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In chapter 9, it discusses the linguistic capacity of children and how they acquire the rules of language from what they hear spoken around them. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams state, "Children exposed to different languages under different cultural and social circumstances all develop their native language during a narrow window of time, going through similar, possibly universal, developmental stages" (Fromkin et al., 2014, p.395). As an ESL teacher, I have come to the conclusion that English Language Learners have to hear a lot of language throughout the day. Students who also have more conversations at home around the dinner table with family and so on are also more fluent and will adjust to learning a new language quicker. When a child is read to at home from an early age, they are also quicker at learning a new language. Reading does not have to be in English, it can be in their native language. I often tell parents, even reading to them at night in their native language is going to help them be more successful with reading and learning a second language at school. I remind parents that want their student to only speak English at home, that doing so can actually be a disadvantage to the student. We want our ELLs to remain bilingual and to keep speaking both languages whether at school or at home. 

Furthermore, there are stages to language acquisition. Chapter 9 discusses, "Children do not wake up one morning with a fully formed grammar in their heads. In moving from first words to adult competence children pass through linguistic stages" (Fromkin et al., 2014, p.398). My ELLs that are in PK catch on very quickly. I believe that what they are learning in their classroom at such a young age and by modeling their peers is helping them learn a new language faster. At this age, what I teach in ESL is very similar to what PK teachers are working on with language development. I see significant growth with newcomers from an early age that seem to catch on quicker than my older students.

Nehemiah 13:24 says, "Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah" (New International Version). The environment a child or student is in, shapes not only their perception but also their sounds and productions in the English language. 

References

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014). An Introduction to Language (10th ed.). Boston, MA. Cengage.