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Here are more ideas and resources for the beginning of the school year:

5 first-day activities for language students: http://blog.tesol.org/creating-a-classroom-community-first-day-activities-for-ells/

Ideas for arranging and decorating a classroom: https://mrpeto.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/an-updated-look-at-my-classroom/

Advice for getting to know your students: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/getting-know-your-ells-six-steps-success

Back-to-school stories for young English and Spanish learners: http://www.colorincolorado.org/booklist/back-school-stories

If you encourage students to take target-language names, here is advice for French teachers: http://www.thefrenchcorner.net/2016/08/whats-in-name-role-of-names-in-french.html

If you’re thinking of using interactive notebooks, here are some helpful tips for getting started: http://islandteacherblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/7-essentials-for-spanish-or-any.html

Presenting information about your class on the first day: http://leesensei.edublogs.org/2016/08/10/evolving-teaching-evolving-outline/#.V7S5cY6awfs

A well-scaffolded first-day homework assignment for novice learners in the target language (really!): www.pblinthetl.com/2016/08/first-day-homework-collages-for.html

Diane Neubauer shares what posters she has in her Chinese classroom and how she uses them throughout the year: http://tprsforchinese.blogspot.com/2016/08/word-posters-for-comprehended-target.html

Six opening and closing routines for new teachers: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/6-opening-and-closing-routines-new-teachers-rebecca-alber

A Spanish teacher’s description of the first two weeks of her Spanish 1 class: http://spanishmama.com/spanish-first-three-weeks/

Another Spanish teacher’s description of her first day of class, in the target language: https://spanishplans.org/2016/08/17/spanish-from-day-1/

Allison Wienhold explains why she doesn’t start the new school year in her advanced classes with a review unit: http://misclaseslocas.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-i-dont-start-school-with-review-unit.html

Classroom decoration and arrangement ideas: https://lasclasesdestilson.wordpress.com/2016/08/18/extreme-classroom-makeover-2016/

Inspiration for decluttering your classroom as you arrange it: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/decrease-classroom-clutter-increase-creativity-erin-klein

Activity idea for the first day of school: What is your hope? http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/08/16/what-is-your-hope-video-idea-for-first-day-of-school-activity/

An FLTEACH listserv user recently asked for advice from his fellow teachers: how can teachers establish a respectful, safe classroom at the beginning of the year? Read his query and teachers’ thoughtful and helpful responses here: https://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1607&L=FLTEACH&P=R4256&I=-3&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches. Click on “Next” by “By Topic” to see the responses.