Individual Teaching Bank of Bilingual Best Practices Project

1) Realia Strategies

I think that using realia gets students more engaged and brings many of the abstract concepts that
we discuss into a more tangible space. I would use this strategy in students’ L1 (Spanish). My
students are largely fluent in Spanish but many are only fluent on an interpersonal level with gaps
in their academic language development. Benefits to using realia especially in terms of field trips
would be to expose students to new experiences and immerse them in performances or situations
that they otherwise would not have had the chance to be a part of. Students are largely familiar
with their own cultural contexts but lack a greater understanding of the variety of histories,
influences and perspectives that learning about other cultures in the Spanish-speaking world can
offer. Some of the disadvantages to the realia strategy can be cost and logistics. It is difficult at the
high school level to cover the costs of transportation and find cost-effective activities that students
can be a part of. An excursion to a performance of Don Quixote would cost $40 at a group
discount rate but few of our students would be able to afford such an expensive outing. I think that
in order to encourage students to participate more actively, I might increase the role-playing part of
the strategy in order to create more immersive experiences for students especially when it comes
to literacy materials. When students read texts that are more dated in particular or use parlance
that is not typical, role-playing can add a visual and personalized element that can amplify
everyone’s understanding through personification.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1325403.pdf (Journal of Multilingual Education Research Volume

11 (2021) Socio-cultural and Educational Aspects of Multilingual Multicultural Learners and
Communities

2) Interactive read alouds:

I would use this strategy specifically in a translanguaging context. My students in AP Spanish Language and
Culture struggled last year with reading “La Casa de Bernarda Alba” largely because the language that was
used was quite dated, difficult to understand because of the dialect and also it was written as a play which
left students feeling lost at times because of the lack of supporting detail. La Casa de Bernarda Alba is too
difficult for students to read on their own and requires a great deal of front-loading in order for students to
grasp the importance of the context and time period. However, this is an excellent text in which the guided
reading application can be incorporated. The play is a very dramatic one which gives space for students to
focus on word meaning, story meaning, reading with expression, reading with cohesion links while the
teacher can actively assess understanding (How do you know that Bernarda’s daughters were afraid of her?
How do you see Bernarda’s house in your mind? How would you say this sentence if you were Angustias vs
Adela?). But also this would be a great text to use across both languages to foment students’
understanding especially if I can relate the story to one that is similar to a story students have read before
or in other classes.

3) Close reading

· In AP Spanish we have a great deal of short, informational, persuasive or even literary passages that are
perfect for practicing close reading in terms of structure, word choice, tone and other details for recognizing the
objective of the author. These passages are short enough for students to be able to read through more than
once, but they are complex to the point that students can study the text in its entirety to arrive at greater
comprehension without giving up too soon as with longer novels or short stories even.
I think that close reading is great for translanguaging, especially if students are using supporting texts,
vocabulary lists or even translated versions of the texts in order to arrive at greater meaning-making.

I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency because some students’
literary analysis is more basic revolving around theme and characters but some are able to describe point of
view in more complete and complex ways that use transitions and specific examples.
I think that the benefits of using this strategy is using the modeling questions in order to illustrate the kind of
thinking that should be going on in students’ heads while they are reading a text. Many students encounter
problems while reading that they get to the end of a passage and don’t know what they read about. But if they
have a set of questions that they can use as an anchor or guide, then they may begin to do a much more active
reading specifically focused on questioning why the text is written the way it is and why those specific choices
were made by the author.

Some limitations to this strategy could be that close reading is not a strategy that can immediately be mastered.
It’s not just a matter of having questions in mind to ask the text. Close reading goes beyond understanding word
selection and scene importance but rather being sensitive to the connections that authors are trying to make.
Then again, some students can become overwhelmed by constantly looking for more meaning, or forcing a
narrative to a text that they are reading when something is not necessarily there. Perhaps even criticizing some
texts or assigning meaning to it that was not actually intended by the author.

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/close-reading-policy-brief.pdf (From
the International Reading Association, “Close Reading and Far-Reaching Classroom Discussion: Fostering a
Vital Connection”).

