The Gigantic Turnip (El Nabo Gigante) English-Spanish Bilingual Lit Kit: Literacy-Based Activities, Lesson Plans, and Printables to Increase Language Development

Rapidly improve how children understand, organize and share information that they have learned. There is a reality to working as an educational professional that our materials must reflect. We serve large, diverse populations and our materials must be able to address multiple goals for children who come from diverse backgrounds and different socio-economic statuses. Daunting isn't it? This is why we have become huge proponents of literacy-based intervention and have built this Lit Kit. We only incorporate materials that meet the following criteria. All activities found in this Lit Kit are designed to be quickly referenced and readily available on your computer for easy printing or copying. The books can be used to work on a wide range of skills simultaneously. Group teaching and intervention is our reality and our materials need to reflect this. It is a goldmine for those who are short on time. Easily address goals that include: naming and describing nouns and verbs, vocabulary development, sentence expansion, story sequencing, "wh" question comprehension, and following directions. A Lit Kit is a compilation of materials that address a variety of communication, academic, and literacy goals within the context of a book or story. We have been studying literacy-based intervention for the better part of a decade, have given numerous presentations, written papers, and have created a plethora of our own activities to use with our favorite stories. Most importantly, we have spoken with YOU to gain ideas, insight, and inspiration. We have heard the requests for these materials to be readily available to speech-language pathologists and educators across the country, and are now responding to your needs. The development of this Lit Kit stemmed from teamwork, collaboration, feedback, and commitments to create effective therapy materials that can be easily implemented and utilized (especially with the busiest of workloads and schedules). This LitKit was designed to be used with the folktale "The Gigantic Turnip." The activities and blank templates can be adapted to all of your favorite books.

About the Author :
Dr. Kester founded Bilinguistics to meet the speech and language needs of children from diverse backgrounds. She co-chairs the Task Force on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity for the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association and leads the bilingual speech-language pathology trainings for many of the Regional Educational Service Centers in Texas. She frequently provides workshops on bilingual issues and parent and teacher involvement for the State of Texas Early Childhood Intervention Program and for Texas school districts. She has performed workshops, trainings, and presentations both nationally and internationally. Dr. Kester teaches courses in language development, assessment and intervention of language disorders, early childhood intervention, preschoolers with special needs, and measurement at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research and clinical work address the important issue of differentiating bilingual children with typical development from those with language impairment, and identifying appropriate goals for intervention with bilinguals.