Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Culturally Relevant Books: Connecting Hispanic Students To The Curriculum, Alma D. Rodríguez

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Minority students in the United States (US) need to connect with the curriculum in order to have a meaningful schooling experience. This paper promotes the integration of culturally relevant books into the bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) curriculum for Hispanic English language learners (ELLs). A study was conducted with bilingual and ESL pre-service teachers who learned about the benefits of using culturally relevant books in their teacher preparation program. Pre-service teachers realized that culturally relevant books connect Hispanic ELLs to the curriculum and engage them in reading. Through the study, participants gained confidence working with ELLs and …