Today is my dear friend Judi's birthday. I don't know how old she is but she's young at heart and strong in mind and body. She and I started our grad work together along with our other wonderful friend, Julie. We were three teachers who knew we needed to learn more about the children in our care. We set out just wanting to take "a class" but ended up with our masters degrees after 2 years of studying, crying, laughing, late nighters (we were too old for all nighters), many prayers, heated discussions, endless classes, dreaded research and that awful final 4 hour exam. But nothing is better than accomplishing a goal, doing it with friends makes it even sweeter.
All three of us were seasoned teachers, we had taught in about every capacity possible over our accuamalated years in the teaching profession. Judi was perhaps the most experienced with a second language as her Spanish is very good and her students benefited from that. She could reassure them in their native tongue that things would be better, that they would survive all the newness around them. I always envied that skill. Use of a student's L1 is very beneficial. It creates a welcoming atmosphere, a sense of belonging and safety. L1 use helps to clarify directions and concepts, providing meaning to an academic task. It opens a direct line to the parents, no need for an interpreter or translator.
In searching for new and useful tools, I have ran across several sites that use L1 to teach L2. Thought I would share them with you in honor of my dear bilingual friend who is getting better with age.
Happy Birthday, Judi. Maybe one of these days we'll get to celebrate together again.
Rosetta Stone http://www.rosettastone.com/
Verbling http://verbling.com/
Brain Scape Business Spanish(an Apple I-phone free app) http://www.brain-scape.com/market/foreign_languages/spanish
Word Dynamo-http:///dynamo.dictionary.com
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