Tracie Myers, Stacey Flanigan, and Katy Knudtson
Community Child Care Center, St. Paul
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Walking into a new language…
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Who We Are

Community Child Care Center
demographics
 36 of 56 children are dual language learners
(home language other than English), additional
children have another language in the home
 17 different languages that are always changing
○ Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Ojibwe, Swahili,
Hebrew, Arabic, Tamil, Korean, Bengali,
Setswana, Hindi, Malayalam, Vietnamese, French,
Catalan, Punjabi
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Different Programming Styles
Bilingual
 Monolingual (English or another
language)

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Population of DLLs in Schools

20% of U.S. population over age 5 speak a
language other than English at home (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2010)
 Number has increased 140% in 30 years
Over 50% of U.S. schools serve at least
one DLL (NCES 2009)
 14.1% of public elementary school
students are DLLs (NCES 2009)
 6.5% of public secondary school students
are DLLs (NCES 2009)

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Population of DLLs in Schools
2005: 29% of Head Start participants do
not speak English as first language
(Cheatham & Ro, 2010)
 150 languages among U.S. DLL students
(Chen & Shire, 2011)
 Predicted that by 2030s, 40% of K-12
students will have limited English
proficiency (Chen & Shire, 2011)
 Only 15% of BA and 13% of AA ECE
teacher prep programs require a course on
working with DLLs (Gillanders, 2007)

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What happens if we don’t serve
them?
Misassessment resulting in overreferrals for special needs, disabilities
(Brooks & Karathanos, 2009)
 Results in an invisible, isolated
population of children whose identities
are ignored, stereotyped, or deemed in
need of fixing

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Stages of Second Language
Acquisition
Using home language in classroom
Nonverbal Period
1.
2.


Going public with words/phrases
3.

4.
Child spends time observing
Socially irrelevant (on the sidelines)
Formulaic and Telegraphic Speech
Productive use

Full participant, fluent communicator
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Individual Differences
Exposure
 Age
 Personality
 Motivation
 Simultaneous or Sequential Acquisition
 Order of stages not set in stone, kids
can skip around, backtrack, etc.

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Communicating at Play Time

How do kids use language with each
other at play time?
 Negotiate
 Join a game
 Assign roles
 Take turns
 Persuade
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Byong-Sun
How does this compare to a native
English speaker’s play?
 Socially irrelevant
 Double Bind

 Can’t be social without the language, can’t
learn the language without being social
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Strategies for ECE Professionals
Developing family-school partnerships
 Designing classroom environment
 Fostering positive teacher-child
relationships
 Supporting positive peer interactions

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Developing Family-School
Partnerships: Programming
Messages of welcome and support
 Family intakes
 Enrollment forms
 Names
 Policies and philosophies
 Open-door policy
 Sharing information and materials
 Community events

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Developing Family-School
Partnerships: Teachers


Family intake
Home language plan
 Native language resources


Sharing information (curriculum, materials, etc.)
Get to know families as individuals, not as a
culture
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Developing Family-School
Partnerships: Teachers
Home visits, conferences
 Goals
 Assessment

 Authentic, dynamic assessment without
language
 Discuss progress vs. results
 Dialogue about language development

Invite families to share language/culture
in any way they are comfortable
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Developing Family-School
Partnerships: Teachers
Families are your best resource!
They are the experts on their culture and
language, so developing partnerships
will help you and you will feel more
comfortable asking about it
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Classroom Environment

Consistent schedule and routine
 Circle Time Routines
 Small group vs. Large group
 Photo schedule
Safe havens
 Individualized
communication tools

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Classroom Environment
How does your family say “hello”?

Represent languages, cultures
 Labels (materials, names)
 Books, Read-along stories
 Music
 Toys/Supplies
 Speak a few key words/phrases
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Teacher-Child Relationship






Get to know the language, culture of child
Try a greeting word in the child’s home
language
Learn to pronounce the child’s name
Interact first without language—parallel
play, smiles, and space
Refer to child without speaking to him/her
directly (included in group, but no pressure
to respond)
Narrate the day with running commentary
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Teacher-Child Relationship
Start slow, with a few key words in home
language
 Interact with simple phrases supported
with gestures/visual aids
 Repetition
 Start with hear and now
 Expand their communication
 Keep expectations in check

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Supporting Peer Interactions
Establish class mentors
Invite DLLs to play with you and into play
groups with other children
 Small group instruction vs. large group
 Model and supply language


 Vocabulary words in context
 Repeating in social negotiations
Child-centered activities that encourage
peer interaction
 Intentional child placement
 Safe havens

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Contact Us

Tracie Myers, Director
director@cccc.comcastbiz.net

Stacey Flanigan, Education Coordinator
cccc.office@gmail.com

Katy Knudtson, Preschool Teacher
cccc.youngerpreschool@gmail.com

Community Child Care Center
www.umncccc.org
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Refences
Brooks, K. & Karathanos, K. (2009). Building on the cultural and linguistic capital of English
learner (EL) students. Multicultural Education, 16(4), 47-51.
Cheatham, G. A. & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Young English learners’ interlanguage as a context for
language and early literacy development. Young Children, 65(4), 18-23.
Chen, J. J. & Shire, S. H. (2011). Strategic teaching: Fostering communication skills in
diverse learners. Young Children, 66(2), 20-27.
Gillanders, C. (2007). An English-speaking prekindergarten teacher for young Latino
children: Implications of the teacher-child relationship on second language learning.
Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(1), 47-54.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). Characteristics of public, private, and
Bureau of Indian Education elementary and secondary schools in the United
States:Results from the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey (NCES 2009-321).
Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009321/tables/sass0708_2009321_s12n_02.asp
Nemeth, K. N. (2012). Basics of supporting dual language learners: An introduction for
educators of children from birth to age 8. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.
Tabors, P. O. (2008). One child, two languages: A guide for early childhood educators of
children learning English as a second language. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing
Company.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). New Census Bureau report analyzes nation's linguistic
diversity: Population speaking a language other than English at home increases by 140
percent in past three decades (CB10-CN.58). Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/c
b10-cn58.html
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