I am excited to translate and adopt the questions that model deepening comprehension. One thing that I will
decrease is using readings in isolation just for skill-building but rather I will ensure that various texts are being
used simultaneously so that students may see varying perspectives emerging on the same topic or idea that we
are studying. As much as we like to reinforce to students that text comprehension must be limited to the
information detailed in the text, we have to be careful not to have students disassociate from the texts because
their experiences enhance their understanding but too often students are told to ignore what they know of the
world and focus on what’s being presented in the text. I think that it’s a difficult balance to strike because
students can sometimes become confused when a text presents one perspective, but students start bringing in
their own experiences and then miss the point of a text.

4) Bilingual books and labels

I think that this strategy will be a best practice for my teaching repertoire because it encourages students
to become more engaged in their texts when they feel at home in a sense and therefore can potentially
become more comfortable in trying to access more challenging texts. Bilingual books have the power to
provide a unique perspective on topics that monolingual books may not be able to access particularly
when speaking to inequality or marginalization so that we may provide that social justice piece through
our classroom libraries.

In order to implement the practice I will use L1 (Spanish) in my AP Spanish Language and Culture course
because we do aim to produce as much Spanish as possible but that doesn’t mean that I won’t encourage
my students to process their information through whatever means that will help them arrive at new
insights.

I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency because some
students’ literary analysis is more basic revolving around theme and characters but some are able to
describe point of view in more complete and complex ways that use transitions and specific examples.

Benefits: I think that bilingual books with different features that heighten engagement could also be very
beneficial such as audio, edpuzzles, pictures, or dramatic versions (series/movies/plays). Being able to
relate to the text beyond the words on the page can do a lot to maintain a student’s interest.

Limitations: Students already are very reluctant readers. I have to do some more intentional research on
incorporating time into our week that would be dedicated to independent reading such as a journal or turn
and talk with a partner in order to incorporate more accountability into the act. I’ve heard of teachers
having great success in the past with having students choose their own book to read throughout the year
because otherwise students often say that they don’t have the time to dedicate to reading. This is a
sentiment that I can empathize with because in my own personal life it can be challenging to find time to
read for pleasure when many of the connotations that we have with reading stem from a distrust or dislike
of school and in my case I mostly read for work which isn’t something I see as leisurely.

Lbreiseth. “Choosing Diverse Books for Your Ells: Tips for Educators.” Colorín Colorado, WETA Public, 29
Oct. 2021, https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/choosing-diverse-books-your-ells-tips-educators.

One thing that I will increase is at least trying to find most of what we are reading in class in both English
and Spanish for my students so that they may maximize their understanding. This week we will be reading
Las Medias Rojas which is a story that uses many words from the gallego dialect of Spanish which
students are not familiar with, so in order to maintain students’ attention and focus I will provide an
English translation of the story as well as a glossary of words from the text. I will decrease the emphasis
that I have in trying to stay in Spanish all the time in class so that we can encourage building vocabulary
across both languages especially in situations where we might have a bilingual source or if we have the
same text available in both English and Spanish.

5) Checking for understanding

I think that I’ve found myself in situations where I’ve finished a topic with my students and I realize that they
didn’t do as well as I had anticipated even though I thought that everyone was on the same page. I would like
to begin doing specific checks for understanding at least three times in one lesson– after introduction to new
material, following guided practice and at the lesson’s conclusion.

In order to implement the practices I will use L1 (Spanish) in my AP Spanish Language and Culture course
because we do aim to produce as much Spanish as possible, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t
encourage my students to process their information through whatever means that will help them arrive at
new insights. I also allow my students to respond in English, reiterate what they say in Spanish, or I
encourage them to formulate at least part of their response in Spanish.

I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency because some
students’ literary analysis is more basic revolving around theme and characters but some are able to
describe point of view in more complete and complex ways that use transitions and specific examples.

I think that the “everyone responds” activities for checking for understanding could be very effective and it’s
also convenient because one of the activities offered involves white boards. I’ve already found in the past that
students respond well to using white boards in my Spanish 2 classroom, but I have yet to try it out with AP.
This sort of activity can also be done quite effectively through online apps such as pear deck or kahoot, which
also automatically tracks data about student engagement.

I think that a limitation could be asking true or false/yes or no questions because I believe that students might
want to default to true just to agree because they don’t want to have to explain themselves. I think that
consistency is key in using this strategy successfully. Students need to be familiar with the kinds of CFU that is
done so that they can anticipate how their teacher is assessing them. The CFUs also have to be simple enough
where students don’t get confused. This kind of consistency also reinforces accountability. When students
know that their understanding is being assessed in moments outside of formatives and summatives, they are
more likely to actively participate.

