61传媒tv

Special miniseries, Episode 1

Language is always an asset, with Kajal Patel Below

To kick off our season focused on how the Science of Reading serves multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs), 61传媒tv Vice President of Biliteracy Kajal Patel Below joins Susan Lambert for a retrospective discussion of the history of literacy education through a biliteracy lens. Together, they discuss the significance of a recent joint statement put out by The Reading League and the National Committee for Effective Literacy. Below sheds light on why this statement is so monumental, and what it means for serving ML/ELs going forward.

Meet our guest(s):

Kajal Patel Below

Kajal Patel Below is Vice President of Biliteracy at 61传媒tv, where she collaborates with multiple teams to leads initiatives across 61传媒tv’s Spanish offerings and in service of multilingual/English learners. In this role, she works with national experts in the field and keeps her finger on the pulse of what schools and districts need to serve ML/ELs, especially in Spanish.

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Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at 61传媒tv, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Her career has been focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Lambert is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Transcripts and additional resources

Quotes

鈥淚t must be acknowledged that there is more scientific research, or there has been more scientific research, conducted with monolingual English-speaking children, and that additional research related to teaching literacy development for English learners and emergent bilinguals is needed to advance our understanding of their literacy development.鈥 鈥擪ajal Patel Below
鈥淲e have an underserved area that's experiencing a massive growth in student population. And so it's really important to then focus on it. Schools are adjusting, they're quick, they're doing the best they can, but we need to be having these conversations around research [and] best practices so that we can set schools up for success and students up for success.鈥 鈥擪ajal Patel Below
鈥淚 just think we have an exciting future in this country. I was in a classroom last week, I saw some of their writing. I saw them speaking, heard them speaking in two languages fluently, easily, excitedly. I just got very excited. These kids are going to be our doctors and our teachers and our engineers and they鈥檙e bilingual or multilingual.鈥 鈥擪ajal Patel Below
鈥淭heir language is an asset, whatever language it is and however much it is.鈥 鈥擪ajal Patel Below