Born to Read: A New Program in St. Louis Gives Free Books to Newborns St. Louis County Public Library has announced a new program called “Born to Read” that will provide free baby board books to as many as 8,000 newborns at four local hospitals participating in the program. Set to launch in January 2015, the program aims to encourage … Read More
Public School Dual Language Programs on the Rise
Public School Dual Language Programs on the Rise Recent reports in the New York Times and Chalkbeat New York track the rise of dual language programs in public schools. The dual language programs promote biliteracy and positive cross-cultural understanding in our increasingly multicultural and interdependent world. Chalkbeat New York reported that Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña’s continued focus on dual language … Read More
Reaching Out to Hispanic Parents to Improve Family Reading
The most important skill that a student can learn is how to read. Learning to read becomes the avenue to all other academic skills and successes. Becoming a reader is an easier process when parents are involved. This is especially true for English language learners whose parents are primarily Spanish speakers. In essence, the key to parent involvement for English … Read More
Teacher Gives Secret for Unlocking English for ELLs
A teacher of ELLs in Arkansas recently offered his “secret sauce” for unlocking English for ELLs in his school. Justin Minkel is a first-grade teacher at Jones Elementary in northwest Arkansas. It’s a public school and his experience is a case study in how to “unlock” English for ELLs. 85 percent of his students speak English as a second language. … Read More
The Oldest House in the USA – Award-Winning Finalist for 2014 USA Book Awards
The Oldest House in the USA was named an award-winning finalist in the Children’s Non-Ficiton category for the 2014 USA Book Awards: The story is about the oldest house in the Untied States located in Santa Fe, New Mexico and written by Kat Aragon, was first built in the 13th century and inhabited by indigenous people and Spanish settlers. It … Read More
Research About English Learners
Click here to watch Dr. Echevarria present research about English Learners! At a recent Literacy Leadership symposium, Dr. Jana Echevarria presented on who are our English Learners today and provided research about English Learners. The Latino population leads the country in population growth over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Census reports, and Spanish is the largest second … Read More
Boy Zorro and The Bully Awarded Gold Medal Moonbeam Book Award
Boy Zorro and The Bully – Awarded Gold Medal for Moonbeam Book Award Spanish Language Picture Book Category Nation’s only bilingual children’s book publisher dedicated to Parent Involvement for English Learners Los Angeles, CA—Lectura Books, the nation’s only bilingual children’s book publisher dedicated to Parent Involvement, today announced that it has been awarded the Gold Medal for the Moonbeam Book … Read More
Bilingual Books for EL Students
One of the challenges that English Learners face today is that students may not have the resources to have books at home, or parents may not fully understand the importance of having books in the home, or even how to read with their children. Research about Second Language Acquisition Theory demonstrates the importance of fostering home language, for strong first … Read More
Research study links behavior control to language skills
In several studies published in the journals Development and Psychopathology, and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, researchers tracked children’s language development from preschool through the early teen-age years, comparing language skills with behavior issues rated by parents and teachers, as well as the students’ performance on impulse-control tests and were able to link behavior control to language skills. “The children … Read More
Boy Zorro and The Bully Book Heralded on The Huffington Post
Boy Zorro and the Bully, the latest book published by Lectura Books, was heralded in The The Huffington Post as part of a commentary on the bullying plague in our schools. The post, “The Bullying Epidemic and Ways to Counter It,” examined the sweeping wave of bullying in schools in the U.S. as well as in other countries. In the … Read More