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Duolingo is another website for students or anyone who wants to learn another language. This is a free website where you can choose to learn any language you want. I was a long term substitute for a Spanish teacher the grades I taught were k-8. Duolingo was beneficial for all the grades. You start from level 1 and move through once you have mastered each level. It is a fun way to learn and is targeted for all age groups, not just children.
Citation:
Learn a language for free. Duolingo. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.duolingo.com/learn

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Duolingo is the world's most popular way to learn a language. It's 100% free, fun and science-based. Practice online on duolingo.com or on the apps!

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Starfall Education is a website for students to play games while learning. This website is great for early emergent bilinguals. Starfall states, "The program emphasizes exploration, play, and positive reinforcement—encouraging children to become confident and intrinsically motivated. Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children and is especially effective for special education, homeschooling, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). It is widely used in schools that serve children with special needs and learning difficulties" (Starfall). Starfall launched in 2002 and has done great ever since. They have games, books, and videos targeted towards different grades including pre-k, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. I think this website is great for emergent bilinguals because you can choose different subjects and progress in your learning. Each subject has different levels and doesn't unlock the next one until the one before is completed successfully. I think this a great way to learn while having fun and playing games.
Citation:
Starfall education: Kids Games, movies, & books K-3. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.starfall.com/

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Starfall Education: Kids Games, Movies, Books & Music for K-5 and above

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At Starfall, children have fun while they learn - specializing in reading, phonics & math - educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-5 and above.

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Step with Purpose Child Care Program is a program in New Jersey that promotes bilingual early education. They have a great bilingual education program and they strive to make sure every student is achieving great things. Their mission statement is, "Our goal and priorities are to promote early childhood education through our bilingual early education, play-based, and strength-based curriculum. With our progressive and holistic early childhood education philosophy, we understand that every child is unique and is capable of excellence. We provide the environment and tools our children need to thrive to the best of their ability. We seek excellence by providing high quality services and go over-and-above recognized industry standards" (Step with Purpose). They work with children 2.5 to 13 years of age and have had great success. I feel this program would be great for some emergent bilingual students.
Citation:
Step with Purpose Child Care. SWP WEBSITE. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.stepwithpurposellc.com/

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State Licensing Requirements : Step with Purpose, LLC is licensed by the New Jersey State Office of Children and Family Services and complies with all applicable licensing regulations and standards. These standards relate to our staff, health, safety, procedures, nutrition, caregiver to child ratios, and record keeping. We believe that these standards are in the best interest of the children. Our childcare is subject to inspection by the NJ Department of Health and Mental Hygiene regularly. Step With Purpose is located in Blackwood, NJ. Our goal is to provide high quality and reliable childcare.

Step With Purpose, LLC was formed in September 2005. We provide breakfast, lunch, and snacks (with an organic vegan -vegetarian diet option).

Our goal and priorities are to promote early childhood education through our bilingual early education, play-based, and strength-based curriculum. With our progressive and holistic early childhood education philosophy, we understand that every child is unique and is capable of excellence. We provide the environment and tools our children need to thrive to the best of their ability. We seek excellence by providing high quality services and go over-and-above recognized industry standards.

We want our families and children to gain our trust and to help promote quality bilingual early childhood education. We are a family-based organization that believes every student that walks through our door will leave with a sense of "purpose". Our purpose is to help children prepare for a lifelong love of learning.

Children who enroll with Step With Purpose, LLC are provided with the tools and educational support they need for a healthy development. Our lessons and activities are carefully designed to adequately nurture the emotional, intellectual, and physical growth of our kids. Stimulating educational experiences and hands-on learning opportunities ensure that our children develop into bright young minds and reach their potential.

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State Licensing Requirements : Step with Purpose, LLC is licensed by the New Jersey State Office of Children and Family Services and complies with all applicable licensing regulations and standards. These standards relate to our staff, health, safety, procedures, nutrition, caregiver to child ratios, and record keeping.

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This is a children's picture book. It is "How Are You? ¿Como Estas?" By Angela Domingue. This book, I feel, would be a great addition to an early education classroom. Each word or phrase is written in both Spanish and English and could help students learn both languages while enjoying a good book.
Citation:
Dominguez, A. (2019, December 29). How are you | cómo estás | bilingual books for ... - youtube. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6Dpvky20Y

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HOW ARE YOU | CÓMO ESTÁS | BILINGUAL BOOKS FOR KIDS

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As previously mentioned, Dr. Soto-Boykin has done a lot for the emergent bilingual community. She recently launched a website which is shown above. This website is intended to give bilingual families the support and resources they may need. The website is in 3 languages. This website has resources for families, students, and even teachers of emergent bilinguals. There is a "libros/books" button which brings you to many videos and different books about different cultures and languages. All of these books can be read in Spanish and English. There is also an anti racism tab which gives many resources and  tips on keeping children free of racism. There is even a "For Teachers" tab which gives teachers many tips and tools to, Promoting Children's Language Skills, Promoting Children's Early Literacy, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Understanding Bilingualism, {and} Fostering Bilingualism" (Dr. Soto-Boykin). I think this website is absolutely amazing and so helpful for everyone. I definitely will use this as a teacher, I believe that Dr. Soto-Boykin has done so much to help the emergent bilingual community.
Citation:
Soto-Boykin, D. X. (n.d.). Dual language learners. Habla DLL. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://www.habladll.org/

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Promoting the Success of Dual Language Learners

Bilingual resources for parents, early childhood educators, and therapists to promote the language and literacy skills of young children who are DLL.

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Recursos bilingües para padres, maestros de educación temprana, y terapistas para desarrollar el lenguaje y la lectura de niños preescolares.