ModelTeaching. “The Importance of Ongoing Checks for Understanding.” Model Teaching, 9 Nov. 2021,
https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/testing-strategies-prep/the-importance-of-ongoing-
checks-for-understanding.

I will increase my comprehension checks to at least three in different points of the lesson: after introduction to
new material, following guided practice and at the lesson’s conclusion. This will allow for more predictability
for students, accountability as well as more data which will inform my planning/reteaching.
6) Learning centers

The incorporation of learning centers in my classroom will allow for greater self-monitoring for my students so
that they can determine what it is that they need further work on while making the choices based on concrete
options that they can focus on. For many students it is hard to even determine what is that they need help with
until specific skills are presented to them.

In order to implement the practices I will use L1 (Spanish) in my AP Spanish Language and Culture course
because we do aim to produce as much Spanish as possible, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t
encourage my students to process their information through whatever means that will help them arrive at
new insights. I also allow my students to respond in English, reiterate what they say in Spanish, or I
encourage them to formulate at least part of their response in Spanish.

I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency because some
students’ literary analysis is more basic revolving around theme and characters but some are able to
describe point of view in more complete and complex ways that use transitions and specific examples.

Benefits: Students focus on specific skills while deepening knowledge and abilities in that area. This kind of
differentiation also allows for the teacher to have more in-depth one-on-one conversations with students while
assessing their abilities in a targeted area. For teachers this can be a safe space in which they can implement
new strategies or activities that they might normally be apprehensive to incorporate.

Limitations: Because of the nature of the activities, it can prove to be difficult for the teacher to monitor what’s
going on in all of the stations, so some students may lose sight of the focus that is being aimed for or the
teacher might have a difficult time capturing accurate data throughout the activities, especially if centers are
meant for re-teaching or strengthening certain skills.

Malefyt, Ted. “Learning Centers in the Secondary Classroom.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational
Foundation, 6 Jan. 2016, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/learning-centers-in-secondary-classroom-ted-
malefyt.

I would like to incorporate learning centers for our Blue & Gold days on Wednesdays which are a shorter
day but which are focused on students retaking assessments, re-teaching and addressing student
concerns or gaps of knowledge. This will increase the structure for those days while giving me a great
deal more insight as to students’ needs.

7) Language Framework Planning (supporting academic language and content acquisition)

This strategy will be a best practice for my AP Spanish Language and Culture students because they come
from a variety of backgrounds whereby not all students have had the same access to academic language
which is grade-appropriate. Therefore, I need to develop this framework not only for the advancement of
students in the language of the topic that we will study but also as a scaffold for students who need more
guidance as to the kind of language that needs to be used in order to gain deeper access to the topic itself.

I will implement translanguaging in the implementation of this strategy especially because of the level of
cognates that exist in more academic level topics between English and Spanish but also for our students who
grew up in the US to recognize that academic-level Spanish is possible for them if they’ve already studied a
similar topic in another class.

Benefits: Creating language objectives can be helpful for the teacher in terms of asking students to produce
very specific objectives such as retelling, justifying, summarizing, etc. This sort of data can be collected at the
end of a lesson and rather quickly assessed in order to address further needs and confusion. This way also,
just because students may have varying levels of language proficiency, doesn’t mean that everyone can’t
reasonably adjust to the objective.
Limitations: Language framework planning can be very time consuming in terms of developing vocabulary
lists in advance, anticipating what difficulties students may run into, as well as coming up with language
functions and structures to model.

https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-objectives-key-effective-content-area-instruction-english-
learners

I will increase the amount of sub-unit vocabulary and structures that I focus on but I will decrease the amount
of objectives that I have been under the impression that I had to create for students based on their language
level.

8) Cohesion Links (Understanding the Glue that holds Paragraphs Together)

I think that this will be a useful strategy for my AP Spanish Language students because they are always
working on improving their writing skills and one element in particular that students can always improve on is
the flow of their writing. In AP Spanish Language we focus on persuasive writing which fundamentally needs to
be impactful, convincing and must be done so in a logical and impactful way using effective transitions and
signaling words.

I will use translanguaging in this strategy because our students who grew up going to school in the US are
familiar with transition words and connectors from their English classes, therefore determining when and where
to use certain equivalent expressions in Spanish might come easier from a familiar perspective, while for our
EL students, they will gain greater practice for more cohesive writing practice in English. Students must be
challenged to write as naturally as possible and when we speak, we use a great deal of connectors in order to
maximize the information that we can communicate in the most effective way.

