You know the moment: you look down at the roster to take attendance the first day of school and there is a name that you know you are going to butcher if you try it.

Instead of having English Learners or other culturally and linguistically diverse learners pronounce their name day-after-day for us, there is a strategy that I do every year.

It's simple, easy, and such a great way to learn how to pronounce new names. Check it out!

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Grab my FREEBIE, “67 AI Prompts for Teachers of English Learners”

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I don’t have a lot of regrets in my teaching career. But one that sticks out to me is embracing “English Only” mindsets. Oof, I cringe when I think about it.

By allowing and encouraging translanguaging in our classrooms, we are making equitable spaces for multilingual learners to thrive.

In this episode, you can expect to learn

• What translanguaging is and what it looks like in the classroom

• 5 Myths about translanguaging and the realities rooted in research

• How to embrace translanguaging, even if you’re a monolingual teacher

• Experts in the field that you can learn more from

Mentioned in the episode:

The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning– the gold standard for learning about translanguaging by Ofelia Garcia, Susana Ibarra Johnson, and Kate Seltzer– get it here!

Follow Dual Language expert Dr. José Medina on Instagram

As you're preparing to go back-to-school, you've already got so much on your plate. And now you realize that you've got a new (or several new) students who are also new to the country.

If you're like most teachers, you might be panicking thinking about what to do. If you've got the support of an ELL teacher, that's wonderful. But so many ELL teachers also have a lot on their plates and might not be able to help you every day or every class. What is a classroom teacher to do?!

One of the people that I consider to be an expert in all things newcomer is Zoe Kinney. She's a remarkable teacher and colleague and has almost 30 years of experience in the field. I knew I had to get her on the podcast. She'll give you strategies that go well beyond just using Google translate and she has ways to think about newly-arrived students that you probably haven't before.

General education teacher, if you're ready to start your year right with your newcomer ELL students, go ahead and hit that play button. You won't regret it!

Don't forget to follow the podcast to get these episodes every Wednesday!

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To learn more about the program at Kansas City Public Schools, click here.

Resources that Zoe mentioned in the episode:

Carol Salva's blog

Boosting Achievement by Carol Salva

Understanding By Design by Wiggins and McTighe

7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive Classroom 2nd Edition by Seidlitz and Perryman