. The Sunshine picture books, Blossoms beginning readers, and Leaves chapter book imprints feature new illustrated fiction to help build reading skills and support comprehension at each stage of development.

Crabtree’s Little Honey phonics collection features new decodable readers, phonics readers, and phonics words to help children build phonics skills to become successful readers.

The books are published in a variety of world language options such as Spanish, Creole, and French, as well as in e-book and read-along formats.

To learn more about Crabtree’s reading imprints, visit www.crabtreebooks.com.

OKAPI EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING

Okapi Educational Publishing™ provides resources for developing the literacy of K–5 students. Okapi is committed to offering products built on best-practice instruction, helping teachers ignite learning and ensure their students exceed standards. Okapi’s award-winning and engaging materials give children a purpose for their reading and inspire further inquiry. With materials closely correlated to the College and Career Readiness Standards, Okapi fulfills its mission of creating real-world literacy for real-world kids with real-world results. Okapi meets diverse student needs through flexible, high-quality instructional resources, currently in use nationwide in a range of programs and a variety of instructional settings. Their resources will empower each student to take responsibility for their own literacy and language growth, producing powerful results.
https://myokapi.com

Saddleback Educational Publishing

The Story of America
Saddleback Educational Publishing has launched a dynamic collection of hi–lo nonfiction handbooks paired with historical fiction books created to depict the diverse perspectives of the peoples, cultures, voices, and stories that created America.

Ideal for middle school and high school multilevel classrooms, the pair of box sets covers US history from the earliest peoples through 2022. Each box set features six nonfiction handbooks and 30 historical fiction books to really engage students in reading about their own history. To help learners put their reading into context and overcome comprehension difficulties, each box set comes with three boxes of informational cards covering vocabulary, people and groups, and timelines.

Instructional support guides are also available with lesson plans suitable for whole classes, small groups, or partners. The guides feature in-depth lesson plans along with graphic organizers and quizzes.

The box sets are a welcome collection of historical reading matter presented in a digestible format and written at an accessible reading level (3.0 to 4.5) that is engaging for middle school and high school striving learners of all backgrounds.
www.sdlback.com/TSOA

We Love to Read Challenge

Seesaw, the interactive learning platform for pre-K–5, recently launched its first-ever We Love to Read Challenge to ignite excitement around reading across the country. Through May 2023, Seesaw is motivating classrooms to track their weekly reading progress to earn exciting rewards along the way. Research says that reading 20 minutes a day impacts students’ long-term academic success, but celebrations and rewards can help too. Weekly participation in the We Love to Read Challenge unlocks rewards, such as special celebrations from Learning Turtle, student certificates, virtual student events with book authors, and the chance to win free books. Each week, participating teachers will receive a We Love to Read Challenge email containing a weekly reading bite to complete with their students. Those who complete the bite-sized reading idea are automatically entered into the giveaway for that week.

All Seesaw teachers receive the weekly challenge emails automatically; however, they can sign up on the challenge’s landing page as well. Here’s how to get your classroom challenge-ready:

  • Get your classroom printables set up (student bookmark, classroom banner, and classroom poster).
  • Open your weekly We Love to Read Challenge email that delivers a bite-sized reading idea.
  • Each week, try the new reading idea with your classroom to keep reading motivation high!

For those participating in the We Love to Read Challenge, be sure to tag Seesaw and use #WeLovetoRead when sharing pictures or videos to social media.
https://web.seesaw.me

African folk tales re-imagined in 9 different languages

A set of newly reworked African folk tales has been launched on Netflix. The anthology of stories retold by a new generation of six storytellers has been produced in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The six short films were made as part of a collaboration by Netflix and UNESCO to specifically support an emerging generation of storytellers, including a budget of $90,000 and creative guidance from established filmmakers and mentors. 

From an open-call for submission in 2021, the group of filmmakers were finally selected following over 2000 applications from 13 different  countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Six applicants were eventually chosen and will represent Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritania, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – working in 9 different languages respectively, including: Hausa, KiSwahili, Runyankole, ciGogo, Hassaniya Arabic, isiXhosa, French, and English.

With subject matters ranging from healthcare and the pandemic to mystery, fantasy and virtual worlds with the backdrop of classic African folk tales, the project unites history, culture, creativity and linguistic diversity. 

Tendeka Matatu, director of Film for Netflix in Africa said “We are excited to finally bring this anthology of short films created by the next generation of African storytellers to Netflix members around the world”—“This initiative is a testament to our ongoing efforts to strengthen the pipeline of African storytelling and to include voices from underrepresented communities.”  

He added “We’re grateful for our partners at UNESCO who walked this journey with us to provide an opportunity for the six emerging African filmmakers to create and showcase their reimagined folk tales to the world, in their own languages, so that more people can see their lives reflected on screen.”

The competition marked a progressive step towards creative equity as part of the Netflix Creative Equity Fund,  aiming to provide a creative platform for people from underrepresented communities within entertainment, with hopes of bringing their perspectives to a global audience.

Ernesto Ottone R., the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture said in a statement “UNESCO is proud to present the tales of Africa, reimagined by its emerging, homegrown talents. At the crossroads of tradition, innovation, heritage and creativity, African expressions in the twenty-first century are as diverse and dynamic as its people. The UNESCO-Netflix partnership represents our shared commitment to the audiovisual industries of Africa, which have the potential to generate US$20 billion in revenues annually. African creativity is a force for sustainable development, and we cannot wait for the audiences around the world to feel its unstoppable energy.”

