1) The document discusses strategies for leading bilingual programmes, including providing curricular leadership, planning timelines, overseeing foreign language assistants, conducting lesson observations, and holding meetings. It emphasizes spreading motivation among colleagues, families, and students through dynamic lessons, communication, and creative resources. 2) Managing foreign language assistants is discussed, outlining how they can contribute linguistically and culturally in various classroom activities. 3) Addressing the needs of students with special educational needs is covered, including the connection between language and cognition, differentiated instruction, and ensuring bilingualism does not hinder development.

1. Lucía Ábalos Álvarez
LEADING BILINGUAL
PROGRAMMES

2. LEADING BILINGUAL PROGRAMMES
Leadership
Spreading
motivation
Dealing with
SEN
students
Foreign
language
assistants

3. REFLECTION ON LEADERSHIP
How do you weigh your work as
coordinator/ management team and
researcher in your daily work?

4. HOW CAN WE LEAD
BILINGUAL
PROGRAMMES?
1. LEADERSHIP

5. AREAS ENCOMPASSING YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
• CURRICULAR DECISIONS
• PLANNING & OVERALL TIMELINE FOR YEARLY WORK
• ASSISTANTS DECISIONS
• STAFF PRACTICES
• RESEARCH/REFLECTION
• TEACHING …

6. THERE IS
NO ONE
WAY TO
BE A
TEACHER
LEADER

7. CHALLENGES
WE FACE
LEADERSHIP

8. CHALLENGES WE FACE
Student Apathy, Motivation, and Behaviour/Discipline
Lack of Time
Lack of Parental Involvement or Support
Multiple and Conflicting Pressures Including Technology
Leadership, Administration, Politics…
Large Class Size and Differentiating Instruction
Lack of Scarcity of Funding and Resources
External Testing
Taylor, L. M., Fratto, J. M. (2012). Transforming Learning through 21st Century Skills. The Who Took My Chalk? Model for Engaging You and Your Students. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

9. MEETINGS

10. THE PURPOSE OF MEETINGS
•Develop ideas
•Plan
•Solve problems
•Make decisions
•Create and develop understanding
•Encourage enthusiasm and initiative
•Provide a sense of direction
•Create a common purpose
•Inform
•Consult
•Solve problems
•Make decisions...
USE A TIMER TO FINISH ON TIME!

11. GREAT IDEA: LESSON OBSERVATIONS
• Help them learn new
strategies, classroom
management techniques...
TEACHERS
OBSERVING ONE
ANOTHER
• Give feedback with helpful
information on how to improve
their teaching practice.
COORDINATOR
OBSERVING THE
TEACHERS
• Give feedback to guide them .
COORDINATOR
OBSERVING THE
ASSISTANTS

12. LINGUISTIC
CONTRIBUTIONS
2. FOREIGN LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS

13. Assistants can preview
the content, act as
motivators, schema
builders…

14. Assistants can
introduce new
language.

15. Assistants can review
language items or
grammar items.

16. Assistants can go over
homework.

17. Assistants must give students’ feedback,
encourage and praise them every day.

18. Assistants can do the
morning routines:
greetings, call out the
register, speak about
the weather, write the
date...

19. Assistants will usually be younger so they can look
for more up-to-date materials which may appeal
more to your students.

20. Your assistant will most likely be able to link your
school to a school they know in their own country.

21. Ask them to do lists
of children books in
English.

22. Assistants should be able to create engaging resources.

23. An assistant can make boring old listening
materials come alive!
Rather than playing audios, rehearse a few scripts
with your assistant and act them out in class.
Your students will LOVE watching you put on a mini
show for them!

24. Have your students prepare
questions in advance so that
they are confident during the
'interview' and have lots to ask!

25. Before your assistant
leaves their home
country, make sure
you give them a list
of what to bring with
them!

26. Ask them to bring English
books, stickers, stamps...

27. Assistants can write
information about themselves
for the school paper, on a blog,
in a poster, for a display...

28. Assistants can also bring
photos of their home town,
family members or old school
to use in group conversations
or to make a presentation for
the whole class.

29. Assistants can participate in
the planning of art and crafts
activities for children.

30. Assistants can tell stories
and act them out.

31. Assistants must teach socio cultural aspects:
food, traditional games, typical songs...

32. Assistants must celebrate the typical festivities:
Halloween, Bonfire Night, Thanksgiving, Saint
Patrick’s Day...

33. Assistants can sing and dance songs with the
students to help them learn the lyrics in English.

34. Assistants can help students create science
projects in groups or individually.

35. FOLDER FOR
LANGUAGE
ASSISTANTS
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS
http://luciaabalos.weebly.com
/foreign-language-
assistants.html

36. 3. SPREADING MOTIVATION
COLLEAGUES
FAMILIES
HELP FAMILIES
UNDERSTAND
BILINGUAL
EDUCATION
BUILD A
COMFORTABLE
MEETING
ATMOSPHERE
REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE WITH
CRITICAL FRIENDS
STUDENTS
DYNAMIC &
INTERACTIVE
LESSONS
COMMUNICATION!!
CREATIVE
RESOURCES

37. WHAT IS BILINGUAL EDUCATION?
WHAT DO MARKS MEAN?
GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING EFFORT MARKS
GOALS FOR STUDENTS IN LIFE SKILLS AND RESPONSIBILITY
FAMILIES

38. HOW CAN THEY HELP?
Check
homework daily
Watch TV in
English
Listen to them
speak in
English
Make the most
of the blog
Listen to
English
songs/podcasts
Make them
read in English

39. WHAT DO MARKS MEAN?

40. 1.Participation
2.Quality of work produced
3.Perseverance
4.Receptivity to feedback
GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING EFFORT MARKS

