For Trainers
Welcome to the POLL Strategies Trainer Hub—a resource designed to support trainers, coaches, and leaders as they guide providers in creating inclusive, language-rich classrooms. Here you’ll find ready-to-use training modules, practical tools, and strategies that build on children’s home languages, strengthen family partnerships, and nurture dual language development from the start.
Introduction to Personalized Oral Language Learning (POLL)
Time: 60-75 minutes
This session introduces the foundations of POLL and its role in supporting Dual Language Learners (DLLs). Participants explore the value and critical role of home language, understand DLLs’ unique strengths and needs of DLLs, and become familiar with the core POLL strategies used to promote oral language development through meaningful, culturally responsive interactions.
Family Supports
Time: 60-75 minutes
This session focuses on building strong, trusting relationships with families of dual language learners. Participants explore how to create welcoming, inclusive environments, use the Family Languages and Interests Interview to gather meaningful insights, and engage families as active partners in supporting their children’s language development.
Environmental Supports
Time: 60-75 minutes
This session focuses on creating learning environments that reflect and honor children’s home languages and cultures. Participants learn how to use visual cues and print in both home languages and English, and how to design engaging spaces that spark children’s interests and foster meaningful language development.
Instructional Supports
Time: 60-75 minutes
This session provides an introduction to the instructional strategies used in POLL to support oral language development for dual language learners. Participants learn how to plan language experiences that reflect children’s home languages, cultures, and families, embed vocabulary-building into daily routines and play, and begin using strategies that promote meaningful language interactions throughout the day.
Anchor Texts and Experiences
Time: 60-75 minutes
This session introduces the use of Anchor Texts and Experiences to build oral language and conceptual understanding. Participants learn how to plan meaningful, vocabulary-rich experiences that support learning in both home languages and English using interactive strategies that deepen engagement and comprehension.
Vocabulary Imprinting
Time: 45-60 minutes
This session introduces Vocabulary Imprinting as a powerful strategy for supporting dual language learners. Participants learn how to use visual cues, gestures, and movement to introduce and reinforce new words, helping children build understanding and recall across languages.
Intentional Messages
Time: 45-60 minutes
This session introduces Intentional Messages as a strategy to support language development for dual language learners. Participants learn how to create meaningful messages that reflect children’s interests and cultures, and use them during daily interactions to enhance comprehension, engagement, and vocabulary growth.
Songs and Chants
Time: 45-60 minutes
This session introduces Songs and Chants as engaging tools to support language development and cultural connection. Participants learn how to create and adapt familiar tunes using key vocabulary and repetition, and explore ways to integrate them into daily routines to promote joyful, language-rich learning.
Extended Activities
Time: 45-60 minutes
This session explores how Extended Activities support deeper learning and language development. Participants learn to plan developmentally appropriate activities aligned with children’s interests and discover how to use them to reinforce key concepts, vocabulary, and meaningful conversations.
Five training sessions including narrated PowerPoint slides with pre-recorded facilitation and recorded breakout groups.
Introduction to the Language Learning Project Toolkit for administrators, coaches, and trainers.
Leadership Orientation Slides [PDF]Â
Leadership Orientation Slides (Spanish) [PDF]
Three sessions that provide guidance for training around POLL.
