Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners
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​NEW Resource! 

Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Illustrated Guide

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FREE Resource

4/9/2025

 
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If you know me, you know I have been a longtime user and advocate for the Picture Word Inductive Model. This instructional method was first introduced by Emily Calhoun and has since been modified and adapted by educators around the world. 

I am sharing a One Page, Step-by-Step description of the technique. This method is excellent for multilingual learners but benefits every student who is learning about a new topic. 

If you are a classroom teacher, take it and run with it. 

If you are an instructional coach or lead teachers, use this as a technique to model or share in staff learning opportunities. 

Enjoy. 
download here

Mini Messages for Multilingualism

1/13/2025

 
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Click on the image to down the document and instructions to use the mini messages for multilingualism with colleagues. 

Leading Change for Multilingual Learners

12/29/2024

 
Eight Steps to Transforming Your Work with Multilingual Learners
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This timely article will outline an eight-step process for transforming how schools provide high-quality instruction for multilingual learners. It emphasizes the need for urgency, a strong partnership among stakeholders, and a shared vision for the future. The plan also details strategies for achieving this vision, such as communicating effectively, empowering others to act, celebrating small wins, and institutionalizing new approaches. By following these steps, schools can create a more equitable and supportive environment for multilingual learners.

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Supporting MLs: 23 Things

12/23/2024

 
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Since today is 12-23-24, I though it would be appropriate to republish this popular post on 23 Things educators can do now to support MLs. It was first published two years ago and is one of the most read articles. 

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Breaking the Ice

8/29/2024

 
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The beginning of the year is both an exciting and scary time for students and educators. We all have the feelings. It's normal to wonder what the year will be like, will our peers like us, will we find belonging...

Many educators start the year with ice breaker activities to build relationships and engage students in connecting. You can read about six different fun ice breakers here in this blog from twinkl. Which will you try? Which do you already do? Is there one more you can add? 

Organizing the BEST Professional Development EVER

8/20/2024

 
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If you are bringing in a consultant or speaker, planning ahead can make the day more
successful for the audience and everyone. In this document, I’m sharing from my
experiences as both an organizer and a consultant/speaker who has visited schools and
educational support centers across the nation.

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The First Week of School with MLs

7/9/2024

 
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By Valentina Gonzalez, 2024

Much like a first impression, the first few days of school lay the groundwork for the rest of the year. They help to create a foundation and atmosphere. Traditionally these days have been used to set up the “rules” and for compliance. But instead, I offer you a few more community and relational techniques to start the year with students. You can adjust these to meet your students’ age level, but mostly they can be accommodated to fit K-12. 

These were chosen because they keep a focus on multilingual learners’ needs by building community, encouraging interaction, lowering the affective filter, and they can be used later in the year for more academic lessons. 

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How Teachers are Like Dandelions

3/12/2024

 
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The other day as my husband and I took a stroll behind our house, I found a small patch of dandelions at various stages. At first, I didn’t know that the late stages of the dandelion that we commonly blow and make a wish are the same plant that blooms a yellow flower. While some call dandelion weeds, I delight in their beauty and whimsy. 

After I blew and made a wish I realized just how much dandelions and teachers have in common. 

  1. Each is resilient. Teachers adapt to new leadership and new learning spaces, and dandelions have been known to grow all over the place! 
  2. Teachers persevere and THRIVE like dandelions. Dedicated teachers never give up because their calling is to be there for the students in their care. Dandelions too are masters of survival. They can live through the most challenging conditions. 
  3. Teachers and dandelions nurture those around them. Teachers selflessly nurture their colleagues and students devoting their energy and resources to the growth and development of others. Dandelions also do this! They nurture the soil and provide sustenance for pollinators without expecting anything in return.
  4. Teachers encourage imagination from their students. They inspire their students to be creative and think outside of the box. Dandelions, too, have a way of providing people, young and old with a creative outlet.
  5. Dandelions and teachers spread joy! Simply stated and so true. Kids around the world are eager to go to school because of teachers like YOU. 

50 Years Since Lau v Nichols

1/5/2024

 
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2024 marks 50 years since the Lau v Nichols ruling. How has education for multilingual learners improved where you work?
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Here are some resources related to Lau v Nichols. 

Looking Forward to Seeing You in 2024

12/27/2023

 
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As we wrap up 2023 with a big beautiful bow, I am looking forward to 2024 and hoping to meet you in person in 2024. 

While a large majority of the work I do is directly with schools, these are a few upcoming, OPEN to the public opportunities where we might be able to connect. 

  • January 12, 2024: Keynote Speaker AMTESOL: Mississippi
  • January 26, 2024: Keynote Speaker IABE: Idaho
  • March 19, 2024, Designing Success for Multilingual Learners ONLINE
  • May 9, 2024: Keynote Speaker MABE: Michigan 

Reach out for more information or have a look at the additional services and sessions I provide. 
Contact Valentina

Connecting with Caregivers to Support MLs

12/20/2023

 
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Download the PDF below. 

Language surrounds us in everyday life. The big and small day-to-day interactions with family members and caregivers can offer valuable and authentic opportunities for language development. Caregivers often ask how they can help support their child's language development at home. 

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Creative Thinking, Accessing Prior Knowledge & More: ABC Brainstorming with MLs

12/19/2023

 
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Accessing prior knowledge is an important element of instruction especially when serving multilingual learners. It doesn’t have to take long, but when implemented it can stimulate thinking and help new learning stick too. 

