Final project

West Contra Costa County and the surrounding Bay Area school districts are home to beautifully diverse communities. We are home to many cultures, languages and traditions.

Each child enters our school system as whole- individuals with knowledge and culture from home, who have unique learning styles and interests, and who bring individual social and emotional skills into the classroom.

Education needs to be accessible to all students, which means lessons will need to be presented in multiple formats, at multiple opportunities, and must make real world connections that students can best identify with.

Education needs to extend outside of the classroom and allow students to learn about their communities, each other, nature, and the structure of society around them. Learning occurs through social contexts, and students become excited and motivated to learn when their education is student- centered.

In order to educate the whole- individual, educators must be able to meet students’ language needs, especially in communities of dual-language learners.

The Bilingual Child: How parents and families can support children’s home language

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Early Childhood

Edition Preschools in Our

Communities

Bay Area Parent Magazine January 2015

Inside

Language in Early Childhood Education

Peer Language Preference: A recent study at a preschool site in West Contra Costa County

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A recent study conducted in a local preschool classroom identified peer language preferences among dual language learner students.

- Emily Orlando

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A preschool teacher in West Contra Costa Unified School District asked herself that very question:

What languages do my students prefer to speak to one another? English or their home language?

How can their language preferences affect both my teaching design and overall student learning?

For most students, preschool is their first exposure to public education, school structure, and many times it is also their first experience interacting with children their own age.

Students must acquire social skills, increase impulse control, gain persistence and engagement skills, follow directions from adults,

In a culturally diverse and language rich classroom, what language do students prefer to use with peers?

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become familiar with routines and set schedules, and use language to express their needs, wants, and academic understanding.

For all young children, especially dual-language learners, language is the key for enabling learning. As John Dewey stated in his piece My Pedagogic Creed, “school must represent present life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground” (Dewey, 1929). In order for students to be able to relate school to life and life to school, they must be able to communicate with teachers and peers effectively.

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! Total&Interactions& English&Interactions& Spanish&Interactions&

Student!A! 23! 74%! 26%! Student!B! 27! 8%! 92%! Student!C! 14! 78%! 22%! Student!D! 25! 16%! 84%!

The Methods: The preschool class observed

has 22 students enrolled, 21 are dual language learners. Due to enrollment requirements, all students in the program are low-income based and receive free lunch. The classroom teaching team consists of 3 staff members, a 1-to-8 ratio of teachers to students. There is 1 credentialed teacher (English speaking only) and two support instructional aides (both bilingual in Spanish/English).

During the 4-day study the classroom teacher observed 4 students of varying dual language abilities. She recorded interactions using anecdote notes and tally marks. Frequency was measured by change of peers, and code switching between languages was also noted. Each child was observed for one day, during a 60-minute span of free-choice time where students are allowed to interact with any peer of their choosing. The teacher noted which language was spoken during each frequency, and if more than one language was spoken to a peer. Students A and C are both fully bilingual, while students B and D have only been introduced to English in a school setting for 4 months. All 4 students’ home languages are Spanish.

The Findings:

Student A spoke English with peers during 74% of her interactions, while she only spoke Spanish 26% of the time. 23 total interactions were observed, 4 of which involved code switching between languages. Student B spoke Spanish 92% of the time, with zero code-switches and he engaged in English only twice during 27 observed frequencies. Student C spoke English during 78% of her interactions with peers, the remaining 22% was in Spanish and code-switching occurred 2 times out of only 14 frequencies observed. Student D spoke English 16% of the time, with the remaining 84% of interactions in Spanish. 25 total frequencies were observed, with zero code-switching.

See Table Below:

Additional Findings: Students A and C spoke English with all 3 teachers. Students B and D spoke only Spanish with the two instructional aides. Student D spoke English with the English only teacher, while student B spoke both languages with her.

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U The Teacher’s Evaluation of the Study

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When I selected the 4 students for my study I wanted to observe varying language skill sets in order to find out how heavily students rely on their home language during language acquisition, and if students who are bilingual will chose to use English instead of their home language. Since my classroom is taught primarily in English, my students are encouraged to use English during structured lessons and activities, however free- choice time does not have a language structure. During my observations I found my two students who have strong skills in the English language used primarily English with each other and other peers in the class who have similar language skills. I concluded that since English is the primary and socially accepted language in our school setting among teachers and students, they have chosen to use it over their home language.

Things to Remember:

Use key vocabulary words in Students’ home languages to reinforce language acquisition in English. Use icons, pictures, simple words, and items from home.

Establish Daily Routines: repeated practice and exposure to routines gives dual- language learners’ predictable exercises for using the English language as well as a safe setting to take risks.

Introduce and use advanced vocabulary in both students’ home languages and English. This allows students to continue building a strong foundation and competency in their home language, while acquiring English.

However, they both used Spanish with peers who have limited English skills or who are entirely Spanish speaking One student in the study code-switched with a Spanish-only speaking peer during a puzzle activity “the gato piece goes aqui, that means it goes here”. His code switching and restating of his words demonstrated to me that he was aware of his peer’s skill sets, and understood how to use language to both express himself while also supporting the needs of his peers. This small-scale study has helped me solidify the importance of home language support in the classroom, especially in early childhood when the home language is still being acquired in addition to English. Classrooms need to be culturally rich and encourage the development of both home language and English.

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The Bilingual Child What Can Parents Do at Home to

Support Their Dual Language Learner Student?

• Preschool is designed to encourage family involvement. Ask you teacher for ways you can involve your home culture and language in the classroom.

• Continue to reinforce and use home languages outside of school. This will help your child reach a high level of fluency in their first language, while supporting growth in English.

• Be aware of current lessons and themes taught in the classroom, so you can practice vocabulary and content knowledge at home.

• Ask for home activities and

volunteer in the classroom.

• Enroll your student in a bilingual preschool program. Research shows English only programs may decrease a child’s competency in their home language, as well as social and academic competencies (Espinosa, 2008).

• Expose your children to peers of varying language abilities; children learn through peer support, practice, and peer teaching.

• Provide ideas and suggestions to make your child’s preschool program more effective for your child and family’s language acquisition needs.

• Read, talk, and sing to your child as often as you can, in both your home language and English. This will help build early vocabulary.

• Create a language and literacy rich home. Find bilingual books at your local library, or encourage you children to create stories based on illustrations in books.

• Engage in daily conversation with your child.

Credits

Study and Article Written By:

Emily Orlando

Loyola Marymount University

Fall 2014

References:

Dewey, J. (1929). My Pedagogic Creed. In D. J. Flinders

& S. J. Thornston (Eds.), The Curriculum Studies

Reader (4th ed.) (pp. 33-40). New York, NY: Routledge.

Espinosa, L. (2008). Challenging common myths about young

English language learners. Foundation for Child Development

Policy Brief No. Eight..

http://fcdus.org/sites/default/files/MythsOfTeachingELLsEspinosa.pdf

Websites:

Helping Your Child Learn in Two Languages

http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/bilingual.htm

Raising a Bilingual Child

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=888

Why Should Parents Talk to Their Child in Their Native Tongue?

http://www.multilingualliving.com/

Books:

7 Steps for Raising a Bilingual Child by Naomi Steiner MD

The Bilingual Family: A handbook for Parents By Edith Harding-Esch and Philip Riley

Learn more at:

Bay Area Parent Magazine January 2015

*Student names have been changed or omitted for the purpose of this magazine, in respect to student and

teacher privacy.