English Learner Resources
Classroom teachers with Multilingual Learners in your classrooms check out these resources to help you support your students.
Professional Development opportunities through the Office of Public Instructions are a great opportunity to create and hone new skills and earn renewal credits. Contact Mat Johnston, 406-924-2008, mhalgren@bsd44.org to gain access to the WIDA self paced eWorkshops.
Colorín Colorado has excellent resources to keep you up to date on best practices for English Learners. This resource has articles on everything from diversifying a classroom library to grade level content area strategies for English Learners.
WIDA can do descriptors come from the WIDA access test. As the classroom teacher you receive the student's Language Proficiency score. These Can Do statements help you figure out what you can expect your Multilingual Learner to do without supports and where they will need supports from you in order to be successful in their grade level content course.
Brainpop is a resource Belgrade pays for. BrainpopELL provides language practice for newcomer students and Brainpop and BrainpopEspañol provides quality content videos to help fill in background knowledge.
Talking Points is a resource to communicate with multilingual families. Send a message in English and it arrives on the parents phone as a text message in their home language. They message back in their home language and it arrives in English for you.
Spanish Heritage Resources for Teachers
Classroom teachers of Spanish Heritage students check out these resources to help you learn about your students.
Smithsonian Learning Lab - 24 learning lab collections with ready to use activities.
National Endowment for the Humanities a teacher's guide to Hispanic Heritage and History in the United States.
Toolkit for Educators - includes great tips on how to reach out to Spanish speaking parents and how to help them connect with you the teacher and the school community as a whole.
Bilingual Scholastic - flip format lets students learn first in Spanish and then see the same information in English to help improve English Language Proficiency while obtaining new content knowledge.
Holidays in Spanish resources - resources for teaching about holidays which are a great way to create inclusive classrooms.