Purpose 6: Cross-linguistic Connections

This is an example of how a contrastive analysis of vocabulary can be utilized as part of the process of building background knowledge to support comprehension of a new text. Students brainstorm independently for their warm up prompt and then share via multilingual turn and talks, followed by a whole-class share out (in any and all languages) to add to the class brainstorm on the SMART board. Spanish cognates are presented for the words, and students are encouraged to draw on background knowledge from their home countries to support knowledge of the vocabulary in context; for example, a student could compare the economic systems in the U.S. to the economic systems present in their home country.

For each chapter of Animal Farm, students complete a V.I.P. (Very Important Packet) to support their comprehension and analysis of the text during our novel study unit. There is a cognates section within the vocabulary tracker, where students can connect the new vocabulary to a cognate in one of their languages (when applicable). This is an opportunity for multilingual students to draw connections, and also for monolingual students in their small reading groups to learn about how roots are connected across languages (building metalinguistic awareness).