30 Mar · Karen Nemeth · 2 Comments
How many languages are spoken in your early childhood program? Most have 3 or more! New U.S. DOE and Head Start policies highlight the importance of supporting home languages and that can leave teachers feeling overwhelmed. How can you support so many different languages? We know you want to do what’s best for each …
READ MORE12 Sep · Karen Nemeth · No Comments
1. Say less!! Reach out to preschool DLLs and their families by paring down to the absolute minimum of messages and words needed to save money and time on translations.
READ MORE18 Jun · Karen Nemeth · 2 Comments
Preschools have labels because they value ‘environmental print’. But… if no one reads the labels or talks about them, do they really help teach language and literacy?
READ MORE14 Mar · Karen Nemeth · 11 Comments
By Karen N. Nemeth, Let’s be honest. Worksheets, cookie cutter craft activities, printables, and plastic manipulatives are widely reviled by early childhood education experts, yet they are widely available and often used in preschool and child care programs. At a recent luncheon with early childhood professional development providers and authors, we tried to sort out …
READ MORE22 Jan · Karen Nemeth · No Comments
We all know the importance of connecting with young children by understanding who they are and what’s important to them. Real cultural connections for DLLs go way beyond plastic food, flags, or posters about holidays. Here are some ways to make intentional, authentic, personal connections that help dual language learners:
READ MORE15 Feb · Karen Nemeth · 9 Comments
By Karen N. Nemeth, Ed.M., author and founder of Language Castle and Pamela Brillante, Ed.D., author and assistant professor of special education You know those colorful, plastic “bears”? We’re sure you do because they are in nearly every preschool classroom in the U.S. We think that’s a problem and we are about to tell you …
READ MORE23 Oct · Karen Nemeth · 4 Comments
by Karen Nemeth Have you seen the articles focusing on language quality this week? In the New York Times on October 16, 2014 we read about Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s research in Quality of Words, Not Quantity, Is Crucial to Language Skills, Study Says. Researchers are making a powerful case that, for children under the age of 6, …
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