Welcome To Our Language Lab
Lara Garrett, Sherwood Elementary, Springfield, Missouri
Intro
Уявіть, що ви іммігруєте з іншої країни і вперше вступаєте в нову школу. Ніхто в будівлі не розмовляє тією ж мовою, якою ви розмовляєте вдома.
Uyavitʹ, shcho vy immihruyete z inshoyi krayiny i vpershe vstupayete v novu shkolu. Nikhto v budivli ne rozmovlyaye tiyeyu zh movoyu, yakoyu vy rozmovlyayete vdoma.
Imagine immigrating from another country and walking into a new school for the first time. No one in the building speaks the same language you speak at home. Because of the current conditions of the world, we are expecting even more immigrants and refugees, coming from traumatic life experiences, joining us in our schools in the coming year. How can we make our schools more welcoming, accepting, and engaging for our students and families joining us from other places around the world?
Step-by-Step Plan
Our funding provided bilingual library books in all eight languages currently spoken in our school community.
Once the books were purchased and added to the library collection, sections were adjusted to allow for a multilingual book display in the library.
Near these books, a corner of the library has been setup as the “Language Lab” where our EL specialist regularly works with multilingual students. We have decorated the area with flags, globes, and maps.
The librarian collaborated with the classroom teachers to set up days and times when students can visit the Language Lab for multilingual activities including stories, videos, coloring pages, worksheets, and games featuring different languages. These activities were planned in collaboration with the EL specialist.
Students speaking ANY language are welcome to visit the language lab during these open times.
Parents are encouraged to read aloud any of our bilingual books. With permission, we will record this reading, then place a laminated QR code in the front cover of the library book, so other families can scan the code and hear the book read in the language other than English.
We are offering Sherwood Language Lab t-shirts for students and parents who become involved in our program.
We featured the Language Lab to parents visiting during open house and family nights throughout the year.
June-July: Research languages spoken in our school; order books accordingly.
August: Work with teachers to set timing for open Language Lab club times.
September: Feature Language Lab at open house and have parent involvement and student sign up/permission slips available.
September-December: Run the first session of the Language Lab; End the session with a celebration, invite parents, and hand out t-shirts for participants; Collect feedback to prepare for the second session.
January-May: Run an additional two sessions of language lab (possibly one entirely focused on Spanish); Continue to elicit feedback from students, parents, and teachers regarding what is working well and what needs improvement.
May: Evaluate the program with the EL Specialist and involve teachers and families. Identify books to order for the upcoming year, determine which languages were underrepresented, and decide on program modifications and improvements.
Budget
We ordered nearly 150 bilingual books representing languages currently spoken in our school community from Amazon.
| Item | Cost
| A Song of Frutas | $13.69
| ¡Todos a Comer! A Mexican Food Alphabet Book (Bilingual English and Spanish Edition) | $15.99
| How Kids Celebrate Holidays Around the World (Kids around the World) | $15.95
| The Heart of Mi Familia | $16.99
| Where Are You From? | $11.98
| Sofia Valdez, Future Prez (The Questioneers) | $12.87
| Pancakes to Parathas: Breakfast Around the World | $14.49
| Just In Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book | $17.49
| Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers | $14.99
| Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua | $15.69
| A Bedtime Full of Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World (Volume 7) | $17.99
| May Your Life Be Deliciosa | $14.19
| A Year Full of Stories: 52 classic stories from all around the world (Volume 1) | $16.79
| If Dominican Were a Color | $14.33
| Watch Me: A Story of Immigration and Inspiration | $13.39
| Home for the Holidays: A Book for Kids About the Different Holidays That Bring Us Together, with Elmo | $5.49
| Lulu the One and Only | $12.88
| Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx / La juez que crecio en el Bronx (Spanish and English Edition) | $10.99
| Niño Wrestles the World (Golden Kite Honors) | $19.99
| A World Full of Spooky Stories: 50 Tales to Make Your Spine Tingle (Volume 4) | $18.79
| Bright Star | $13.43
| Joy to the World!: Christmas Around the Globe (World of Celebrations) | $16.99
| Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale | $15.29
| A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals: Over 90 fun and fabulous festivals from around the world! (Volume 6) | $10.29
| Lubna and Pebble | $13.79
| Across the Bay | $17.99
| Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma | $15.49
| I am Frida Kahlo (Ordinary People Change the World) | $11.89
| Yes We Will: Asian Americans Who Shaped This Country | $17.09
| Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin | $12.39
| Lucia the Luchadora | $13.59
| Fearless Trailblazers: 11 Latinos who made U.S. History (English and Spanish Edition) | $18.99
| Danza!: Amalia Hernández and El Ballet Folklórico de México | $14.49
| Diego Rivera: His World and Ours | $12.29
| Coquí in the City | $16.49
| What Is A Refugee? | $18.90
| Marvelous Maravilloso: Me and My Beautiful Family | $15.21
