2025 MABE Dual Language Bilingual Education Conference

In this session, we will discuss how to use book clubs to help students be independent thinkers and readers. We will talk about the reasons why you should do book clubs and how it helps biliteracy. Book clubs can also support standards and be a tool to prepare for state assessments. We will ensure you leave the session with practical next steps including: how to organize them, how to select materials, how to create independence, how to meet diverse needs, how to implement these in your specific classrooms, and MORE!

What does “good teaching” look like in dual language? Learn about the Four Cornerstones of Dual Language Pedagogy, and see it in action by participating in a model lesson. You will come away with effective strategies and a framework that can be used to guide dual language programs. This is a repeat session from the 2025 conference.

Translanguaging (García, 2009) has emerged as a critical and socially just pedagogical and linguistic frame that affirms and leverages multilingual students’ full communicative repertoires in order to successfully access and transform academic spaces and challenges. However, there are many myths that discourage teachers and administrators from accessing its full potential. We would like to address some of the myths around translanguaging and share scholarship that dispels these myths. Specifically, this presentation will look at seven myths around translanguaging and then provide participants with resources and best practices to enact translanguaging - through policy, planning, assessment - with multilingual students.

This presentation will focus on the operationalization of sociocultural competence (SC) in DLBE programs and will be grounded in Palmieri's (2021) research on teacher perceptions of sociocultural competence in DLBE. This session will provide participants with a) an overview of the current research on SC in DLBE, b) pedagogical practices to operationalize SC in the DLBE classroom, c) an opportunity to share ideas with other DLBE educators around the operationalization and conceptualization of SC, and d) space for critical reflection and dialogue around SC, guided by the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education. Participants will learn about six pillars of sociocultural competence (Palmieri, 2021) a) critical consciousness, b) student identity development, c) teacher identity development, d) target culture/s development, e) Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, and f) student empathy development and cross cultural awareness.

Discover innovative strategies to create cross-linguistic connections. Learn how to identify and leverage language skills to meet your lesson objectives effectively. Get inspired with a variety of extension activities designed to reinforce and expand learning.

We'll guide you through the entire planning process, ensuring you feel confident and prepared to deliver cross-linguistic lessons in your dual language program. You’ll have the opportunity to watch compelling videos that bring concepts to life and provide practical insights. See how these strategies are applied in classrooms, making the content relatable and actionable.

Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your teaching methods and connect with fellow educators.

How can educators effectively leverage multilingual students’ full linguistic repertoires to promote language development and academic success? Translanguaging—the practice of using two or more languages during instruction—can and should be utilized in bilingual and dual language classrooms. This session will examine practical strategies and structures for implementing translanguaging while addressing challenges specific to these programs. Participants will explore how to support the fluid language practices of their multilingual students and ensure strong development of both program languages. Through interactive discussions, attendees will gain practical tools and actionable insights to foster equitable and effective multilingual learning environments.

The presentation will discuss the impact of music activities on bilingual education. Its approximate duration will be 75 minutes. The presentation will cover how teachers can use multicultural music in their lessons to support sociocultural competence, multilingual songs to support biliteracy and bilingualism, and singing/songwriting to reinforce subject areas outside of music support high academic achievement.

Through our years of experience, we have appreciated how teaching music works on the social and cultural area of our students. We have used both languages in the musical repertoires we choose to teach our lessons. We have held concerts in which we celebrate Hispanic heritage. We have recorded musical projects in Spanish to highlight musical styles such as la Bomba and el Festejo, genres highly related to Puerto Rican and Peruvian culture, respectively. Likewise, we have worked on Latin rhythms by using instruments such as the flamenco cajon, bongo, güiro, maracas, congas, etc.

As teachers in elementary schools with bilingual education programs, we have used music to help students develop vocabulary and translanguaging skills, as well as supporting early literacy and other content areas through the use of songs.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn and practice songs from multiple languages, practice translation and translanguaging skills by examining song texts, and apply musical skills to their own content areas, developing songs that reinforce vocabulary and concepts from their areas.

Participants in this session will be provided with examples of what contributes to the development of biliteracy in the early years. Participants will be provided opportunities to engage in strategies that can be used in the classroom to increase language proficiency in both L1 and L2. They will also learn pedagogies proven to be effective in developing language that is directly related to literacy acquisition in L1 and L2. This session will be packed with the latest in the science of reading and its influence on bilingual education and the complexities of acquiring literacy skills while developing language in two languages.

In recent years, many dual language programs have seen confusion among teachers regarding the concept of translanguaging, which has led to the interpretation of translanguaging as providing instruction through concurrent translation. This workshop uses the Spanish phrase “Te quiero o no te quiero” (I love you or I don't love you), to analyze the tensions between embracing translanguaging in the classroom while maintaining language boundaries. Just as the phrase captures a complicated relationship, educators must navigate beyond the either/or interpretation (te quiero o no te quiero) of translanguaging and language separation and move towards a balanced approach (te quiero o te necesito). In this workshop participants will leave with a nuanced understanding of how translanguaging (te quiero) and language separation (y te necesito) can work together as well as practical strategies to balance these approaches in their classrooms that they can implement immediately.

Using science stories to develop inquiry, curiosity, and language in multilingual students
This session explores strategies from the NSF-funded SISTEM project to support STEM thinking in young multilingual learners and the importance of reading aloud science-related narrative stories. Participants will discuss and evaluate these strategies, create activities for students to share findings, and explore resources promoting inquiry. Bilingual science book titles (English and Spanish) will be shared.

Otheguy, García and Reid (2015) have defined translanguaging as “the deployment of a speaker's full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and state) languages” (p. 283). But what are the implications of it to language teaching and learning? In this presentation we are going to dive into the concept of translanguaging, the prejudice around it, and its importance in a bilingual education environment. We will also explain it through the lenses of sociolinguistics - so that we can understand it as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Discover how educational technology and dual language principles are being used to revive the Taíno Indigenous language, dormant for nearly 500 years. This session explores innovative curriculum design, translanguaging strategies, and tools like gamification, spaced repetition, and Declaratively Accelerated Blended Learning (DABL). Learn how technology facilitates the flipped classroom approach, enabling students to engage with content at home and apply knowledge in collaborative classroom activities. Attendees will explore how tech supports cultural revitalization while fostering bilingualism, biliteracy, and sociocultural competence. Walk away with actionable insights on integrating EdTech and culture to preserve endangered languages and enhance student-centered learning.

Routines can be a great ally for teachers. They help educators teach, and students acquire content and skills, while integrating the cultural essence that is so important in dual-language teaching. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate and realize how routines may evolve from the early levels of education to the transition into middle school. The presenters will share bits of their experience so that other professionals can benefit from them and incorporate them into their classrooms.