Early Childhood Professional Learning (ECPL) and ISBE are excited to announce that the early care and education (ECE) community in Illinois now has free access to WIDA Early Years eLearning. These online professional learning resources focus on supporting young multilingual children in ECE settings. Multilingual children, commonly referred to as dual language learners, are young children who are growing up learning and developing more than one language.
WIDA Early Years eLearning offers self-paced, interactive modules that provide opportunities for reflection and offer suggestions for applying content to local practice. In addition to self-paced modules, WIDA Early Years eLearning also provides exclusive access to the Are We Ready? What K-12 Educators Can Do to Support Young Multilingual Children webinar and downloadable resources. Are We Ready? resources promote collaboration among Pre-K and K-3 educators to support multilingual children and families as they transition to Kindergarten.
We encourage program leaders, administrators, trainers, and coaches to view these eLearning offerings and consider ways they can serve as a resource for staff. For example, what are the professional learning needs of your staff and/or audiences when it comes to multilingual children? The modules can be used in staff development sessions and/or shared with individual educators or teams of educators, such as those engaged in professional learning communities.
Up to five hours of ISBE and/or Gateways credit available.
Access the WIDA Early Years eLearning
Download the WIDA Early Years eLearning flyer
Download Instructions for Creating User Accounts and Registering