Highlighting World Languages in Elementary School
By Sarah Elia
Elia introduces several ideas for introducing children to world languages even if the school is not one of the 20% in the United States that provide instruction in second languages in the elementary grades.
- Signage throughout the school and posters in multiple languages: A smartphone and Google translate can provide a fairly accurate pronunciation of the words.
- Word of the week and morning announcements: Commonly used classroom words or phrases could be introduced each week. Morning announcements could be given in two languages.
- Reading partners, guest presenters, and library read-alouds: Invite parents or guardians, multilingual staff or students to read a bilingual book to a class.
- Bilingual videos for staff professional development and PTA workshops: These can be a means to teach words and phrases to staff, so they can use them when they interact with children in the school.
- Everyday communication and school publications: Begin the school year by incorporating words from other languages in everyday interactions with your class. Newsletters could contain a section for world languages.
- Projects and play-based after-school and summer enrichment programs: Active children’s games could be played using other languages. Children could write bilingual labels on their projects.
Elia recommends these strategies in order to make world languages an integral part of school culture.
This article was shared on the hotlist June 9th.