This book addresses the preservice educators who are in preparation for their journey as dual language teachers in credential programs or certification courses and in-service teachers who want to achieve a higher level of knowledge and expertise in teaching Spanish.

This book addresses the preservice educators who are in preparation for their journey as dual language teachers in credential programs or certification courses and in-service teachers who want to achieve a higher level of knowledge and expertise in teaching Spanish.

Population mobility is at an all-time high in human history. One result of this unprecedented movement of peoples around the world is that in many school systems monolingual and monocultural students are the exception rather than the rule, particularly in urban areas. This shift in demographic realities entails enormous challenges for educators and policy-makers. What do teachers need to know in order to teach effectively in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts? How long does it take second language learners to acquire proficiency in the language of school instruction? What are the differences between attaining conversational fluency in everyday contexts and developing proficiency in the language registers required for academic success? What adjustments do we need to make in curriculum, instruction and assessment to ensure that second-language learners understand what is being taught and are assessed in a fair and equitable manner? How long do we need to wait before including second-language learners in high-stakes national examinations and assessments? What role (if any) should be accorded students’ first language in the curriculum? Do bilingual education programs work well for poor children from minority-language backgrounds or should they be reserved only for middle-class children from the majority or dominant group? In addressing these issues, this volume focuses not only on issues of language learning and teaching but also highlights the ways in which power relations in the wider society affect patterns of teacher–student interaction in the classroom. Effective instruction will inevitably challenge patterns of coercive power relations in both school and society.

Pepita, a little girl who can converse in Spanish and English, decides not to "speak twice" until unanticipated problems cause her to think twice about her decision.

Dual language education is a program that combines language minority and language majority students for instruction through two languages. This book provides the conceptual background for the program and discusses major implementation issues. Research findings summarize language proficiency and achievement outcomes from 8000 students at 20 schools, along with teacher and parent attitudes.

Teaching Reading in Spanish: A Linguistically Authentic Framework for Emerging Multilinguals is an essential teacher instructional guide to developmental biliteracy. It provides a comprehensive reading framework for teachers who teach students to read Spanish in K-12 dual language and bilingual programs. Anchored in asset-based pedagogy, this framework applies a systematic Spanish literacy approach to biliteracy by weaving together a tapestry of relevant instructional components including phonemic and phonological awareness, oracy, decoding, background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. What sets this Spanish developmental literacy framework apart is its approach to Spanish reading instruction that is based on linguistically-authentic pedagogy, not on English-language practices. Teaching Reading in Spanish includes the DCC Leveling Instrument, a standards-based, practical instructional tool that guides teachers through the process of efficiently and accurately determining the reading levels of authentic Spanish text. DCC Lectura provides teachers with the tools that they need to guide their students to become skilled readers through appropriately challenging books that act as multicultural mirrors, windows, and sliding-glass doors.