De Facto Bilingual Education


It has been hypothesized that successful bilingual education rests on three pillars (Krashen, 1996):

  • Pillar 1: Helping children learn to read in their first language. It is easier to learn to read in a language you understand, and this competence facilitates learning to read in the second language. For example, Dow, Krashen, and Tinajero (2009, 2010) reported that better reading in the first language (Spanish) in second grade was clearly related (r=.52) to better reading in the second language (English) in sixth grade. In other words, literacy transfers. One reason for this is that reading results in knowledge, and the knowledge readers obtain through reading in their first language can make reading in the second language more comprehensible.
  • Pillar 2: Teaching subject matter in the primary (first) language. Those with better knowledge of subject matter, e.g., math, will do better when it is subsequently taught in the second language. They will understand more, learn more math, and consequently also improve in the second language.
  • Pillar 3: Comprehensible input in English, typically done through classes in English as a second language. Programs that provide these three pillars work very well; in fact, they result in more competence in English than all-English immersion programs (McField and McField, 2014). How do we explain cases of successful acquisition of English without bilingual education? At least some of them had de facto bilingual education: the pillars were provided and strengthened but in ways not typically done in school programs. The following case is an example.

Ramon
Ramon (described in Henkin and Krashen, 2015) arrived in the US when he was 14 years old. He had reached only sixth grade in Mexico, but was placed in ninth grade in the US because of his age. His school in the US did not offer bilingual education, only extra help (“accommodation”) in subject-matter classes taught in English. But Ramon made excellent progress, doing well in his classes and nearly reaching the reclassification level at the end of his second year in the US. I propose that this was because Ramon had de facto bilingual education, and the “de facto” element was light literature.

Ramon acquired basic Spanish literacy in Mexico in grades 1–6. He also acquired important but unusual subject-matter knowledge that made input in English more comprehensible though what may be considered a “light” source: television.

While growing up in Mexico, Ramon was a regular viewer of a TV show about a teenage ninja, Naruto, presented in Spanish. Halfway through his first year in the US, Ramon discovered that Naruto comic books (manga) were available in his school library. He became a dedicated reader of Naruto comics in English (Pillar 3). Thanks to watching Naruto on TV in Mexico in Spanish, he was very familiar with the character and his history, which made the comics more comprehensible and of course more interesting. Naruto TV programs functioned as Pillar 2, giving him information that made English input more comprehensible. After exhausting the school library’s supply, he went to the public library to get more Naruto comic books.

As time went on, Ramon expanded his reading selections as his English improved, a case of comic book reading leading to more reading in general (see Ujiie and Krashen, 1996). Henkin and Krashen tell us that Ramon began reading the Rick Riordan Olympians series, starting with The Lightning Thief. He learned a great deal of subject matter through this self-selected reading, as well as acquiring more English. His reading habit in English helped his acquisition of English and increased his knowledge of a variety of topics.

The Wikipedia entry on Naruto informs us that Naruto books “make use of cultural references from Japanese mythology and Confucianism.”
Also, Riordan’s Olympians series involves main characters who are homeless, have ADHD, are LGBT, and are deaf and visually impaired.

Thus, Ramon’s reading provided him with Pillar 3, comprehensible input via reading, resulting in greater English language competence—as well as knowledge of a variety of topics, including mythology, and a deeper understanding of those with special needs, knowledge that may not be of immediate use in specific classes but certainly contributed to his knowledge of the world.

Light literature was of enormous help to Ramon: Mexican TV gave him the interest to read Naruto in English and the background knowledge that helped him understand the stories. This this led to additional self-selected reading, more English, and more learning of various kinds. Ramon did not have formal bilingual education, but light literature gave him the benefits that the three pillars provide for bilingual education. In fact, thanks to light literature (TV and comic books), Ramon did extraordinarily well.

Conjecture
Ramon’s success in classes and in English language development strongly suggests that the kind of de facto bilingual education he experienced was unusually effective. I suspect that Naruto made the difference, reading that was not only comprehensible (thanks to his previous TV watching in Spanish) but also very interesting, far more interesting than what is found in the typical ESL or English classes. And it also made it possible for him to continue reading for pleasure in English and to continue to gain in language and subject-matter knowledge.

It appears to be the case that self-selected “light” reading not only supplements what students get in “regular” classes but may also lead to deeper and more lasting learning.

  • Pillar 1: Reading in the first language—in Mexico, in school, grades 1–6.
  • Pillar 2: Subject matter in the first language—knowledge provided by the Naruto TV program, in Mexico.
  • Pillar 3: Comprehensible input in English—reading Naruto in English and eventually other books.

Sources:
Dow, P., Krashen, S., and Tinajero, J. (2009/2020). “Early (Grade 2) Reading Ability in the First Language Correlates with Subsequent (Grade 6) Reading Ability in the Second Language: A longitudinal confirmation of the interdependence hypothesis.” International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 5(2), 2–3.
Henkin, V., and Krashen, S. (2015). “The Home Run Book Experience.” Language Magazine, 15(1), 32–35.
Krashen, S. (1996). Under Attack: The Case against Bilingual Education. Culver City: Language Education Associates. www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/under_attack.pdf
McField, G., and McField, D. (2014). “The Consistent Outcome of Bilingual Education Programs: A meta-analysis of meta-analyses.” In G. McField (Ed.), The Miseducation of English Learners (pp. 267–297). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.
Ujiie, J., and Krashen, S. (1996). “Comic Book Reading, Reading Enjoyment, and Pleasure Reading among Middle Class and Chapter I Middle School Students.” Reading Improvement, 33(1), 51–54.

Stephen Krashen is professor emeritus Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California.

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