Sharon Bond, lead EAL advisor at the Alliance, explains the importance of the home language for children with English as an additional language...
Forming working partnerships is a vital skill in all aspects of our lives. Never is this more true than when working with the parents of the children who attend your setting.
Sometimes this relationship grows naturally and other times there are barriers that may hinder your partnership.
Imagine you have English as an additional language (EAL), speak little English or are new to the country.
As a parent, what would be important to you if you had a child attending an early years setting? How would you ensure that you understand what happens in the group and what is required of you?
Welcoming everybody in
Skilled and experienced early years managers and educators should have measures in place to help support parents, including essential documents translated into the families鈥 home languages and access to interpreters where possible.
The setting should be welcoming to every child and parent to show that they are valued and part of the community. For example, you could have welcome signs and greetings in a variety of languages, reflecting those spoken by your families.
Home is at the heart
Something to consider when welcoming EAL families to your setting is how you can value their home language, culture and home environment.
The first thing the EYFS says about children with EAL is:
鈥淔or children whose home language is not English, providers must take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to continue to develop and use their home language in play and learning[...]鈥
This statement has been part of the EYFS framework since it was first introduced in 2008 and remains unchanged in the 2021 version.
The accompanying non-statutory guidance in Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters also refer to the important of the home language.
鈥淪peaking more than one language has lots of advantages for children. It is the norm in many countries around the world. Children will learn English from a strong foundation in their home language. It is important for you to encourage families to use their home language for linguistic as well as cultural reasons.
"Children learning English will typically go through a quiet phase when they do not say very much and may then use words in both languages in the same sentence. Talk to parents about what language they speak at home, try and learn a few key words and celebrate multilingualism in your setting.鈥
Development Matters
鈥淎 child鈥檚 first language provides the roots to learn additional languages, and parents should be encouraged to continue to use their home languages to strengthen and support their children鈥檚 language proficiency as they join new environments.鈥
Birth to 5 Matters
EAL specialists and consultants like us welcome these additions to the non-statutory guidance, giving extra value and importance to the home language. Supporting home language in the home is one of the key messages we should share with parents and caregivers. We need to ensure we have the right information to do this effectively and in partnership with families.
How is language used and by whom?
What is the home language? Who speaks it and with whom? Who else looks after the children, who else is in the home? All of these questions need to be answered to help build a full picture of what our families might need from us. This will help us get it right.
So, as well as language, what other factors do early years educators need to think about?
There are many aspects of other cultures we need to consider when building relationships and partnerships with parents.
For example, in some cultures it is considered bad manners for a child to look an adult directly in the eye, yet how many times do we get down to a child鈥檚 level and ask them gently 鈥淟ook at me, please鈥?
Exploring what the home environment is like for families is key for all children in your setting.
Home visits are an excellent way of doing this. A home visit can give valuable insights into family life. More importantly, it can be a stepping stone on the transition journey for a child. It鈥檚 also an opportunity for parents to ask questions and gain valuable information from you, while in the familiar and comfortable setting of their own home.
Getting it right for the future
The quality of the home learning environment is a key predictor of a child鈥檚 early language ability and future success; positive experiences can have a lasting and life changing impact.
Early language ability is consistently linked to later outcomes 鈥 including school attainment and job prospects. Children raised in middle and upper-income homes are more likely to experience a language-rich environment. By contrast, children from low-income homes are more likely to arrive at school with below-average language skills, leaving them at an educational disadvantage from the start.
Studies also consistently show that many home learning activities support children鈥檚 early language development, including: going to the library, playing with/being taught letters, playing with/being taught numbers, songs/poems/rhymes. In particular, studies show that the quality of caregiver-child interactions taking place during these activities are a better predictor of school attainment at age seven than children鈥檚 exposure to computers or other learning technologies during the early years.
So, the message is clear: value and respect a child鈥檚 home learning environment and do everything you can to build relationships and partnerships with parents.
Build on your existing knowledge and expertise to think about the small additional steps that you could put in place to welcome EAL families to your setting, because by doing so you could make a big difference to a family鈥檚 experience of early years education.
Sharon Bond is the lead EAL advistor with the Alliance鈥檚 Somerset EAL Advisory Service, offering specialist support to early years educators in Somerset.
Virtual Classroom - supporting children for whom English is an additional language
Do you want to feel confident in supporting children who have English as an additional language?
The Alliance is running a Virtual Classroom on this topic. It is an interactive online session in which you will:
- Review the research around how children can be bilingual and multilingual
- Identify how settings can help children to learn effectively in a monolingual environment.
The sessions are suitable for early years educators and those working in family support services.
This Virtual Classroom will take place across two sessions on Thursday 10 & 17 March, 10am - 11.30am.
Prices:
拢35 pp for members
拢50 pp for non-members
