Nature as a Springboard for Biliteracy Development
Effective Curriculum: Designing and Implementing Meaningful Learning for Every Child
Teaching and Learning in the Outdoors
Nature as a Springboard for Biliteracy Development
María G. Arreguín and Rica Ramírez
To better address children’ s academic and linguistic needs, scholars agree that educators must plan instruction that begins with concrete, meaningful activities involving the senses( Beeman & Urow 2013; Alanís et al. 2021; Arreguín et al. 2023). This is particularly true when teaching emergent bilingual learners, or children who are simultaneously learning a new set of linguistic skills and building on the valuable knowledge of their first language. This definition takes an asset-based perspective of the capabilities of emergent bilingual children and focuses on the unique potential a child has for bilingualism when they are learning a second language in school( García 2009; NASEM 2024).
In the United States, the number of emergent bilingual children in 2022 was 10 percent of the school population in grades K – 12( Migration Policy Institute 2022). That same year, the Office of Head Start reported that at least one-third of the preschoolers in
6 Young Children
Summer 2025