Sharon Bond, lead early help advisor and Louise Campbell White, early help advisor, at the ÎÞÂëÌìÌÃ, explain how you can support children and families with EAL in your early years setting
Living as we do in a diverse and multi-cultural society, many early years settings are welcoming families who have English as an additional language. For some providers, this may be a new experience, but for others it will have become routine over many years.
The important thing to remember is that we all do our best to understand how to meet the needs of these families and how best to support them.
A tailored approach
We all know that children are unique – as are their families. A one-size-fits-all approach is not the answer. That said, it is important to have a comprehensive knowledge of strategies and resources which are suitable to deliver a broad, supportive and playful educational programme for your children and families.
Some early years providers may have up to 90% of their cohort with English as an additional language. This could mean that there are many different languages spoken in your setting.
For other providers, there may only be one child for whom English is an additional language during any one session.
Bearing this in mind, how can early years educators ensure that they are providing a communication-rich setting? How can we ensure that every child has an opportunity to share their language? How can we make sure that everyone is able to communicate?
Supporting children and families
It’s important that all children and families are made to feel welcome and not isolated in their communities. Language is a key part of this.
Since 2013, we’ve been working with early year educators in Somerset on supporting children with English as an additional language as part of a commissioned service. We provide training, visits to early years settings and sign-posting as well as partnership working with translation and interpreting services.
The important thing to remember when thinking about how to support a child who has English as an Additional Language, is to first consider their personal, social and emotional aspect of development and wellbeing.
A child needs to feel secure and valued before they can even think about developing their language skills. This is something we as EY Educators can pride ourselves on doing effectively and indeed do every day as part of the care and education we provide to all children.
We should also consider how young children learn English and what early years educators can do to develop this skill. Helping children to develop their communication and language skills is something we do with all children – not just our learners with English as an additional language.