Language support in Imagine Language & Literacy

Imagine Language & Literacy provides 2 different types of language support—audio language support and print language support—as described below. Administrators and Teachers can set the audio support language for their students or download print language support materials to use in their classroom.

Audio language support

Audio language support provides instructions and some feedback in students' first language while they work through specific activities. Imagine Language & Literacy uses the student's first language in strategic ways to teach English concepts. The goal of audio language support is to maintain a balance between helping the student understand the activity while still driving them towards English proficiency.

Imagine Language & Literacy uses audio language support to scaffold students in these ways:

• Provides instructions to students in their first language the first time that the student works on an activity. For example, the Placement Test would explain to students how to complete the test in their first language, but still test them in English.
• Teaches difficult or unfamiliar concepts or skills (such as rhyming) in their first language before teaching the same concept in English. This is especially effective when the English sounds that are being taught don't exist in the students' first language.
• Reviews vocabulary in students' first language before teaching them new vocabulary in English.

Imagine Language & Literacy gradually removes audio language support in students' first language so that they gain confidence and proficiency in English. When students whose accounts have been enabled for language support encounter an activity:

1. The first time a student encounters an activity that includes audio language support, they automatically hear instructions on how to complete the activity in their first language.
2. The second or third time the student encounters the same activity, they hear instructions on how to complete the activity in English, but they can click the Translate icon in the taskbar to hear the instructions in their first language if they need audio language support.

   

3. After the third time the student encounters that same activity, they hear instructions on how to complete the activity in English and the Translate icon is disabled.

Print language support

Print language support provides translations of essential print materials into languages that are not offered as audio language support in Imagine Language & Literacy activities. Language booklets for each supported language include family letters, vocabulary practice, reading texts, and other printouts, a glossary of vocabulary words translated from the first language to English, and a Certificate of Completion in the first language. The printouts included in language booklets have instructions on how use the printout in the student's first language, but the exercises or questions are in English.

Here are some example resources from the Language Materials (Bengali) booklet:

Page 253: