10 Languages You'll Need Most in the Classroom: A Guide to Communicating with English Language Learners and Their Families

by Garth Sundem

Break through language barriers and put ELL students at ease in your classroom!

More than ever before, K–12 educators in today's classrooms teach students from diverse language backgrounds. This handy reference guide to the ten most common languages of students who do not speak English—Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tagalog, Haitian Creole, Navajo, Hmong, Cantonese, and Korean—offers practical guidance for communicating with ELL students and their families. With a chapter dedicated to each language, this book provides a wealth of resources to help you make meaningful connections with ELL students,

• Information about the traditions, religions, and celebrations of the family's country of origin
• Guides to common words and phrases in the student's native language
• Picture dictionaries that can be reproduced for use with students
• Sample parent letters that include both English and native language translations
• Basic reading tests in ten languages

Language can be an intimidating barrier to many students and teachers alike. Don’t let it stand in the way of success. Help ensure that English Language Learners successfully transition into the school community and participate fully in the classroom learning environment!

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 11, 2008

About the author

Garth works at the intersection of math, science, and humor, with a background including a growing list of bestselling books, a Magna Cum Laude pre-med/music degree from Cornell University, and math-for-hire for mobile app and tech companies. In addition to conferences, colleges, and bookstores, you may have seen Garth's work on the Science Channel, where he's a frequent onscreen contributor, online at his popular blog (scientificblogging.com), or in magazines including Esquire, Wired, Publisher's Weekly, and Congressional Quarterly.

Garth grew up on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, where his dad----a former President of the American Accounting Association----taught for 34 years in the UW business school. Garth lives in Ojai, California, with his wife, two small kids, and one large Labrador, commonly found shoulder-deep in Ojai's municipal fountain (the dog, not the kids; the kids only go in up to their knees).

Stay tuned for more fun, fascinating and sometimes useful books nestled at the nexus of pop and science.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Cantonese chapter is inaccurate. The writers state they used Simplified Chinese, but everything was written in Traditional Chinese. Also, there was NO mention that Cantonese was a tonal dialect (and no tones were shown for pronunciation). Although the book is from 2003, I still have no clear idea why Cantonese was included instead of Mandarin-I have never taught an L1 Cantonese speaker here in the US that wasn’t from Hong Kong and thus had some English. This was not the resource I’d hoped for to recommend for my university students to use in their own classrooms.

[Liesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want this book for my classroom shelf!!!!!!!