Preschool teachers whose classes include children who are English Language Learners (ELLs) can do well to let two primary principles guide their practice.
• Children who are helped to develop strong first language skills will be able to apply this knowledge about the way language works to their acquisition of English as their second language. This calls for teachers to encourage the families of ELL children to provide a rich language environment in their home language.
• English speaking children benefit by enriching their vocabulary with words and expressions in a second language. Teachers enrich the language environment of their classroom by finding opportunities to use two languages for some labels, stories, activities and conversations.
Two excellent websites provide lots of tips and resources to support the acquisition of language in young children. The ideas are relevant for home settings and preschool settings.
Colorín Colorado is a bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners. The following link is to their “Reading Tip Sheets for Parents” that are available in eleven languages including Arabic, Chinese, Navajo, and Spanish: http://www.colorincolorado.org/guides/readingtips. There are separate tip sheets for each age range from babies to third graders. These colorful, free one-page tip sheets provide an easy way to encourage families to provide home language experiences, but also serve as reminders of good practice in the classroom. The Books for Kids section of this website http://www.colorincolorado.org/read/forkids provides an easy way to review books to enrich your classroom as well as check-outs for home use. The “Celebrate Reading in Two Languages” section is organized by age groups. A section titled “Wordless Books” suggests resources to encourage oral language practice as children tell stories prompted by the pictures.
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help http://www.readingrockets.org/. It includes a wide range of resources appropriate for teachers and parents including reprints of articles from specialist organizations. One example is “Activities to encourage Speech and language Development” from birth to age 6. It is written by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association http://www.readingrockets.org/article/26632 .