| Twas Nochebuena | $10.47
| Lilah Tov Good Night | $11.96
| What's on Your Plate?: Exploring the World of Food | $16.83
| A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas | $12.29
| Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns: A Mesoamerican Creation Myth | $2.80
| Tiny Travelers Puerto Rico Treasure Quest | $11.39
| A World Of Cookies For Santa: Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around the World | $13.19
| Feasts and Festivals Around the World: From Lunar New Year to Christmas | $17.29
| Tani's New Home: A Refugee Finds Hope and Kindness in America | $10.79
| Watercress | $16.99
| My Papi Has a Motorcycle | $12.89
| Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day; Celebremos El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros | $17.75
| P Is for Poppadoms!: An Indian Alphabet Book | $15.39
| We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga | $13.29
| Zài dòng wù yuán qí miào de y tin (A Funny Day at the Zoo, Mandarin Chinese language edition) | $14.39
| Courageous History Makers: 11 Women from Latin America Who Changed the World (English and Spanish Edition) | $18.99
| Gibberish | $15.99
| Be Bold! Be Brave! 11 Latinas who made U.S. History (English and Spanish Edition) | $18.99
| Celebrations Around the World: The Fabulous Celebrations you Won't Want to Miss | $13.19
| Luli and the Language of Tea | $17.59
| Isabel and her Colores Go to School (English and Spanish Edition) | $13.91
| Sandwiches and Samosas | $19.78
| What Do You Celebrate?: Holidays and Festivals Around the World | $12.99
| Eyes That Speak to the Stars | $14.95
| ¡Vamos! Let's Cross The Bridge (World of ¡Vamos!) | $13.49
| Pepe and the Parade: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage | $12.99
| I Am Golden | $14.44
| Coleccion de oro Jorge el curioso/A Treasury of Curious George (bilingual edition) (Spanish and English Edition) | $10.79
| The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk | $11.59
| Babushka: A Christmas Tal | $12.49
| The Legend Of The Poinsettia (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) | $17.20
| I Found It! a bilingual look and find book written in Traditional Chinese, Pinyin and English (Chinese Edition) | $15.99
| Paletero Man/¡Que Paletero tan Cool!: Bilingual Spanish-English | $17.99
| Kolobok (Russian, Chinese, English and Spanish Edition) | $16.87
| Bharatanatyam in Ballet Shoes | $17.37
| ¡Vamos! Let's Go To The Market (World of ¡Vamos!) | $8.89
| Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States | $16.85
| Dancing Devi | $19.95
| Eyes That Kiss in the Corners | $14.38
| Let's go on a hike! Written in Traditional Chinese, Pinyin and English: A bilingual children's book | $13.29
| Ek Naya Din: A New day - A Hindi English Bilingual Picture Book For Children to Develop Conversational Language Skills | $15.96
| Are You My Mother?/¿Eres tú mi mamá? (Bilingual Edition) | $12.65
| Happy within / Feliz por dentro: English- Spanish Bilingual edition | $16.00
| ¡Vamos! Let's Go Eat (World of ¡Vamos!) | $8.99
| Festival of Colors | $11.98
| The Name Jar | $17.99
| Russian Fairy Tales: Masha & The Bear, Kolobok, Teremok, Repka: Bilingual Text Russian Fairytales In English for Little Ones: Masha &The Bear, Little Bun, Wooden House, Turnip | $24.99
| Deep in the Woods | $7.99
| Total | $1,244.77
Sustainability
Hardback, mylar-covered library books can last for years. All books ordered were hardback books, and I used my library resources to protect book jackets with mylar. We will continue to order books to fill this collection and continue to represent additional languages as we gain new students over the years. However, the concept, space, and display are easy to keep going from one year to the next.
Reflections
Sherwood currently supports a high number of students who speak a language other than English in the home. We've had as many as a dozen languages spoken in our school at one time. Our library adds additional multilingual titles each year to represent these students, but these books often cost more and are harder to access than English-only library books. This grant includes a carefully curated list of 150 titles, specifically representing all languages and cultures of our Sherwood community. Some titles are about diversity and multiculturalism in general, others are bilingual titles meant to support multilingual learners, to bring books home that families and students can read in their first language in addition to English. Our native English-speaking students also benefit greatly from having access to these books and exposure to global culture, stories, and languages. The books from this grant will be on a display in the library for all students, teachers, and families to check out, integrate into lessons, and use to support our school community and help make Sherwood the most welcoming school it can be.
The Sherwood English Language Development Specialist, our teachers participating in the model language rich classrooms, and the librarian collaborate throughout the year to support students in our Language Lab in the Sherwood Library. This Lab houses games, activities, and books representing a variety of cultures and languages from our community. At family events, parents are encouraged to explore the language lab and check out books and activities to take home and enjoy as a family. The library books will be an integral part of our language lab, as this is the easiest way to provide long-lasting, hardback resources that are tracked and checked out to families (like all other library books), and will stay as a part of our school's resources for years to come.
