The engaging profiles of English Learners at Home and at School offer access to a deeper and broader understanding of the lived experiences of English learners and their families. Such knowledge is essential for all educators in order to anticipate the needs of, and best support, English learners. In this highly readable volume, Joyce W. Nutta helps to build the bridge of knowledge and empathy between teachers and the English learners they support. In an inspired approach to the topic, she presents six compelling portraits of English learners who come from different cultural backgrounds and who are at different points in their educational journeys, from preschool to community college. Informed by real-life observations, extensive interviews, and academic research, these lively portrayals highlight issues and concerns that commonly arise in multicultural and multilingual learning and teaching. Nutta accompanies each profile with details on the specific cultural, linguistic, and educational factors at play and offers sound practical guidance for supporting English learner achievement in classrooms. She suggests educational strategies, including establishing dual-language classrooms, adapting instruction, and inviting parent participation, that can scaffold English learners’ academic success. English Learners at Home and at School will help educators develop a better awareness of all their students—even those who come from backgrounds vastly different from their own.

Highlight the assets of English Learners in your classroom Students do better in school when their voices are heard. For English Learners, that means not only supporting their growing language proficiency, but also empowering them to share their linguistic and cultural identities. This practical guide, grounded in compelling research and organized around essential questions and answers, is designed to help all educators build on their current competencies to authentically harmonize home languages and cultures in the classroom. Inside you’ll find • The emotional, social, linguistic, cognitive, and academic rationale for incorporating cultural and linguistic assets • Creatively illustrated powerful practices with concrete examples of successful implementation • Myth-busting reflections to spark critical thinking about diversity, inclusive education, and family engagement • Curriculum connections tied to American and Canadian standards By recognizing and validating every student’s linguistic and cultural assets, you create a supportive environment for academic success.

Put all English learners on the path to success—right from the start! Beginning English learners are at risk of being lost in a system that doesn′t know how to reach them. With more and more ELs entering U.S. schools every year, educators need to act quickly to create school- and classroom-based programs that work. Veteran educators Debbie Zacarian and Judie Haynes provide templates and tools—along with vignettes illustrating real-world challenges—to help teachers and administrators: Create a welcoming environment for English learners and their families who are unfamiliar with the American education system Reach out to students from literacy and non-literacy-oriented homes Engage parents to become a part of the school community Learn strategies for teaching beginning level ELs across the curriculum Develop instructional models for students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) Build sensitive practices for students who have experienced trauma The Essential Guide for Educating Beginning English Learners provides a realistic and comprehensive framework for effectively reaching and teaching this growing population. "This book provides a wonderful look at the complexities of providing newcomers with a welcoming school environment and appropriate instruction." —Michelle DaCosta, Bilingual Resource Teacher Framingham Public Schools, MA "This book gets at the heart of working with beginning ELs and helps educators gain a complete understanding of these students′ needs and the factors that influence them." —Yvonne S. Freeman, Professor of Bilingual Education The University of Texas at Brownsville

In Dispelling Misconceptions About English Language Learners, Barbara Gottschalk dispels 10 common misconceptions about ELLs and gives teachers the information they need to help their ELLs succeed in the classroom. From her perspective as a teacher of English as a second language, Gottschalk answers several key questions: * Just who is an English language learner? * Why is it important to support home language maintenance and promote family engagement? * What are the foundational principles for instruction that help educators teach ELLs across the content areas? * How can teachers recognize and incorporate the background knowledge and experiences ELLs bring to class? * Why is it important to maintain high standards and expectations for all students, including ELLs? * How can a teacher tell when an ELL needs special education versus special teaching? By answering these questions, and more, Gottschalk gives teachers a crystal-clear understanding of how to reach ELLs at each stage of English language acquisition. Her expert guidance reinforces for teachers what they are already doing right and helps them understand what they might need to be doing differently.

Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners turns hundreds of ELL studies into dozens of strategies for regular classroom instruction. Nancy Cloud, Fred Genesee, and Else Hamayan have examined the research evidence to determine what works for ELLs. They recommend best practices for teaching English learners to read and write from emergent literacy to primary school and on through middle school and include helpful features that make the research directly accessible to all teachers.

It is well known that the number of non-English speakers is on the rise in the United States. What is less well known is that the largest proportion of this population is children under the age of 5. These young English language learners (ELLs) often demonstrate achievement gaps in basic math and reading skills when they start school. How best to educate this important and growing preschool population is a pressing concern for policymakers and practitioners. The chapters in this important book provide up-to-date syntheses of the research base for young ELLs on critical topics such as demographics, development of bilingualism, cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism, and family relationships, as well as classroom, assessment, and teacher-preparation practices. Contributors: Linda M. Espinosa, Margaret Freedson, Claudia Galindo, Fred Genesee, Donald J. Hernandez, José E. Náñez Sr., and Flora V. Rodríguez-Brown “This is a must-have for those who are working directly or indirectly with young English language learners.” —Olivia Saracho, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

In this indispensable work, prominent authorities review the latest research on all aspects of ELL instruction (K–12) and identify what works for today's students and schools. Provided are best-practice guidelines for targeting reading, writing, oral language, vocabulary, content-domain literacies, and other core skill areas; assessing culturally and linguistically diverse students; and building strong school–home–community partnerships. Chapters include clear-cut recommendations for teaching adolescent ELLs and those with learning disabilities. The comprehensive scope, explicit linkages from research to practice, and guidance for becoming a culturally informed, reflective practitioner make the book an ideal course text.