The Power of a Dictionary

When I was early in my career as a Newcomer Educator in the public school system, I had a colleague talk to me about Rosetta Stone and she just really wished that it would have the word right there - meaning the translation. She vented that she was at the part of the lesson in which she had to write two sentences, but that if they were not totally correct, it would not let her pass. Also, even though she do, and redo lessons that she had passed, she tried and tried to understand every word that they would say, but she just couldn’t. She heard the word “verde” and she heard the word “bicicleta,” so she knew it must be the picture of the green bike, so she clicked on the picture and she was correct, and still not having full knowledge of what Mrs. Rosetta Stone was saying to her. “Ugh! It is so frustrating!” she said. With much love and mucho laughter, I looked at her and said, “And now you know what most of our emergent bilingual students go through every single day!”

She wanted a dictionary. Some of our kids do not have dictionaries because they do not exist. She wanted to know all of the words that were being said to her. So did my students, and I am sure yours, too. She was frustrated. So are our emergent bilingual students!

Now, we understand the power and importance of a word to word dictionary, if available, and the importance of the different learning styles of students — sometimes we need that visual representation to help us learn.

So, as you are planning your lessons for the upcoming week, I hope you will consider ways you can be more interactive with connecting with ALL students, but especially your emergent bilingual students.