Features
How to support bilingualism in early childhood
by M. Victoria Rodríguez
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Children’s language experiences
The acceptance of the minority language of all children needs to be consistent throughout the child’s experience in the early childhood center. This is clearly revealed in the child’s classroom experience and in the ongoing conversation between parents and the school personnel, especially the teacher.
The suggestions below, many of which are from NAEYC’s position statement, need to be explained to parents who often are concerned only about the child’s acquisition of English.
On the child’s language experiences:
Show parents and children that your agenda is not to teach the children English while completely disregarding the child’s native language.
This may seem challenging when staff do not speak all the minority languages represented in the school. Actually, it is not. Teachers and children may show interest in learning important words that the children are eager to teach. This is an easy and meaningful way of showing that everybody in the classroom values the children’s family language, that all acknowledge a child’s expertise in that language, and that all are interested in a child’s language.
Support the children’s native language by asking everybody (director, teachers, aides, and support personnel) to speak with the children in the minority language(s) in which they are fluent.
Often the staff speak at least some of the minority languages represented, but they use the minority language only when they have to talk to non-English-speaking parents or when translating for other staff. When staff speak minority language(s), children become aware that important people in the school also speak the native language and thus have the opportunity to feel proud of it.
Invite parents to share lullabies, songs, poetry, dances, books, games, toys, and the values they want to transmit to their children.
Provide materials in the classroom in the languages represented by the children.
When more than one child in the classroom speaks a minority language, invite them to work together in challenging activities using that language.
For ongoing conversations with parents, plan how you will deal with the following topics:
The emotional and social cost of losing the native language for the child and the family alike (Chang et al. 2007; Wong Fillmore 1991).
Ways to support the native language at home. For example, encourage parents, older siblings, and extended family members to teach their children lullabies, songs, and dances in the native language if they don’t do it already. Suggest that the parents involve the children in fun community activities in which languages other than English are spoken. Children need to see the utility of the languages they speak.
The many different ways young children learn languages and the different paces at which they learn them.
The challenges of bilingualism. Although bilingualism is a valuable goal for children that the school supports, learning two languages takes time and is a complicated enterprise for children and adults alike.
Maintenance of the native language. In a society in which bilingualism is not fully valued and where the majority language (English) enjoys worldwide prestige, we need to support the first language. Children will learn English because it is around them and it is the “cool” language to speak, but many forget or feel ashamed of the native language unless it is valued by important people in their lives, including their teachers, friends, parents, and grandparents.
The need for providing input at home in the native language. Often parents who speak in the native language at home think their children get much more input in that language than they really receive.
In fact, let’s consider a child who is in a monolingual English preschool for seven to eight hours a day. Then the child may return to a home in which older siblings talk to each other more in English than the native language and the children spend time watching TV in English.
The child in our example listens to and is encouraged to express thoughts and feelings in English much more often than in the native language. Your conversation with the parents probably will lead them to focusing on the native language, the weakest language in our society, and, contrary to popular belief, the one that needs more support.

A responsibility and an opportunity
Early childhood centers, regardless of the programs they offer, have the responsibility of responding adequately to the linguistic needs of children who, at home, listen and speak in a language other than English. In addition, centers can encourage and support families whose goal is bilingual education for their children.
Professional development, using topics suggested here, will guide the meaningful and ongoing conversations that families, teachers, and staff initiate at the intake stage and continue all during the child’s experience in the center.

References
Chang, F., G. Grawford, D. Early, D. Bryant, C. Howes, M. Burchinal, O. Barbarin, R. Clifford, and R. Pianta. 2007. Spanish-speaking children’s social and language development in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Education and Development, 18 (2): 243-269.
De Houwer, A. 1999. Two or more languages in early childhood: Some general points and practical recommendations. Center for Applied Linguistics. Digest. www.cal.org/resources/ digest/earlychild.html.
Espinosa, L. 2006. Challenging common myths about young English language learners.
Foundation for Child Development Policy Brief # 8. Advancing Pre-K-3rd. www.fcd-us.org/usrdoc/ MythsOfTeachingELLsEspinosa.pdf.
Genesee, F. 2006. Bilingual acquisition. www.ColorinColorado.org/article/12916.
King, K. and L. Fogle. 2006. Raising bilingual children: Common parental concerns and current research. Center for Applied Linguistics. Digest. www.cal.org/ resources/digest/RaiseBilingChild.html.
King, Kendall and Alison Mackey. 2007. The Bilingual Edge. Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language. New York: HarperCollins.
McLaughlin, B. 1992. Myths and misconceptions about second language learning: What every teacher needs to unlearn. National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/ ncrcdsll/epr5.htm.
McLaughlin, B. 1995. Fostering second language development in young children. National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. www.cal.org/resources/ digest/ncrcds04.html.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. 1995. Responding to Linguistic and Cultural Diversity: Recommendations for Effective Early Childhood Education. www.naeyc.org.
Rodríguez, M.V. 2006. Language and literacy practices in Dominican families in New York City. Early Child Development and Care, 176 ( 2): 171-182.
Wong Fillmore, L. 1991. When learning a second language means losing the first. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6: 323-346.

About the author
M. Victoria Rodríguez, Ed.D., is an associate professor in the Departments of Early Childhood and Childhood Education as well as Counseling, Literacy, Leadership, and Special Education at Lehman College, the City University of New York. She has worked for 20 years as a preschool and special education teacher in urban settings in Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and in New York City and as a college instructor in New York and Spain.