Benefits: This kind of targeted instruction can be very helpful to students who are ELs on their SAT because
those sort of editing questions are always incorporated into the writing section of the exam. It can be difficult if
students are not native English speakers to identify. The other way around, in Spanish it can also be daunting
for students’ writing to sound more academic, which inherently is more organized with greater fluidity in
communicating the author’s purpose, through the use of appropriate connectors, clarifying words and even
discourse markers.

Limitations: Students may often get confused between the concepts of cohesion and coherence which are
both crucial for striking a balance in writing. Cohesion refers to the connection of ideas i.e. through the use of
transitional words, synonyms so that words are not unnecessarily repeated without providing more substance
to one’s writing as well as thematic development. In order to strike a greater balance between the two
concepts, students must be intentional in their planning and in the review of their work, which inherently is
more time consuming.

https://www.eapfoundation.com/writing/cohesion/

I will increase the amount of self-assessment tools that I give students listing out the sort of features they
should be incorporating into their writing in order to assure that they are actively using items that will make their
writing more effective but I will decrease focus on too many mechanical ideas and labeling what students
“should be” doing and rather incorporate more models with examples that represent what I want students to
arrive at because at the end of the day students imitate good writing and build up off of it.

9) KWL & Data Charts: Researching & Organizing Information

I think that this strategy would be a best practice for my students in order to help them to develop more
focused research skills whereby they can then transfer what they have investigated into a cohesive written
analysis. I would use translanguaging to implement KWL & data charts because I have a mixed group of
students’ whose language levels are varied between English and Spanish. I believe that many of my students
are in between emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use
their knowledge of cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find
figures of speech in Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would
frequently use in English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: The structure of the KWL charts is most helpful in informing a teacher’s lesson plan and
changes that need to be made. The K portion can help teachers to avoid revisiting known information and lets
the teacher know where the natural start of the lesson is. The W allows the teacher to stay on-track in terms of
goals in the unit or lesson while also informing the teacher as to what information is most engaging so that the
lesson can be modified as needed. The L part provides valuable data on how effective the unit has been.

Limitations: KWL charts are limited by the background knowledge of the learners. This can be curbed
when the K section is addressed collectively as a whole-class activity, but sometimes this section can confuse
students. Sometimes students share things that they have heard informally which is based off of pop culture
or other inaccurate sources of information which can sometimes be irrelevant as well as incomplete and
therefore might mislead some of students’ initial thoughts and starting-points in their further research.

Panjaitan, Nelson Balisar, and Radema Situmorang. “The Effectiveness of K-W-L Technique to Increase
Students' Reading Comprehension Achievement through Reading Descriptive Text for Grade 8 of SMP
Negeri 1 CISARUA.” Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature and Culture, Acuity: Journal
of English Language Pedagogy, Literature and Culture. Jl. Kolonel Masturi No. 288, Kec. Parongpong,
Bandung Barat, 40559, Indonesia. e-Mail: Jurnal.acuity@Unai.edu; Web Site:
Https://Jurnal.unai.edu/Index.php/Acuity/, 30 Nov. 2017, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1304478.

Increase: I will increase the use of data charts with pointed questions when students are researching so that
students begin to develop a sort of formulaic approach to writing up their findings. I have had issues with
students plagiarizing in the past because they believe that their job is to find the information, whereby their
summaries are simply lines that are copy and pasted directly from the sources. This kind of guide can help
students to only choose parts of the most relevant information and then to put it all together without running
the risk of copying work that is not their own.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of individual KWL chart usage that there is and I will decrease use of the
original KWL chart and instead use the one with the additional columns which incorporate sources. I think that
having students link sources to their background knowledge can help to eliminate some of the confusion and
potential misleadings that can arise from students sharing inaccurate prior knowledge, but at the same time,
students may feel validated in what they are bringing to the discussion once they find credible information that
can back up what they are sharing in the K column.

10) Sorting activities

Categorizing ideas and words can encourage students to demonstrate the connections that they find in the
analysis and illustrate their understanding. This can help teachers to assess whether students are on the right
path that they intend for their unit or lesson as well. I believe that many of my students are in between
emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of
cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in
Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in
English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: Sorting activities provide students with greater opportunities for more physical activity using pictures,
cards, and individual words printed on slips of paper. This can also be a useful technique for students to adopt
for developing stronger study habits even outside of the classroom.

