Join us for opening remarks from Erik Sweet, Executive Director, and Tanya Amodio-Kovacs, Supervisor in Education programs in the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Early Learning (OEL) to kick off the 2024 Symposium on Emergent Multilingual Learners in Early Childhood.

This session will focus on what we know about the science and practice of early literacy, with a specific focus on serving today’s large, growing and diverse population of multilingual learners. The session will feature key ideas and actionable lessons from the research to inform the design of a robust instructional model, including one that reflects connections between promoting their early literacy and social-emotional skills. Common misconceptions and instructional pitfalls that impede multilingual learners’ literacy development and, in turn, academic achievement will also be discussed.

In this session, Dr. Soltero discusses what it means to develop literacy and biliteracy through a linguistically and culturally relevant and responsive approach. She will explore the intersections of bilingualism, biliteracy, and bi-/multi-culturalism in all their dimensions, as well as how to approach the development of literacy/biliteracy in ways that intentionally and systematically embed bicultural/multicultural fundamentals in the teaching and learning of literacy and language skills in two or more languages. Linguistically and culturally relevant and responsive curriculum, use of authentic literature, and meaning-based instructional approaches that engage students’ heritage and new cultures are some of the ways in which school and classroom cultural ecosystems support the development of cultural-embedded literacy/biliteracy.

Join Dr. Kramer Santamaria, an educator, community organizer, and social justice leader, to engage in a conversation about how she has created opportunities and met challenges throughout her career with regard to evaluating multilingual learners and providing access to dual language programs in early childhood. Opportunities for Q & A will be provided.

In this session, Dr. Sisskind, commonly known as "the Readiatrician," will share how to use a book to screen for developmental milestones from 6 months to 5 years, strategies to encourage early literacy at home, how early exposure to books increases math, language, and social/emotional outcomes, and tools for reading to neurodivergent children.

Orality, or speaking and listening, is a crucial component to students’ literate development. This workshop will focus on the reciprocal relationship between oral language and foundational literacy skills. Participants will come away with both theoretical knowledge and practical approaches to increasing English Learners’ orality.

Validating and building on cultural and linguistic assets is key to effective teaching with emerging multilingual learners. In this interactive keynote, learn essential mindsets and actions to center multilingual learner assets in your early literacy teaching. Leverage the Engage-Observe-Support sequence to listen for students' linguistic strengths and adapt scaffolding in responsive ways. Join us to move asset-centered teaching from theory to action!

In this interactive session, participants will build an understanding of the Science of Reading, learn how this research supports how students learn to read, and connect this learning to current practices in order to support English language learners.