I attended the annual NAEYC conference just before Thanksgiving in Washington D.C. I learned a lot more about the strategies, techniques and trends for teaching dual language learners. I also got to see some friends and make some new ones who are involved in early education. Moreover, I got to see Secretary of Education Arne Duncan speak live! Over the next few blog postings, I’ll be recapping some of the presentations I attended. For this particular posting, I’d like to discuss four overarching themes that seemed to repeat throughout the various sessions. I will expand on these themes through the specific postings that will follow.
Common Theme #1: Teachers need to build positive relationships with dual language learning children. Help them to feel safe and included. Oftentimes, every single thing is new to them since they have just moved here. Even their parents are stressed as they try to get settled in a new country. With everything so new and different (read: scary), a safe and inviting environment will help them to open up more in school.
Common Theme #2: Teachers need to develop meaningful relationships with parents and families. Parents and families from different countries display their involvement with their children’s education in various ways. Also, sometimes their current circumstances prevent them from being as involved as they’d like. This does not mean they are not interested. Furthermore, language need not be a barrier for a teacher to communicate with the families. These meaningful relationships help to eliminate misunderstandings and further create a safe environment for the child.
Common Theme #3: Be deliberate, intentional, integrative and committed with your communication strategies. I’ll offer suggestions in following postings. But certainly determine what your policy is for incorporating dual language learners and then set about creating a strategy to do so. This process will include research and can even mean hiring a consultant.
Common Theme #4: Support the home language and culture. Dual language learning children do not come to your school as a blank slate. By supporting their home language and culture, you maximize their potential to learn, send them a message that they are not different, help create that safe and inclusive environment, and lay the foundation for a strong relationship between them and their parents.
I look forward to sharing with you specific details from the sessions as well as expanding upon these four themes. In the meantime, Happy Holidays and don’t forget to check out our bookstore, where all the books are bilingual: www.bububooks.com.
–Laura
