Polylino is a multilingual digital picture book service for nurseries and primary schools to use with children up to the age of seven.
The webinar focused on strategies to support and celebrate the promotion of multilingualism in early years settings and how this can encourage inclusive practice.
Multilingualism is one the rise in early years settings and is the the norm on a global scale – more children in the world grow up to be multilingual than monolingual. The latest figures show that England may be heading in that direction – in 2021/22, 29 per cent of children in state-funded nurseries had English as an additional language
Karen Faux, editor of Nursery World, was joined by four expert panel members to discuss multilingualism in the early years – author, consultant and trainer Penny Tassoni; nursery manager at LEYF, Dhanvanti Deshmukh; Louise Campbell-White from the Early Years Alliance; and Craig Johnston, CEO and Founder of Giglets Education.
The first poll of the webinar revealed that just 2 per cent of webinar attendees had not seen an increase in multilingual children in their setting. More than half said they had seen 'many more', and 13 per cent have seen 'some more'.
Benefits of multilingualism in the context of early learning development
Tassoni spoke about her own children’s journeys in connecting with their culture through language and argued that, while there are cognitive benefits to promoting multilingualism, these are secondary to the emotional importance of embracing multiple languages.
Emotional benefits include promoting a ‘sense of belonging’ by encouraging children to explore their cultural identities through language. She discussed how this can be seen as a journey whereby children gain greater access to information, as well as finding their own cultural identity.
These benefits are also felt by a child’s peer group, as explained by Deshmukh. She explained that by embedding multilingualism into everyday practice, children are exposed to richer experiences and learn not to fear difference, but instead to celebrate it.
What are the best ways to create a multilingual environment?
The panel consensus when discussing how best to foster inclusive environments was that the creation of inclusion starts from the attitudes of teachers and setting staff.
The small things matter a lot more than you would expect, according to Tassoni who told viewers that, while it is positive to celebrate a variety of diverse cultural festivals, teachers should not underestimate the power of knowing simple phrases in children’s native languages and acknowledging subtle cultural differences.
‘Some of the everyday things are more important than the big festivals, for example noting that in some cultures when a tooth is lost, it is a mouse that comes to take the tooth and not a fairy,’ she said.
Building relationships with parents
According to Deshmukh, inclusion starts even before a child has entered a setting, with their parents or carers as first time educators. At LEYF, parents are invited into settings before their child officially starts. In this time, a teacher can learn about the habits of a child, their native language, play patterns, sleep routine and any other relevant information.
There was agreement between the panellists that often parents are unwilling to encourage the promotion of a native language, as they see this as a disadvantage. In this case, Tassoni suggested that parents should be encouraged to consider their longterm goals.
‘Does a parent want their child to be literate in their second language? Is there a concern about what others may think if a second language is used?’
Exploring these questions may help to create a clearer path for a child.
Resources available to early years settings to encourage inclusion and multilingualism
Another poll carried out during the webinar revealed that just 18 per cent of viewers receive dedicated multilingual resources from their local authority.
Responding to this, Campbell-White discussed the rise of digital resources, available nationwide, following the pandemic and spoke about how the push for multilingual resources tends to rise and fall depending on government agendas.
Johnstone spoke about the importance of having a range of resources in multiple languages available in settings.
It was also suggested that parents should be encouraged to write notes in books to translate either from or into a native language to enrich the learning of all children.
- A recording of the webinar, Multilingualism in the early years: celebrating every child, is available to view here.