"On November 16th, I (Oscar Fuentes, ICMEE Team Member) had the opportunity to represent the ICMEE project in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and work with the Educational Service Unit 13 (ESU 13).
It was my first experience in that area of the state and we had a nice discussion about the “Learning Through Two Languages” eWorkshop.
While discussing bilingualism as an asset and why and how bilingual students organize information so that they can put what they know to use, we also shared some experiences and ideas to use all the languages students have available as a way to express what the students know.
One of the first things we did was an introduction about how to navigate through the eWorkshop structure and learn about all the options and resources we have available for people interested in our different eWorkshops.
Coming back to the eWorkshop, one of the main topics of discussion consisted of how all languages access the same knowledge base in bilingual/multilingual students and how to make use of this information. We also concentrated our activities on the quality of instruction, the process of language acquisition, and what teachers can do to differentiate instruction according to the student’s English language level.
At the end of the meeting we also reflected on different issues and challenges to help emergent bilinguals in the classroom and we discussed some strategies so students are able to use their native language in the classroom.
This was also a great opportunity to bring more ideas and share some examples we all have experimented in the classroom.
ESU 13 is an organization for achieving education excellence for all learners through strong partnerships, service, and leaderships. ESU 13 serves 11 counties in the Nebraska Panhandle that includes 21 school’s districts.
Thanks to Lisa Myles for the opportunity. "
To know more about ESU #13 visit its website: https://www.esu13.org/
More details at: http://cehs.unl.edu/icmee/