You might not realize it, but the child sitting next to yours in their third-grade classroom could be a budding multilingual superstar. Join me, Dr. Michele Schmidt Moore, as I sit down with the seasoned educator and English language learner teacher, Andrea Bitner, to discover the fascinating intricacies of supporting multilingual students in education.
Andrea, with her 23 years of experience, shares riveting stories about her students – many of whom only realize their bilingual abilities around third or fourth grade – and their journey of becoming leaders in their own families by helping their parents navigate the community.
We then navigate toward the poignant tale of the Lopez family, a courageous family of seven children who Andrea had the honor of teaching. Their story inspired Andrea to put pen to paper, resulting in her book ‘Take Me Home’. We discuss her and her colleagues’ efforts to support the children academically and the beautiful tradition of celebrating graduating seniors with a “T-shirt Day” every year.
Amidst these celebrations, we also touch upon the heartbreaking story of Nancy, one of the Lopez children, whose loss had a profound impact on the family.
Andrea shares her passion for multilingual education and how it inspired her to create her passion project encapsulated in Take Me Home. Click To TweetConnect with our Host
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Andrea Bitner is an educator, author, and speaker. She lives in Philadelphia, PA. She has worked with students in grades K-12 throughout her twenty-two years in public education from all around the world. Her first book, “Take Me Home,” was published by Austin Macauley in July of 2021. “Take Me Home” is the true story of 11 of her former EL students who give a first-hand account of what it’s really like to become bilingual in America. She is also a co-author of Chip Baker’s “The Impact of Influence-Volume 3 and Dr. Rick Jetter’s 100 No-Nonsense Things ALL School Leaders Shout STOP Doing.” She travels the country speaking and teaching educators how to teach and reach EL students, and effectively communicate with EL families! You can find Andrea at www.andreabitnerbooks.com, or on social media @andreabitnerbooks.
@andreabitnerbooks on Instagram