Limitations: Some teachers may have preconceived categories that they might unintentionally try to guide
students to, but it’s important to let these connections occur organically so that students’ creativity can be
encouraged but also so that the activities can be a truer chance to observe students’ processing abilities.

Helman, L., Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., & Invernizzi, M. A. (2011). Words their way with English learners: Word study for
phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Increase: I will increase my use of sorting activities with students on an individual basis so that I can have
students explain their choices, but I think that it will signal to my students that their efforts are recognized and
valued. This is a chance for greater individual interaction as well as in their communication skills in unplanned
situations.

Decrease: I will decrease individual sorting activities and rather I will be more intentional of students being
paired with partners who will complement each other so that they can support each other and give each other
opportunities to self-correct.

11) Syntax Surgery

Syntax surgery works on the sentence level of language whereby there is greater focus placed on parts of a
sentence that can cause confusion to the reader. This is a focus on words that can particularly carry key
meanings in a sentence which a non-native student may have difficulty in identifying or picking up on. When
students are asked to physically dissect a sentence then they are more likely to recognize what is giving them
trouble or where the crux of the meaning lies in a sentence. I believe that many of my students are in between
emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of
cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in
Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in
English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: This is a strategy that allows for syntax to become more tangible for students because it’s so visual
in nature. This strategy can help students to become more fluent readers by giving them demonstrations of
where emphasis should be placed in a sentence.

Limitations: Some teacher might get bogged down in expecting students to provide a specific response from
students, but if it is clear that a student is understanding the context then the more appropriate English syntax
should be modeled so that the instruction can move forward.

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers 6–12. Ports-mouth, NH: Heinemann.

Increase: I will increase practicing this strategy with students on an individual basis so that I can focus more
on the meaning that students are making or where they might need more support in decoding the language.

Decrease: I will decrease the length of syntax surgery activities so that the meaning of the passages don’t get
lost in the analysis of the sentence structure.

12) Cognate Strategies

Cognates can be very helpful with students at the highschool level as we encourage them to use more
academic-level language. The more advanced language becomes in English, the more cognates one can
identify in Spanish. Identifying cognates can give students a greater sense of confidence, because when they
know that suffixes or roots mean the same thing in the language that they are learning, the less likely they are
to feel lost. I would use this strategy in a translanguaging format. I believe that many of my students are in
between emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their
knowledge of cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures
of speech in Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would
frequently use in English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: Students gain confidence when they build bridges between their home language and the language
that they are learning. In my classroom this is a great tool for students because Spanish and English share
between 30-40% of their vocabulary as cognates.

Limitations: False cognates can become a concern when students begin to rely too much on similarities that
there are between the two languages. This is especially true of students who are heritage speakers in my AP
Spanish class because they have a tendency to want to translate many idiomatic expressions into Spanish that
don’t necessarily carry the same meaning over. Students can get bogged down in the way that words are
written or spelled in their language, so it’s important to let students know to limit their dependence on their L1
spelling and identify common patterns for spelling differences.

Reference: ¡Colorín Colorado!. (2007). Using cognates to develop comprehension in English. Retrieved Janu-
ary, 11, 2014, from www.colorincolorado.org/educators/background/cognates

Increase: I integrate into my lessons especially early in the year, or in earlier levels of Spanish the Latin and
Greek roots that students can find in prefixes and suffixes in words in Spanish and English so that they can use
those clues in understanding unfamiliar words.

Decrease: I will decrease making cognate learning a once-in-a-while, spur-of-the-moment activity, and rather I
will turn it into a daily activity where students demonstrate their understanding of cognates in their reading and
writing while using dictionaries or translating apps to clarify meaning. This can turn into an opportunity for
students to think of similar words in English, if we are doing activities in Spanish. We can also expand
meanings so that students can come up with words that are similar but change in their part of speech, i.e. if a
word is a noun, how would it be similar as a verb or adjective.

13) Story reenactment

Story reenactments are great tools that build community while simultaneously making content more readily
accessible to students. This is an opportunity for students’ creativity to run free and typically has greater
results with fewer props and materials. Students can approach reenactments from a variety of angles, whether
they are from the perspectives of different characters, conflicts, or even alternative endings. I believe that
many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have
grown up in the US use their knowledge of cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but
some struggle to find figures of speech in Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of
idioms that we would frequently use in English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: This is a strategy that encourages students to learn kinesthetically and encourages engagement
because students must be physically active. Story reenactments are great tools that build community while
simultaneously making content more readily accessible to students.