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About Me/Sobre Mi

!Hola! My name is Dr. Xigrid Soto-Boykin and I believe that our beginnings do not dictate our endings. This mantra anchors my work. This philosophy stemmed from my experiences as the first person in my family to graduate college, and the second Latina to earn a PhD in my department in decades. My goal is to help educators and parents have the right tools so all bilingual children can succeed. !Juntos, lo podemos lograr!

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I earned my bachelor's and master's in speech language pathology at the University of South Florida in 2009 and 2011, respectively. After graduating with my master's, I worked as a bilingual speech language pathologist in school and home settings for three years. After working in the field, my passion for helping improve the language and literacy skills of bilingual children heightened. In 2014, I began pursuing a doctorate in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South Florida. My dissertation focused on evaluating the effects of a Spanish early literacy intervention for Latino preschoolers. After earning my doctorate, I became a postdoctoral fellow at Juniper Gardens Children's Project at the University of Kansas.

My goal is to equip parents, teachers, and clinicians with the tools to improve the educational outcomes of young children who are Dual Language Learners.

@xigridsoto

@habladll

Children benefit from bilingual instruction.

Los niños se benefician de la instrucción bilingüe.

It is beneficial for parents to speak to children in their home language.

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Es beneficioso que le hable a su niño en su idioma natal.

Bilingualism is the norm, not the exception.

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El bilingüismo es lo común, no la excepción.

Ser bilingüe es un super poder.

Being bilingual is a super power.

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Promoting the Success of Dual Language Learners Bilingual resources for parents, early childhood educators, and therapists to promote the language and literacy skills of young children who are DLL. ​ Recursos bilingües para padres, maestros de educación temprana, y terapistas para desarrollar el lenguaje y la lectura de niños preescolares.

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Dr. Soto-Boykin was interviewed in this article. At age 11, she was learning english as an emergent bilingual. She decided to work with students, teachers, and administrators to research local schools in bilingual education. She started her research right when the pandemic hit and continued her research remotely. Soto-Boykin stated, " I saw how teachers who earn minimal wages risked their lives to provide essential care for children and families. I saw how families struggled to make ends meet after losing their jobs. I began understanding how linguistic discrimination impacts the way researchers, educators, and policymakers address bilingualism. As I read outside my typical fields of speech-language therapy, bilingualism, and early childhood special education, I began to see how the interconnected systems in our society impact the lives of Latinx bilingual children". She decided to dedicate herself to these students and families, she has started her own website to help these families and she is now, "assistant research professor and senior scientist of bilingual learning at The Children’s Equity Project (CEP) at Arizona State University" (Dr. Soto-Boykin).
Citation:
Dr. Soto-Boykin. (2022, February 23). Inside IES research. IES. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://ies.ed.gov/blogs/research/post/supporting-bilingual-learners-in-early-childhood

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of students have experienced strictly online education. There were many emergent bilingual students who were getting left behind and weren't getting the proper education and services that were needed. This article emphasizes individual issues at hand by giving personal stories of emergent bilinguals affected by the online education system. It gives strongly recommended changes for school districts in New Jersey to follow to give emergent bilinguals the support they need and deserve.
Citation:
English Learners in New Jersey. (2021, November). ENGLISH LEARNERS IN NEW JERSEY EXPOSING INEQUITIES AND EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WAKE OF THE PANDEMIC. NJTESOL-njbe.org. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://njtesol-njbe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NJCIC_NJTESOL_ELC_EL_Report_11.15.pdf

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In this article Pfenninger talks about the online affect of emergent bilinguals in early education. They, "studied 71 children who had received 50/50 bilingual instruction in German and English (so-called “partial CLIL” programs) as well as 105 children in “minimal CLIL” programs with almost uniquely monolingual German instruction (90% German, 10% English)" (Pfenninger, 1). In this study they looked at the different children and studied their progress of how they were doing with online learning. I never thought about the affect of the pandemic on emergent bilingual children and how it must've been for these students to not have the in person help they need.
Citation:
Pfenninger, S. E. (2021, March 3). Emergent bilinguals in a Digital World: A dynamic analysis of long-term L2 development in (pre)primary school children. De Gruyter. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/iral-2021-0025/html

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This video goes over the benefits of early childhood education. Ryan Sagare talks about how younger children have an easier time learning new words and imitating sounds than adults do. He goes on to speak about the benefits of bilingual education and the flexibility of the mind. He states that parents are often afraid their children will not be able to learn two languages at once, but he assures that they are underestimating their children and that the younger they are, the easier it will be to be proficient in both languages.
Citation:
Sagare, R. (2017, April 22). The benefits of early childhood bilingual education - youtube. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtYQDjsyMGM

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The Benefits of Early Childhood Bilingual Education

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The EDC (Educational Development Center) has come up with a "Supporting Emergent Bilingual Children in Early Learning Checklist" Here are the 3 checkpoints:
1. Supporting the home language- This helps a child feel more comfortable in the classroom and more welcomed. "When teachers demonstrate a positive attitude towards a child’s home language
and culture this can have a strong positive impact on that child’s chances for
success in school" (EDC, 1). Teachers can help support their home language by interviewing the families and trying to get their best understanding of their students langauge.
2. Support the Home Culture- Teachers can also help students feel more accepted in class by supporting their home culture. Incorporating culture into the classroom can be beneficial to all students. It can help each child learn more about themselves and other students.
3.Use Teaching Strategies that Promote Language Development- There are many strategies that teachers can use to help promote language development. One example the EDC uses is, "reading aloud is one useful method for supporting vocabulary development" (EDC,4). Reading out loud can be beneficial when it comes to language development because students are learning from their mistakes and also learning from listening to classmates.

Citation:
Educational Development Center. (n.d.). Supporting emergent bilingual children in early learning. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://edc.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Supporting-Emergent-Bilingual-Children_English.pdf