In a time of increasing numbers of multilingual learners and decreasing amounts of funding and resources to serve those students, teachers are often faced with choosing supports and scaffolds to meet the needs of their English Learner (EL) populations. For many teachers, translated materials, curriculum, and assignments are some of the most common and easily implementable supports, especially for Spanish-speaking students. However, not all EL populations fit cleanly into an English-Spanish Bilingual model, and growing numbers of ELs come from less commonly represented language backgrounds. For newcomer students, a reliance on translation into their home language may result in less time and fewer resources committed to their English language development during a critical time in their journey toward communicative fluency in English.
In this session, we will share the ways in which an over-reliance on translations as supports for ELs reinforces a “monolingual mindset” and undermines implementation of true translanguaging strategies. We will discuss the limitations of translated materials and alternative methods for serving students from a wider variety of language backgrounds. Teachers will leave this session with a better understanding of translanguage practices and practical strategies and supports for serving students from less-commonly represented language backgrounds and newcomer students in general.
In this session, you will:
- Differentiate translation from translanguaging.
- Identify the limitations of translation in students' English Language Development journeys.
- Learn strategies that support students from less-common linguistic backgrounds.
