Children need to feel a sense of belonging in an early childhood setting. It has been known for children to be labelled as having 'no' language, when in fact they simply speak a different language from English. There is an advantage to grow up learning more than one language.
It is important that children feel their bilingualism is valued and that they see it as the advantage that it is. In most parts of the world, it is common to speak three or four languages fluently. In fact, if we take the world as a whole, it is normal to be fluent in at least two languages.
Bilingualism is a positive advantage for all sorts of reasons:
- - Learning a language means learning about a culture.
- - Knowing about different cultures through living the language means that children who are bilingual experience cultural diversity in rich and important ways. For example, in Gujurati, 'thank you' is only used for special situations as an expression of deep gratitude; in English, people thank each other often, and it is just a form of everyday politeness.
- - Bilingual speakers come at an idea from several directions, because different languages emphasise different things. This makes their thinking flexible and analytic. Recent studies in neuroscience provide evidence to support this.
- - Children can think in different ways about the same thing when they speak different languages. For example, the Inuit language has several words for 'snow', which makes it possible to think about snow in greater detail than is possible in English.
- - Children who are bilingual grow up understanding different ways of thinking. This helps them to respect and value differences between people.
- - Children find it easier to understand that names for objects can be changed.
- - Children who are bilingual are often more sensitive to the emotional aspects of intonation. They can interpret situations being expressed verbally more easily.
PROMOTING BILINGUALISM
Allow for a period of silence
Before children speak a language, they need to listen to it and tune in. They will make intonational sounds as they try out the sounds of the language.
Look at a baby to see this process. It takes about two or three years before the baby turns into a talking toddler. Babies need to be talked to. It is difficult for them to work out what is being said (understanding and receptive language) or to see how to say things (expressive language) unless people actually look at them and talk to them.
One modern problem is that adults often talk to mobile phones more than they talk to babies and toddlers, and they have pushchairs which face forward, away from the adult pushing the baby or toddler along. This means that the child cannot see the speaker.
In order to learn to speak a language, it is also important to see the shapes the mouth makes. The mouth looks different when the sound 'oo' is made compared with the sound 'ee'.
Comprehensible input
The researcher Stephen Krashen suggests that children need to make sense of what is being said. If an adult picks up a cup, points at the jug of orange juice and asks, 'Would you like a drink of orange juice?', the meaning is clear. If the adult just says the words, without the actions or objects being visible, the meaning is not at all clear. The adult could be saying anything.
Transitional bilingualism
In some early childhood settings, the child's home language has been valued only as a bridge to learning English. This is transitional (sometimes called subtractive) bilingualism. It is assumed that the child will no longer need to speak their home language once English begins to take over. For example, a child who speaks Punjabi at home might be expected to speak English at school, and gradually to speak English rather than Punjabi at home.
In fact, children will need to continue their home language to help them transfer later on to reading and writing in English. If the child's home language is not valued alongside English, the opportunities for bilingualism and the advantages that bilingualism brings will be wasted. The home language is important for children to express their feelings and for thinking.
Additive and successful bilingualism
The home language (L1) is the language of thinking and feelings. English as an additional language (L2) is only useful if the home language is strong. Then children think and manage feelings with deeper skill and understanding. This is called additive bilingualism.
Subtractive bilingualism is when it is expected that children will stop speaking their home language once they have learned English. Balanced bilingualism is when a child speaks more than one language, each with equal fluency.
- This is an edited extract from 'Communication, including language development', chapter five in Child Care & Education (5th edition) by Tina Bruce, Carolyn Meggitt and Julian Grenier (Hodder Education, 2010)
1 TO 4 YEARS
From the second year of the baby's life until about the age of four years, there is a period of language explosion. Every aspect of language seems to move forward rapidly at this time. It is the best time to learn other languages, or to become bilingual or multilingual.
CHILDREN NEED TO SPEND TIME WITH FLUENT SPEAKERS
It is important that children spend time with people who speak fluently, so that they hear the patterns of the language they are trying to learn. A stimulating environment, which encourages children to talk, is a crucial part of this. Hearing other people speak fluently means experiencing what is called comprehensible input. If the adult says, 'Oh dear, you've bumped your knee. Shall I rub it better?' and points at the child's knee and makes a rubbing mime, then the child has enough clues to understand what is being said. This is very important for young children, those with language delay and children who are learning English as an additional language.
Children learn by doing, so language is best learned when children are active in their learning. The practitioners might say to a three-year-old, 'You've got to the top of the slide, haven't you? Are you going to come down now?'.
RECEPTIVE AND EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE
Receptive language - Learning to listen and understand language. This means the child listens, watches people talking, and begins to understand what is being said.
Receptive language - Learning to speak and to use language. This involves using the face expressively, making gestures and speaking (or signing).
Not all human beings communicate through a spoken language, for one reason or another, but the vast majority of people in the world do. What is more, they often speak two or three languages fluently from an early age.
PROGRESS CHECK
Enabling environments for receptive and expressive language to develop
Children need plenty of opportunity to listen to what is being said and to make sense of it before they begin to speak a language. This involves the child:
- - understanding what is being said (comprehension)
- - having a go at speaking (production)
- - gradually becoming fluent (performance).
But it is important to be aware that when children first begins to speak any language, they will not be fluent. They will make approximate sounds and communicate by intonation (tone of voice) rather than use words.
Children are helped in learning language if they spend their time with people who are fluent speakers and comfortable with the language. This is why children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) are no longer taken out of the room to be 'taught' English. They learn much more effectively in a real-life situation that is relaxed and not formal, with other children and adults who can already speak the language.
READER OFFER
Child Care & Education, 5th edition (Hodder Education, £29.99) is the authoritative textbook for studying at Level 3 and an invaluable resource for students on foundation degrees and higher education courses, including EYPS and QTS. The book has been updated to take account of changes to qualifications and offers mapping grids to guide you to topics.
In this fifth edition, authors Tina Bruce (honorary professor at Roehampton University) and Carolyn Meggitt (childcare author and teacher), are joined by Julian Grenier, early years adviser to London Borough of Tower Hamlets and former head of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre in London.
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