Language Development – Moreno's Blog

Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic Functional Linguistics sees language in terms of its functions to understand the environment (field), communicate with the people in it (tenor) and express in a verbal or written form (mode).

Valuing Linguistic Diversity

By valuing students’ linguistic diversity we as educators help them not only with language learning, but also with supporting the discovery of their identity as part of the larger community. Teachers can use language celebrations (McCreight, 2013) to build the connection between the students and their community.

Teaching and Learning Cycle

The Teaching and Learning Cycle is a model that integrates language learning with academic learning.

Origins of English

Latin and Greek Roots

Over over 60% of he English words have Greek or Latin roots. This short video explains ways in which we can figure out words based on knowledge of Latin and Greek roots.

English for Spanish Speakers

I am re-posting our class resource about the 10 Pronunciation Mistakes Spanish Speakers Make.

Articulation Errors and Second Language Learners

Educators working with ELL students are often faced with the question of whether certain learning difficulties are due to second language acquisition or if there is indeed a case for learning difference. This article looks at a method for analyzing articulation errors in second language learners.

Using Phonemes in the Classroom

Understanding how phonemes work is an important task for language arts and ELL teachers. The article “Using Phonemes in the Classroom” gives some practical ideas of how to apply linguistic knowledge in the classroom using cards and songs.

Language or Dialect

What is the difference between language and dialect?

Social and Academic Language

Academic Language and ELLs : What Teachers Need to Know is a great article from Colorin Colorado that explains the difference between social and academic language. ELL teachers can compare similar contexts and writing about them using a table, they can teach cognates and teach usage of signal words.