Join us for five sessions on Thursdays from 4:30-6:30 p.m. to explore invitations with dual-language picturebooks that engage children in learning about language and language diversity. Participants will earn 20 hours of professional development credit plus receive a text set of 10-12 picturebooks along with supplies and maps to keep for your classroom. We will meet in person for the first session at Worlds of Words, University of Arizona, and then meet virtually to explore strategies for engaging children with these books and to share our work with each other. Registration for this workshop is limited to 15 elementary teachers.

In a world of increasing linguistic diversity, children need an awareness and appreciation of the multiple languages in their lives and communities. Our goal is to encourage children to view multilingualism as a community resource, not a problem, and to develop strategies for engaging with familiar and unfamiliar languages. Although dual language picturebooks are often used to learn a language, our goal is instead to engage with these books to encourage learning about language and language diversity. In our first in-person session, we will explore the types of dual language picturebooks and how to evaluate these books and each teacher will receive a text set of picturebooks. In each of the following virtual sessions, we will engage in interactions around these picturebooks, such as creating language body maps or neighborhood language maps, along with exploring strategies children can use as readers of these books. Teachers will be encouraged to use the picturebooks and experiences in their classrooms over the following two weeks and we will share with each other at our next meeting. Each meeting will also involve exploring strategies around new books.

March 24, 4:30-6:30 pm – Worlds of Words for introduction and to receive the picturebook text set
April 7, April 21, May 5 & May 19 – 4:30-6:30 pm – Virtual zoom sessions

This professional opportunity is open to classroom teachers in grades K-5 with priority given to teachers applying as partners from the same school. Registration is limited to 15 teachers.

To apply for this workshop, send your name, grade level, school name, and contact info (email, phone, and address) to dkleker@arizona.edu by February 25.

Kathy G. Short is a professor and endowed chair of global children’s literature at the University of Arizona and Director of Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures. She works with teachers around the world on inquiry and interculturalism and has authored many books and articles, including Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers and Teaching Globally: Reading the World through Literature.

Dorea Kleker is an early childhood teacher, educator and lecturer at the University of Arizona. Working with students and teachers across a wide variety of educational contexts in the U.S. and Latin America, her work focuses on global and multicultural children’s literature, literacy and play to develop intercultural understanding, and the use of literature to actively engage children as inquirers across all content areas.