From a State-Level Contest to Real Classrooms: Here’s What’s Happening
 This photo is a screenshot from the video featured on The Herald News. Hi, The spring is in full bloom here, and the sun is shining bright today 🙂 What about where you live? I hope you’re all doing great. I’m excited to share a piece of news that’s particularly meaningful for my work as an author and self-publisher. I feel both honored and grateful to see my work inspire such creative projects in places and among people I have never met. For the second year in a row, my book “Summer with Grandpa”, illustrated by Svitlana Holovchenko and translated into European Portuguese by André Morgado and Ana Pereira, has been selected to be used for the 18th Annual Lusophone Calendar Art Contest, organized by the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies at RI College (IPLWS), USA. The contest is held in collaboration with the “Rhode Island Day of Portugal and Portuguese Heritage in Rhode Island, Inc.”, and it’s open to students aged 5 to 18 who are studying Portuguese in public, private, or charter schools or community Portuguese schools. Artwork from the winners will be featured in a 2027 bilingual calendar. As part of the competition: -Students 5 to 7 years old (grades K-2) are invited to explore the bilingual picture book ‘Summer with Grandpa-Verão com o Avô’ by Elisavet Arkolaki, provided by the IPLWS, and submit their drawings based on the story of the book. -Students aged 8 to 10 (grades 3-5) can either explore the same book or the theme ‘A Lusophone Recipe. -’Students in ages 11 to 18 (grades 6-12) will explore the theme ‘A Lusophone Recipe.’ Silvia Oliveira, Associate Professor of Portuguese and Director of the IPLWS at Rhode Island College, highlights: “Teachers are encouraged to guide students in exploring themes and expressing their imagination and creativity through art.” “The IPLWS will make available to teachers the standards for each category based on the Rhode Island World Language Standards and the ACTFL World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. We hope that this will aid in justifying the relevance of this activity as well as giving some suggested resources for teachers’ use in exploring these themes with students.”  In other news, many of you here may already be familiar with my bilingual children’s book “Nelly’s Box.” I created it with the idea that it’s perfect for the first days of school, as it helps children in a class get to know each other in a fun, inclusive, and playful way. Each child brings a box filled with things they love. They share it. They are seen. In this way, a classroom can feel like a community from the very beginning, with new relationships rooted in the concept of love. It’s been recommended and used by teachers and organizations around the world, such as the Plymouth Babylab at the University of Plymouth (example). Recently, a friend brought something interesting to my attention: new Greek language textbooks have been introduced into the Greek elementary school system, and one of them recommends this exact activity during the introductory phase. Coincidence? Maybe. But it also feels like a quiet confirmation that this idea… works! Here’s the script from that particular section of the book, which is about getting to know each other: “We say good morning in different languages. We bring a box to school with things we love and write our name on it.”  “Nelly’s Box” is available on all Amazon stores and through Paper Kittens in Greece in 35+ languages combined with English. There’s no English narration on YouTube yet, but the following versions are available: Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. You can also download a free PDF with activities here. And for my Greek friends, here are some beautiful classroom adaptations shared by kindergarten teachers (and you can find more online): https://blogs.sch.gr/3nippeirchi/author/3nipchi/page/3/ https://www.facebook.com/100045235796569/posts/613346240183230/  I’d also like to thank Germaine Moran Koskina, PhD,Adjunct Professor and 2-Way Dual Language Bilingual Teacher, for featuring my books during her presentation at the Bilingual/ESL Education Association of the Metroplex. More details here. I hope this material gives you ideas for projects to explore in your classrooms and/or with your own children and group of friends. I wish you a lovely day and start of the week 🙂 . Love, Liza. |
Category: Uncategorized
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