ABC Brainstorming is one way to access prior knowledge, and it can also be used as a culminating activity. ABC Brainstorming can be done in small collaborative groups or it can be done individually. I have found it most effective when introduced first individually for a few minutes and then in small collaborative groups. 

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Books in Languages Other Than English

10/15/2023

 
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Click the image to download the PDF with live links to each platform. 

The Brain, Languages, & the Classroom

9/4/2023

 
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This is a monolingual brain. This is a brain on multiple languages. 
In a globalized society, it is a disadvantage to understand and speak a single language. Nations work together to solve problems as well as communicate and work alongside one another. Therefore, one who is able to speak and understand multiple languages has apparent advantages in communication over one who can not. 

Let’s examine the brain,  languages, and how this plays out in our classrooms. 

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Beginning the School Year: For Teachers of MLs

7/24/2023

 
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Teachers of Multilingual Learners have unique roles, special jobs! They not the same as most of the other teachers in the building. Here are a few articles to help get the year started on the right foot. 

4 Things You Can Take OFF of Your List Before School Starts

3 Common 1st Day of School Mistakes 

Things To Do with MLs During the 1st WEEK of School

5 Ways to Start Off Your Class Period with MLs

July 01st, 2023

7/1/2023

 

The F-Word. Fidelity & Why it May Be a Fallacy for EL Instruction

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Buzzwords in education are like mosquitos. They are here for a while and during that time they become very annoying. Lately, many educators are hearing one certain F word frequently in regard to programs and curriculum. 

FIDELITY 

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8 Ways to Advocate for Bilingual & Multilingual Learners

4/3/2023

 
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What is advocacy? Am I doing it? 
Many educators find themselves asking these questions. 

Advocacy sometimes sounds big and scary and many educators think they can’t do it. But actually, advocacy is incorporated in daily actions sometimes big and other times small. 

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The Intersection of UDL & Multilingual Learners

3/17/2023

 
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Multilingual learners (MLs) are amongst the fastest growing population in the United States. MLs come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The assets they bring to classrooms are sometimes underrecognized leaving these students struggling linguistically and academically. Many teachers of MLs want to provide instruction that meets their needs but find themselves not knowing how to help and feeling overwhelmed. 

This is where Universal Design for Learning (UDL) enters and has been known to support and benefit MLs. What is UDL?

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What You Can Do To Support Linguistic Diversity

2/18/2023

 
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“There is something special about the languages we learn early in life”, research indicates. 
Worldwide over 7,000 languages are spoken. While linguistic diversity is valued by many countries in the world, 40% of these languages are endangered. 

International Mother Language Day is celebrated on February 21st each year in an effort to shine a spotlight on the beauty and power of linguistic diversity and multilingualism.

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Posting Content & Language Objectives Will NOT Magically Make Students More Successful

1/28/2023

 
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No. It’s how we engage students with the objectives that makes magic!
For years, teachers at the campus where I worked were asked to post objectives clearly on the board. I, like many of my colleagues, did this. I followed the directive given and posted the objectives. As administrators walked by and conducted the obligatory walk-throughs I was always given the pat on the back for having objectives. Yet, they were a bureaucratic check mark in many ways. I complied with what I was asked to do.

Then one amazing day at a workshop the presenter empowered me with how to use objectives with my learners…as a tool for their own learning and it was a magical.

Here’s what I learned.

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23 Things Educators Can Do to Support MLs

1/7/2023

 

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Last year this article was shared and greatly loved. This year, I'm adding to it to include one additional support.

Multilingual learners count on us to provide high-quality, comprehensible, and culturally responsive instruction in each lesson in every classroom.


Here are 23 practical and efficient ways (in no particular order) we can support multilingual learners as they climb to become our future global leaders.
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*The terms multilingual, emergent bilingual, and English learner are used interchangeably in this article and also include the acronyms MLs, EBs, and ELs.

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Becoming the Best Me in 2023

1/2/2023

 

An EL Teacher’s Perspective on Self (& Professional) Improvement

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When we pour into ourselves, those around us benefit. This is why becoming the BEST version of yourself is an investment for not only YOU but all of those around you. Our students, families and colleagues deserve the best from us and so do we. 

These ideas led me to think about how I will deliberately improve myself for the sake of the English learners, families, and colleagues I work with and here is my plan. I’m nudging you to think about your intentions also. What will you do in 2023?

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Valentina's Classroom Essentials 2022

11/26/2022

 
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Teachers of multilingual learners or English learners need many tools and supplies in their toolbox. And they may travel from class to class or even school to school. Here are a few of my own favorite classroom essentials. 

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The TOP 6 Most Visited Places on the Website in 2022

11/26/2022

 
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Here’s a look at the most popular places visitors stopped to read and interact on this website in 2022. 

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Supporting Multilingual Learners as Growing Readers in More Than One Language

10/15/2022

 
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I have fond memories of cuddling up next to my tata (Serbian for daddy) before bedtime and listening anxiously as he told stories he remembered or even ones he made up. As an immigrant family from the former Yugoslavia, we brought little with us when we came to America. Books were heavy and did not make the journey. Storytelling, however, was a cherished time in our home. My favorite story was Hansel and Gretel.

**a version of this blog post was first published on BookBuzz.


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