Handout: “Instructional Strategies and Literacy Development in Dual Language Learners”
This presentation is designed to cultivate educators’ and parents’ background knowledge and skill needed to support students who are dual-language learners (DLLs). We will discuss up-to-date information about strategies designed for DLLs that will help educators serve dual-language learners and empower parents to support their children’s academic success. Participants will learn: 1) five key points they can share to help educate families about dual-language acquisition in children with special needs, 2) learn a strategy they can teach parents, regardless of parents’ literacy levels, to help them foster literacy development, and 3) three general strategies for enhancing DLLs’ achievement of state standards.
Brenda K. Gorman worked for many years as a bilingual (Spanish-English) speech-language pathologist, serving diverse caseloads for public school districts and early intervention agencies before entering academia. She previously co-directed the Reading Acquisition for Spanish Speakers Program (RASPA) and an Early Reading First (ERF) project. Currently, Brenda is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at Elmhurst College where she is investigating language and literacy assessment and intervention in bilinguals and co-developing a dual-language (Spanish-English) language and literacy curriculum for preschoolers.
