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

"This book shows teachers how to develop a toolbox of strategies for effectively teaching and engaging dual language learners while also supporting their families from diverse backgrounds. The book is organized by outlining and describing 45 teaching strategies that educators can use to implement best practices for effectively supporting dual language learners in their classroom. Using these tips, the authors detail how teachers can foster a language- and culture-inclusive classroom environment for all students"--

"Teaching Dual Language Learners is a practical guide to help early childhood educators understand the needs of and provide instruction for young dual language learners in their classroom"--

Practical strategies to support your English language learners The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox is a practical, valuable resource to be used by teachers of English Language Learners, in teacher education credential programs, and by staff development professionals and coaches. It provides hundreds of innovative and research-based instructional strategies you can use to support all levels of English Language Learners. Written by proven authors in the field, the book is divided into two main sections: Reading/Writing and Speaking/Listening. Each of those sections includes “Top Ten” favorites and between 40 and 70 strategies that can be used as part of multiple lessons and across content areas. Contains 60% new strategies Features ready-to-use lesson plans Includes reproducible handouts Offers technology integration ideas The percentage of public school students in the U.S. who are English language learners grows each year—and with this book, you’ll get a ton of fresh, innovative strategies to add to your teaching arsenal.

The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.

This comprehensive guide to research and debate centres around language learning in childhood, the age factor and the different contexts where language learning happens, including home and school contexts. The scope is wide, capturing examples of studies with different age groups, different methodological approaches and different languages.

Teaching English language learners has long presented challenges for teachers tasked with bringing these students to a level of language comprehension comparable to that of native speakers. These challenges and issues can lead to difficulty comprehending core academic topics for those learning the English language. Optimizing Elementary Education for English Language Learners is a critical scholarly publication that explores the importance of English as a Second Language (ESL) education as well as the challenges that can arise in striving for effective and engaging learning environments for the students involved. Featuring a broad scope of topics, such as effective lesson plans, teacher education and preparation, and the education achievement gap, this book is geared toward academicians, practitioners, and researchers seeking current research on effective teaching strategies for teachers of English language learners.