Last updated: 29 Apr 2009

Young children newly arrived from overseas may be at many different stages of learning English. Some may be monolingual speakers of English; other children may be bilingual in English and another language or may speak and understand more than one language. Many of those who have some experience of English will require support to acquire fluency in English.

For some newly arrived children, the early years setting is their first contact with the English language. It is clear that many aspects of supporting the language development of children with an additional language are good practice for all young children, all of whom will be developing their language during the early years foundation stage.

Developing the home language

Children who arrive in a school with a strong command of their home language are in a favourable position to learn English. They are known as additive bilinguals, as they are adding a second language to the one they already know. Younger children whose language skills are less well developed are in a less favourable position to learn English. However, very young children can often develop two languages at the same time with apparent ease.
 
Ideally, early years practitioners need to plan learning opportunities that help children develop their English and build on their home-language development.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

One of the EYFS learning and development requirements that underpin the six areas of Learning and Development and must be followed across all six areas of Learning and Development is that:

No child should be excluded or disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, special educational needs, disability, gender or ability. Providers must actively plan to meet their needs, and to promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice.

Planning

The EYFS examples of planning advise practitioners to:

Provide time and opportunities to develop spoken language through conversations between children and adults, both one to one and in small groups, with particular awareness of, and sensitivity to, the needs of children learning English as an additional language, using their home language when appropriate.

Those working in early years settings may consider the following good practice pointers when planning work to support young children's home language and English language development:

• encourage all staff to receive training on meeting the language needs of young children
• consider employing bilingual early years workers who speak relevant languages
• discuss a child's language history with parents to find out the background, experience and language profile of the child
• language learning at home needs to support language development in early years settings. Early years providers can discuss with parents the importance of speaking and reading to children in their home language
• provide children with the opportunity to hear their home language as well as English. Children should also have the opportunity to see a range of writing in the home language. Consider purchasing resources such as bilingual tapes, books and posters. Some stockists of bilingual materials are listed below
• consider making labels and signs in relevant languages. Parents can help make these
• encourage parents to come in and read stories or teach songs in children's home languages. This should be approached with sensitivity as some parents may not be literate.

Teaching and learning

When working with children, a range of strategies can be used to support English language development including:

• providing ample opportunities for pupils to hear good models of a range of styles and registers of English
• encouraging early productive language such as hellos and goodbyes
• giving opportunities for children to talk, whilst being aware pupils with EAL may need time before being able or confident to engage in speaking
• supporting children's understanding by continually introducing, explaining and illustrating key vocabulary
• using high quality ICT programs that support language skills and reinforce learning.
• where possible, promoting thinking and talking in first languages to support understanding
• reinforcing language learning and understanding through repetition of words
• encouraging pupil responses and promoting interaction using different forms of questioning: closed and open, concrete and abstract, and higher-order questions
• letting children teach staff and other children some words in their home languages.

Supporting children learning English as an additional language: Guidance for practitioners in the Early Years Foundation Stage

There are increasing numbers of children entering EYFS settings for whom English is not the dominant language in the home. Many practitioners in settings across the country already work successfully with children and families who speak languages other than English. For some there will be one or two language groups represented in their setting; for others the population may be linguistically and culturally very diverse. For growing numbers of settings, providing care and learning opportunities for children and families new to English, or at various stages of proficiency, is a new experience.

Practitioners in every setting want to ensure that their provision matches the development and learning needs of all their children. This advice and guidance booklet is drawn from existing good practice developed by practitioners working with babies, young children and their families. (see right hand links)