Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 319 

Book Summary
Many people all over the world speak two languages. They are bilingual. In Being Bilingual, readers meet children from different cultures and learn their names and the languages they speak. A pronunciation guide, glossary, and table of contents are included to support readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of connecting to prior knowledge to understand text
• Compare and contrast information
• Discriminate long /e/ vowel sound
• Identify and read long /e/ vowel digraph ea
• Recognize and use proper nouns
• Understand how to read pronunciations in parentheses

Materials

• Book -- Being Bilingual (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Compare and contrast, vowel digraph ea, proper nouns worksheets

   Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: are, make, many, more, than, two, use(d), what, who, you
• Content words: Aztecs, bilingual, Cherokee, French, Guarani, Hispanic, Incas, language, live, Nahuatl, Navajo, newspaper, Paraguay, Quechua, Quebec, such, tribe, weave

Build Background

• Write the word languages on the board. Ask students to name the language(s) they speak. Invite them to share examples of other languages of which they are familiar. Make a list of languages on the board.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they think they might read about in a book called Being Bilingual. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title, author's name).
• Ask students to turn to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about in the book based on what they see in the table of contents.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

• Explain to students that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind them that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge using the information on the covers.
  Think-aloud: On the back cover, I see a trash can that is labeled with the English word trash. The trash can is also labeled with words in three other languages. These words must mean trash in these languages. This reminds me of instruction booklets I've seen that are written in more than one language. Companies do this because they recognize that not everyone who buys their product speaks English. This trash can must be located in a place with people who speak these other languages.
• Read the introduction aloud to students. Invite students to share how they connected to prior knowledge based on this section. Have students explain how connecting to prior knowledge helped them understand what they heard.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Compare and contrast

• Explain to students that one way to understand and organize new information in a book is to explain how topics are alike and different. Write the words compare and contrast on the board. Point out that explaining how things are alike is called comparing, and explaining how things are different is called contrasting. Write the word alike under compare and the word different under contrast on the board.
• Draw a Venn diagram on the board. Label the left side Apple and the right side Orange.
• Show students an apple and an orange. Model how to compare and contrast using these objects.
  Think-aloud: I can compare and contrast an apple and an orange. I know an apple has smooth skin, but an orange has bumpy skin. I will write smooth skin on the Venn diagram under the heading Apple and bumpy skin under the heading Orange to show one way that these two objects are different. I know that an orange and an apple are both fruits. I will write fruit on the diagram where the circles overlap to show one way that these two objects are the same.
• Invite students to suggest other ways that an apple and an orange are the same and different. Write student responses on the Venn diagram under the appropriate headings.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the picture on page 8, you might say: Waya is a Cherokee boy. He speaks Cherokee and English. The Cherokee are a Native American tribe.
• Remind students to look at the picture and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word guitar on page 7 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows a boy and older man playing a musical instrument. The instrument looks like a guitar. When I look at the first part of the word, I recognize the /g/ sound. I also recognize the ar letter combination at the end of the word. The word guitar begins with the /g/ sound and ends with the ar letter combination. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be guitar.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out more about people who are bilingual. Remind them to think about what they already know about languages as they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 7 and then stop to think about the information they have read so far. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: On page 6, I read about Manuel, who speaks both Spanish and English. I know many words in English because it is the language I speak every day. I only know a few words in Spanish. I have heard them on television. I am not bilingual like Manuel because I only know a few words in another language.
• Invite students to share how they connected with what they already knew as they read.
• Draw a Venn diagram on the board. Label the left side Andre and the right side Manuel. Have students identify things that are alike and different about the two boys they read about in the story. (Both speak English and are bilingual. Andre lives in Canada and speaks French. Manuel lives in New York and speaks Spanish.) Write this information on the Venn diagram on the board.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 10. Encourage them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. (Accept all answers that show students know how to connect to prior knowledge.)
• Have student pairs discuss how Waya and Doli are alike and different. Have them create a Venn diagram on a separate piece of paper and write the information from their discussion on their diagram.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use what they know about languages to help them understand new information as they read.

    Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Think-aloud: When I read page 15, it reminded me of students I know who were born in another country. I know that English is not the official language of most countries. I wonder whether these students speak more than one language and how difficult it was to learn a new language. Thinking about what I already know about languages helped me remember the information in the book.
• Ask students to explain how thinking about what they already know helped them to understand and remember the contents of the book. Invite students to share additional ways they connected to prior knowledge.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the meanings of compare and contrast, as well as the Venn diagrams created earlier in the lesson.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the compare and contrast worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: This book is about bilingual children from different countries. Now that you know this information, what might be the advantages of speaking more than one language?

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate long /e/ vowel sound

• Say the word speak aloud to students, emphasizing the long /e/ vowel sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the long /e/ vowel sound.
• Say the following words from the book, one at a time: means, stone, read, first, treat. Have students give the thumbs-up signal when they hear a word with the long /e/ vowel sound as in the word speak.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word contains the long /e/ vowel sound: meat, favorite, people, teachers, tribe, seal.

Phonics: Long /e/ vowel digraph ea

• Write the word speak on the board and say it aloud with students.
• Tell students that sometimes letters combine to stand for one sound. Reread the word speak as you run your finger under the letters in the word. Ask students to identify the two letters that represents the long /e/ vowel sound in the word speak.
• Write the ea letter combination on the board. Have students practice writing the letter combination on a separate piece of paper while saying the sound the combination represents.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words on the board, leaving out the ea letter combination: tea, meat, wheat, bead. Have students complete each word by adding the ea digraph and write each word on a separate piece of paper. Then have students read each word aloud to a partner.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the vowel digraph ea worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Proper nouns

• Review or explain to students that words used to tell the name of specific people, places, or things are called proper nouns. Explain that these words begin with a capital letter. Ask students to identify proper nouns they know (their own name, their teacher's name, the name of their town or school, and so on).
• Have students turn to page 5. Ask them to locate proper nouns on the page (Andre, Quebec, Canada, French, English). Discuss why these words are proper nouns and whether the words name a person, place, or thing.
• Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 7. Ask them to find the proper nouns on the page (New York City, Spain, Spanish). Have students identify whether the words name a person, place, or thing.

    Have students underline the proper nouns in the book. Remind them to ask themselves whether each word names a person, place, or thing.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the proper nouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Pronunciation guide

• Review or explain that pronunciation refers to how someone says a word. Discuss how some words might be difficult to pronounce, such as words from another language. Point out that when authors think someone might have difficulty saying a word, they often include a pronunciation guide at the front of the book. This allows readers to review difficult words before they read the book or look them up when they come to each word in the book.
• Tell students that when writing the pronunciation for a word, the word is broken into syllables. Point out that the syllable in a word that should be spoken more strongly is usually written in capital letters.
• Direct students to the copyright page and have them locate the pronunciation guide. Ask them to find the pronunciations in parentheses. Point out that the words are broken into syllables, which are separated by hyphens. Practice pronouncing each word with the class.
• Check for understanding: Have students work with a partner to pronounce the words in the pronunciation guide. Listen for individual responses.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students compare with someone at home how they connected with prior knowledge.

Informational Writing Connection
Provide students with print and Internet resources to research one of the countries mentioned in the book. Have them identify information such as: the official language of the country, foods, art, geography, and clothing.

Social Studies Connection
Use a map to help students locate the countries mentioned in the book. Discuss some of the many reasons why people might speak more than one language.