Limitations: This can be a difficult strategy to implement if students’ or the teachers’ personalities aren’t so
open. Acting is quite vulnerable for those who are more introverted and can be especially difficult for someone
to do in a language that they are not yet familiar with.

Reference: Seely, C., & Romijn, E. K. (2006). TPR is more than commands—at all levels (3rd ed.). Berkley, CA: Command
Performance Language Institute.

Increase: I will increase collaboration with our drama teacher because she has had great success with our
students who are ELLs– she’s built a great deal of confidence in those students and she incorporates some
very dynamic strategies despite being a monolingual teacher herself.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of traditional texts that I use for stories that are particularly challenging
such as Don Quijote or la Casa de Bernarda Alba so that students can get a stronger grasp on the plots,
conflicts and action in the stories without getting bogged down in the language. This way if we do
reenactments, students can focus on more global concepts and ideas instead of doing traditional analysis.
Once students have done reenactments, they’ll be able to do more in-depth thinking and assignments.

14) advance organizers

Students do not construct knowledge passively– students must use information that they come across in
different authentic formats in order to make meaning. In order to integrate new information into a student’s
own knowledge, connections must be made; this connection can be facilitated through advance organizers.
Advance organizers help students to arrange, outline and sequence information in order to aid in transforming
information into knowledge and long term memory (AKA information worthy of retaining for longer periods of
time because it is helpful). I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate
fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of cognates to help them
understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in Spanish that effectively
communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in English, but which do not
translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: Students can activate their background knowledge in order to understand unfamiliar concepts. A
great deal of bridging occurs when using advance organizers because students begin to identify similarities
between concepts that they’ve worked with before.

Limitations: It is difficult to forge connections between students’ background knowledge because we run the
risk, as teachers, of having preconceived notions about our students. What may sometimes seem as intuitive
or obvious because of our own upbringing or frame of reference, may not be the same for some of our
students, especially those who are English language learners or just moving to the US. If we are activating prior
knowledge, then we must aim to broaden our expectations.

Reference: Cummins, J. (1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for interaction. Harvard Review, 56, 18–36.

Increase: I will increase the use of different types of organizers so that I can accommodate a wider range of
students’ learning styles which can help many to practice their intrapersonal skills (AKA the way we think about
learning).

Decrease: I will decrease dependence on prior knowledge especially in a whole-class context because I don’t
want to make assumptions about what I think my students know– this can exclude many students because
they’ve had different lived experiences, so I will make the sharing of prior knowledge more focused on diverse
perspectives, especially when talking about topics that are common to everyone such as family conflicts when
we do our unit on families in different societies.

15) Culture studies

The world language classroom is a place where culture is being actively used, defined, examined and its
influences upon it are meticulously analyzed. Cultural studies must be done with respect and meticulously so
that students can understand why culture shapes who we are and how we think. Products, practices and
perspectives are the core tenets of my Spanish language and culture course. I plan on using this strategy in a
translanguaging fashion. I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency,
many of our students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of cognates to help them understand
more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in Spanish that effectively
communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in English, but which do not
translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: Classroom community and ties are built when students have the opportunity to bring forth and share
their own lived experiences in a safe and open environment.

Limitations: Without proper guidance and criteria, students run the risk of presenting information that is
stereotypical if research is not diligently conducted, superficial information lacks perspective and runs the risk
of being offensive.

Reference: Díaz-Rico, L. (2013). The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook: A complete K–12
reference guide (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Increase: I will increase the diversity of the kinds of skills that students can practice with culture studies
including interviewing, presentational communication (both in writing and speaking) as well as implementing
steps that we are learning to master writing. I will also increase the involvement of the school community in
order for students’ contributions to be broadcast to a wider audience. This also incorporates a piece of
accountability that helps for students to bring on ownership in their work.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of vague cultural studies that teachers can sometimes assign. Instead I
will give students specific check lists of elements that they can incorporate in order to make their cultural
research and reports more dynamic. This way expectations will also be more clear.

