Transparent Language

Librarians have spoken: the "Spanish for Librarians" class gets five stars. ⭐ "I loved presenting the dialogues. It helped me apply the vocabulary from each lesson and think of ways that I would interact with Spanish speaking patrons at the library." ⭐"The small group format was great! I liked my classmates, I hope I run into them in the library world again. I do not usually enjoy speaking in language classes, but the small class size made this less intimidating." ⭐"I felt like I had ample time to speak and ask questions!" ⭐"I would definitely recommend this class to fellow librarians." ⭐ "Wendy es una profesora excelente!" Couldn't agree more with that last review. It started as a crazy idea to turn our self-guided Spanish for Librarians course into a 4-week live group class. Less than a month later she was teaching her first class to 4 librarians. Now more than 20 librarians have taken the class in 3 months. They all sing the course's praises thanks to Wendy, la mejor maestra! If you or a librarian in your life would be interested in learning Spanish to use with your patrons, get on the wait list for upcoming summer classes: https://lnkd.in/eirtMgcF

Happy National Library Outreach Day! If your library is struggling with outreach to English Language Learners, hear how your fellow librarians are reaching those communities: 👉 At Worcester Public Library in MA, Katelyn Duncan partners will other local organizations to give their English learners tours of the library and get their cards on the spot. 👉 At Newton Free Library in MA, Andrew Shapira connects with the local school system to connect with the families of English learners and invite them to library programs. 👉 At Greensboro Public Library in NC, Camille Silva-Couch gets out and about to flea markets and farmers' markets that are popular with their immigrant communities and brings along a portable library card maker. #NationalLibraryWeek

Happy National Library Workers' Day! Because the best part of every library is its librarians, staff, administrators, volunteers, and everyone else who makes the ✨library magic✨ possible. Librarians do so much for our communities, so we wanted to do a little something for them today (and every day because spoiler: it's always free!) Anyone who works in a library can take free self-guided "ASL for Librarians" and "Spanish for Librarians" in Transparent Language Online. No strings attached, just sign up and start learning. Sign-up links in the comments. 👇 #NationalLibraryWeek #nlwd25

"Where do I even begin?" If you're overwhelmed at the thought of learning a language... we feel you. As it turns out, we've got a very literal answer to that question.

Elvis sighting at the library. No wait... it's Shelvis! Next week is National Library Week. It's an annual celebration of the overwhelming impact libraries have on our communities. This year's theme is "drawn to the library". What draws you to your library? 👉Your child's first book. 👉Test prep materials for your certification. 👉Resume writing & job interview clinics. 👉Lending lockers so you don't have to buy the $$$ tool you'll use once. Countless other cost-saving (and just plain cool) services. This weekend we encourage you to visit your library, check out something unique, and of course report back with your best shelving cart names.

Hey Texas librarians! Got a baaahreak between sessions at #TLA2025? Hop on over to booth 2029 to visit with our goats: Hermione Grazer, Buck Finn, and James Baaahnd. April Fools! The only GOAT in our booth is Lauren Gancarz. She's here all week showing off 140+ languages in Transparent Language Online & 600+ continuing ed courses in UniversalClass. If your patrons like learning languages (or basically anything else), please swing baaahy. 🐐

Boozhoo. Tanse. Waachiyaa. We're happy to recognize National Indigenous Languages Day in Canada. More than 70 distinct Indigenous languages are spoken by First Nations people, Métis and Inuit across Canada. You can learn 11 of them free with your library card thanks to 7000 Languages and their community partners who work so hard to preserve and promote their languages.

The language library patrons learn most of the 140 in our collection: English. Makes sense. Libraries are on the front lines of supporting newcomers to their communities. Not just with learning English. But with all that comes with picking up and starting over. Finding a new home. A new job. A new doctor. A new school. Even just a new grocery store. Obviously the language barrier makes all of this more challenging. Our new "English for Newcomers" course is designed specifically to help newcomers to the US pick up the English they need to meet their immediate needs and long-term goals. Available now in 15 languages. (Ok 11, but the other 4 are coming by the end of the month and we just really couldn't wait to tell you about this!)

"You're doing great." Hosting an English Conversation Club at your library isn't really about teaching English. It's about... 👉 building confidence 👉 creating a safe space to practice 👉 providing validation 👉 creating community Thanks Carmen Vanderhoof, Ph.D. for sharing your family's story about the importance of confidence and validation for ELLs, and the role library programming can play in that. Watch the entire panel discussion for more advice for hosting English Conversation groups at your library. (Link in comments.)

We asked 100 librarians about their top challenges hosting successful English Conversation Clubs for their communities. Their responses fell into several general categories: 1️⃣ Can I accommodate English learners of all levels in a single group? 2️⃣ How do I keep participants (especially those lacking confidence) actively engaged and speaking? 3️⃣ How do I pick topics that resonate and foster conversation? 4️⃣ What do I do if I don't speak the native languages of our participants? 5️⃣ How do I find and retain the best volunteers to run our group? 6️⃣ What format, frequency, and length works best? 7️⃣ How do we let the community know about the program? A panel of librarians will be answering as many of these questions as we can in one hour *this Thursday* 3/20 at 12:30pm EDT. Join us to get answers & ask your questions. (Link in comments.)