The Elementary Bilingual Teacher

The Elementary Bilingual Classroom

For the past 10 years I have been living and teaching bilingual elementary instruction in Texas. I’ve taught one-way (All Spanish speakers) and two-way bilingual instruction (Spanish and Non-Spanish mixed together). One way was muuuuuch simpler because I taught Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science all in Spanish, and only Math in English. However, two- way instruction is much harder because not all students understand the language, which means that there is a much stronger need of language support in understanding the language. This means that, I’m not only teaching my students reading and writing strategies, b ut I’m also teaching them within a language that is not their strongest.in other words I’m teaching language and reading and writing strategies.

These type of classrooms needs to provide a lot of visual support for the students. This is why I set a clear area for each of my subjects. I label each area, leave enough space to put a nice Anchor Chart developed and used to teach my students a particular skill or standard. I also have an area where I can post important vocabulary words related to the topic being discussed (these words are better supported with visual support in the form of pictures or drawings), and one or two good student samples developed throughout the series of lessons that lead to mastery of the skill or standard.

Besides academic areas, our students need resources in order to complete the variety of instructional activities we plan for them. For example, language arts is complemented by the use of a in-classroom library as well as reading and writing centers, Math is complemented by use of manipulatives and Math Centers as well, 

I like to organize math manipulatives in particular bins. For example, in my case I have my math manipulatives in a six-cube organizer where each bin is properly labeled in the language of instruction.

When it comes to centers, I love to incorporate task cards. I keep these on a photo case. I keep each set on an individual color photo case and organize the keeper box by subject in its classroom designated area.

Another important aspect of the bilingual classroom is the guided reading, writing, and math area. This is the area where I spend most of my time with my students grouped by abilities/ levels on our Language Arts and Math teaching blocks. This is where I have my horseshoe table and behind it I have most of my resources. I like to organize them on 10 drawer carts where every drawer is labeled in one of these carts I use each drawer to organize the resources I will use with each guided reading and writing small groups. I have another in which I place everyday resources such as white boards, markers, graphic organizers per subject and skill, post it notes, different types of papers, etc. on another one I have drawers for turn in student work and graded work respectively by each of my class subjects.

One other thing I like to is prepare table cubbies with craft resources they need often. This year I was able to find cubbies divided into 6 cups and I loved it because it is enough space to put inside what. I need without providing too much space for the students to fill with other stuff, as kids usually do,. Inside these I will be placing crayons, colored pencils, colored markers, expo markers, rulers and sticky notes, and glue sticks. I know you might be asking: “What about pencils?” Well, those I keep separate on a “sharpened pencils” cup.

One more thing, I keep most of my student supplies on cube bins. These cubes have their own labels which makes it self-explanatory for students to put everything in its rightful place right on the first day of school. That way I avoid having to do it myself and it keeps everything organized without any hassle. I keep those in the cubbies/cabinets where I can access quickly in order to replace anything.

Organization is important in many ways: instruction, transitions, and even classroom management!

Let’s keep in touch!

Love,

Suhaily