41. GOALS FOR STUDENTS IN THE AREAS OF
ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS AND RESPONSIBILITY
Takes
responsibility
for actions
Demonstrates
active
listening skills
Works
effectively
within a group
Solves conflict
effectively
Follows
directions
Exhibits
organisational
skills
Completing
assignments
on time
Demonstrates
self control
Is a respectful
participant in
school
Uses time
constructively
Follows
established
routine

42. HOW CAN WE BUILD A
COMFORTABLE AND
RELAXED MEETING
ATMOSPHERE?
COLLEAGUES

43. CRITICAL
REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE:
EXPANDING
PERSPECTIVES AS
EDUCATORS AND
RESEARCHERS

44. WHY REFLECT?
• Reflective teachers are more open to innovation and build more
favorable relationships with colleagues and students (BOLIN, 1988;
MUNBY & RUSSELL, 1989)
• More heightened connections between theory and practice
(CRUICKSHANK, 1985)
• Effective teaching has shown to correlate with levels of reflective
dispositions (GIOVANNELLI, 2003)
Taggart, G. (2005). Promoting reflective thinking in teachers: 50 action strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
Press.

45. STUDENTS

46. DYNAMIC & INTERACTIVE LESSONS

47. COMMUNICATION
AS A GOAL
CREATIVE
RESOURCES

48. OUR STUDENTS NEED TO HEAR HOW GOOD THEY ARE…

49. DEPENDABLE
EMPOWERED
COMMITED
FANTASTIC
KNOWLEDGEABLE
DAZZLING
STUDIOUS
AMBITIOUS
KINDHEARTED
ASTONISHING
ELECTRIC
SWEET FUN
COOL
CLEVER
GRAND
FINE
NEIGHBOURLY
TALENTED
FABULOUS
CARING
DRIVEN
RELIABLE
UPBEAT
LIVELY
BRILLIANT
INCREDIBLE
SENSATIONAL
SHARP
AWESOME
ACE
SUCCESSFUL
WONDERFUL
AMAZING
MARVELLOUS
SUPER
SUPERB
MAGNIFICIENT
LOVELY
STUPENDOUS
OUTSTANDING
EXCELLENT
MUCH BETTER
KEEP UP THE GOOD
WORK
GOOD FOR YOU
I KNEW YOU COULD
YOU ARE WORKING
REALLY HARD
YOU’VE GOT IT
YOU’VE IMPROVED
THAT’S BETTER
THAN EVER
KEEP AT IT-IT’S
COMING ON
BEAUTIFULLY DONE
WAY TO GO
WAY TO DO IT
I DO LIKE THAT
TREMENDOUS
WELL, LOOK AT
YOU
THAT WAS FIRST
CLASS
YOU’VE GOT IT
YOU’VE CRACKED IT
WOW
GOOD
GREAT
SPLENDID
MESMERAZING
BREATH-TAKING
SMASHING
UNBELIEVABLE
TERRIFIC
INSPIRING
SUBLIME
TREMENDOUS
SPECTACULAR
FASCINATING
CHARMING
ENGAGING
REMARKABLE
SMART
LUMINOUS
INTELLIGENT
GRUESOME
GREAT JOB
NICE GOING
CONGRATULATIONS
NICE / GOOD
GOING
COMING ALONG
NICELY
KEEP IT UP
WELL DONE

50. 4. DEALING WITH SEN STUDENTS
LANGUAGE-
COGNITION
CONNECTION

52. MOTIVATION:
attitudes, emotional
factors, believe
about the new
language and its
culture
PERSONALITY
AND SOCIAL
INTERACTION:
outgoing students
are more
successful
learners than shy
ones.
LANGUAGE
APTITUDE:
working
memory and
analytic
abilities
AGE OF
ACQUISITION:
children who begin
with their L2 >5 years
of age had larger
vocabularies than the
ones who start <5
years of age.
STRUCTURE OF THE
L1: they can transfer
skills if they are similar

53. Length of
time learning
the L2
Amount of
practice
Quality of the
L2
Contact with
native
speakers,
media,
reading
resources...
Socioeconomic
status (because
they speak more
to their children)

54. DOES BILINGUALISM PUT AT RISK
THE STUDENTS COGNITION?
Bilingualism is often seen as
problematic and it is thought to
challenge developing children ...
¨If they learn the vocabulary in
English, they are not going to learn it
in Spanish...¨

55. WE ARE GOING TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THIS CLAIM IS
NOT SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH EVIDENCE.

56. Bilingual children exhibited a number of cognitive
advantages in comparison to their monolingual
peers:
Greater number of independent cognitive
strategies
Greater flexibility in the use of these strategies to
solve problems.

57. Bilingual superiority in:
Phonology and acquisition of reading and writing.
Selective attention: misleading information is
inhibited in favour of relevant information.

58. Bilingual superiority in:
The onset of dementia is delayed by 4 years in the case of
bilinguals in comparison to monolingual patients with the same
clinical diagnosis.
Early exposure to two languages confers an advantage that
presumably is maintained later in life if acquisition of 2
languages continues and leads to high levels of proficiency.

59. Las personas que dominan dos lenguas tienen
ventajas cognitivas en las actividades que exigen
concentración.
El bilingüismo se asocia con una mayor rapidez
en la percepción del lenguaje y una mejora en la
plasticidad cerebral.

60. Children should be fully supported in their acquisition of
two languages from early in the development.
The decision to raise a child bilingually should be made
only if an enriched and consistent bilingual experience can
be provided.

61. DEALING WITH SEN STUDENTS
DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION

62. WHY?

65. REFLECTIONS AND
“AHA” MOMENTS
LEADING BILINGUAL PROGRAMMES