16) Read, pair, share

When students are encouraged to share their ideas about text that are being studied, they begin to make
greater connections to the texts and are able to relate better. In my AP Spanish language class we are always
talking about author’s purpose and we work with informational texts a great deal, therefore students greatly
benefit from summarizing what they’ve read while assessing how they are receiving the text and comparing
that with a peer. I will use this strategy in a translangauging fashion. I believe that many of my students are in
between emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their
knowledge of cognates to help them understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures
of speech in Spanish that effectively communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would
frequently use in English, but which do not translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: By working with other students during reading comprehension, students can begin to better
understand how their peers go about interpreting a text, and that way see their peers as models in their
learning. Furthermore, students’ perspectives are expanded when they see how their partners or group mates
view a text that is being studied.

Limitations: This can be a stressful strategy for many students who are not confident in their analytical skills or
those who are still getting to the point of being comfortable with their own thoughts. Informational texts in
particular can be very intimidating and so for students to be expected to have strong ideas which they might
have to back up can be intimidating.

Reference: McTighe, J., & Lyman, F. (1988). Cueing thinking in the classroom: The promise of theory- embedded tools.
Educational Leadership, 45, 18–24.

Increase: I will increase the amount of time that students are given to think independently before sharing out.
Providing students with time to think on their own about the questions or ideas that are being studied can
improve the quality of students’ responses and increases students’ confidence in sharing with others.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of sharing out-loud and rather incorporate an exit ticket whereby students
are given the opportunity to reflect on any contributions made in class so that they may reflect the richness or
the diversity of student ideas exchanged in pair discussions.

17) Learning strategy instruction: acquiring self-help skills

This is a strategy that is especially beneficial to students who are emerging bilinguals because it allows for
them to develop more metacognitive awareness. It is important to teach students to be aware of what their
thought process is while learning, reading and discussing. If students can adopt stronger habits at an
individual level, building stronger self-awareness, then that can help guide them in more complex learning
scenarios. I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate fluency, many of our
students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of cognates to help them understand more
academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in Spanish that effectively communicate their
ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in English, but which do not translate directly into
Spanish.

Benefits: This practice can help students in a great deal of areas in terms of adoption of strategies. Students
can learn stronger note-taking skills, which ultimately help in retaining relevant information. This can help
students a great deal in planning their work which starts with reviewing any information prior to any
performance tasks to become more organized and better monitor their comprehension.
Limitations: This practice requires a great deal of modeling, so if a teacher themselves is not confident in their
own mastery of learning strategies then it will be difficult to confidently convey to students.

Reference: Díaz-Rico, L. (2013). The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook: A complete K–12
reference guide (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Increase: I will increase the use of self-evaluation rubrics in understanding what are the learning strategies that
work best for students so that I can have a better idea of how students go about dissecting what we study in
class.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of discrete ideas that students are encouraged to adopt– things like, “just
focus more” or “pay more attention” is not clear enough for our students to incorporate into their repertoire of
study skills. Students must be given more specific strategies in order to be more successful in decoding texts
and in their writing.

18) Small groups and partners: interactions to enhance instruction

I think that this is a good practice because although students complain a great deal about working in groups, it
is an indispensable skill to have for careers where collaboration is required. I will use translanguaging to
implement this best practice. I believe that many of my students are in between emerging and intermediate
fluency, many of our students who have grown up in the US use their knowledge of cognates to help them
understand more academic-level texts, but some struggle to find figures of speech in Spanish that effectively
communicate their ideas, especially that of idioms that we would frequently use in English, but which do not
translate directly into Spanish.

Benefits: When students work together in collaborative groups, they can achieve a more profound
understanding of themes being covered in skills and are allowed the opportunity to work on core
communicative competencies, language negotiation as well as advocacy for their needs while also practicing
leadership skills.

Limitations: It can be difficult for teachers to effectively monitor the interactions that go on in small groups,
especially in classes that are not co-taught and where we have huge class sizes. Students must then be given
very specific steps and objectives in order to assure that they stay focused and on task.

Reference: Burke, A. (n.d.). Group Work: How to Use Groups Effectively . The Journal of Effective Teaching - vol
11-2. Retrieved November 22, 2022, from https://uncw.edu/jet/articles/vol11_2/

Increase: In implementing this practice, I will increase the use of specific roles that students are assigned in
groups, which will also encourage accountability which is one of our schools socio-emotional learning focuses.

Decrease: I will decrease the amount of large group assignments that we do so that there is greater
intentionality behind the ones that we do do. I will also stop calling the work “group work” and rather call it
“collaborative” work so that we are emphasizing the purpose behind the work.