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Considerations and Practical Implications for Serving Young Dual Language Learners

Considerations and Practical Implications for Serving Young Dual Language Learners 2011 National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute Cristina Gillanders, Ph.D, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Michelle Plaisance, MAT,

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Considerations and Practical Implications for Serving Young Dual Language Learners

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  1. Considerations and Practical Implications for Serving Young Dual Language Learners 2011 National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute Cristina Gillanders, Ph.D, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Michelle Plaisance, MAT, English Language Training Institute, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

  2. About the terms we use • Limited English proficient? • Second language learner? • English language learner? • Bilingual? • Dual language learner?

  3. Young Dual Language Learners in the US • 2 to 3 million of children 0-8 in the US are learning English as a second language • One in five children ages 5-17 has a foreign born parent • The representation of DLLs in the US has the highest concentration in early education • Young DLLs come from diverse ethnic backgrounds but the majority are Spanish-speaking, followed by Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese, and Korean • .

  4. Challenges and Opportunities • 68% of the DLLs in preK-5 grade were in low income families compared to 36% of English-speaking children • Almost 40% of young DLLs have a father who has not graduated from high school compared to 12% of monolingual English-speaking children • Only 30% of DLLs scored at or above the basic level in reading, compared to 71% of non-Hispanics White fourth-grade students

  5. Challenges and Opportunities • Children from immigrant families are more likely than those from native-born families to live with both parents (84% vs. 76%), to live in homes with four or more siblings (19% vs. 14%) and live with their grandparents (10-20% vs. 5%) • DLLS have the opportunity to become bilingual which has personal, social, economic and cognitive advantages

  6. Considerations • Developmental characteristics of dual language learners (DLLs). • Socio-cultural factors that influence DLLs’ experiences (e.g., family interactions ) • Early education not designed to address the needs of young DLLs.

  7. Talk to your partner What do we need to consider when planning an early childhood program serving young dual language learners? • Program characteristics? • Curriculum? • Instruction? • Teacher/Provider characteristics? • Home-School Partnerships?

  8. Program Characteristics A program that offers high quality early education to DLLs: • Has policies that support first and second language development. • Hires bilingual / bicultural staff. • Has teachers who are qualified to work with bilingual/bicultural children. • Offers ongoing professional development and technical assistance. • Uses purposeful communication strategies that take into account families’ diverse cultures and languages.

  9. Curriculum • A culturally responsive curricula should: • incorporate elements of children’s cultural experiences. • use children’s language and culture as resources for learning!!

  10. Instructional Enhancements • What constitutes the benefit of high quality instruction for monolingual English speakers is equally beneficial for DLLs (Goldenberg, 2006; Shanahan & Beck, 2006). However… • “High quality instruction …alone would be insufficient to support equal academic success for language minority students.” (August & Shanahan, 2006, p. 448)

  11. Instructional Enhancements • Strategic use of the home language • Separate meta-analyses have found that teaching literacy skills in the first language is more effective in terms of English reading achievement than immersing children in English (August & Shanahan, 2006; Goldenberg, 2006). • Provides opportunities for rich language and literacy related interactions, and access to academic content. • Facilitates to develop close relationships with teachers.

  12. Instructional Enhancements • Strategic use of the home language • Explain concepts and ideas • Make connections with children’s background knowledge • Provide instructions • Have conversations with children!

  13. Instructional Enhancements • Ongoing and frequent assessments that allow teachers to monitor children’s English language acquisition • Assessment of second language acquisition in young dual language learners (AELA) • WIDA/ACCESS for ELLs

  14. Instructional Enhancements • Make instructional accommodations depending on the stage of second language acquisition

  15. Instructional Enhancements

  16. Examples of Classroom Strategies for young DLLs • Consistent routines • Picture walks • Gestures, visual clues and props • Rhythm and song exercises • TPR- Total Physical Response • Extended wait time for responses • Collaborative learning • Frequent checks for understanding • Simple, clear, one-step directions

  17. Instructional Enhancements • Provide intensive oral English language development, especially explicit vocabulary and academic English instruction

  18. Why vocabulary instruction in DLLs? • Requires a combination of direct teaching and learning words in everyday routines • Because they are learning two languages they need purposeful and intentional teaching of words • Essential for reading comprehension

  19. Educator/Provider knowledge & skills Effective educators of DLLs need to be knowledgeable about: • The structural aspects of language development (e.g., syntax, phonology, etc.) and the development of both first and second language. • The relation between language and culture and its linkage to DLLs’ developmental domains. • Effective instructional practices to promote development and learning in dual language learners; • The role of assessment and how to implement appropriate assessment strategies with dual language learners; and

  20. Home-school Partnerships • Families’ child rearing beliefs and practices may vary across cultures, and will influence the way in which children are socialized. • Educators need to understand families’ expectations and effectively communicate program and educator expectations with regard to children’s learning. • Families are viewed as a valuable resource for children’s learning and development. • Engaging families becomes critical in English-only classrooms, since families can provide first language support that children may not receive at school.

  21. Talk to your partner What are the strengths and needs of your program in terms of: • Program characteristics • Curriculum • Instructional enhancements • Home-school partnerships

  22. Nuestros Niños SchoolReadiness Program • Systematic approach that integrates research based instructional enhancements to support educators in English-only classrooms. • Randomized control, longitudinal study funded by NICHD. • Implemented in California and North Carolina.

  23. Research Team • Statistician/Methodologists: • Margaret Burchinal, Ph.D. • Michael Willoughby, Ph.D. • Recruitment & Data Collection Coordinator: • Adis Liy, M.S • Graduate Students: • Lucia Mendez, M.S., CCC-SLP • Sandra Garcia, M.S. • Principal Investigator: • Dina C. Castro, MPH, Ph.D. • Co-Investigators: • Cristina Gillanders, Ph.D. , Donna Bryant, Ph.D. • Marlene Zepeda, Ph.D. – California State University at Los Angeles. • Project Director: • Ximena Franco, Ph.D.

  24. The Nuestros Niños Professional Development • Components: • Institutes • Consultation • Professional learning communities • Delivered through an intensive year of PD and a second year of follow up activities

  25. Phonological Awareness and Writing Classroom Wide Strategies Vocabulary Oral Language Reading Writing Math Math Nuestros Niños Instructional Framework

  26. Strategies to promote language development in young dual language learners

  27. Strategies for Reading Aloud • How can I ensure that the DLLs can understand the reading aloud session? • What new words or phrases do I want the children to learn? • How will I ensure that the children can actively participate in the reading aloud session?

  28. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Preschools give DLLs a chance! • Students entering the K-5 setting as newcomers to the U.S. school system spend months acclimating while their peers continue to move forward. • Children typically require approximately 2 years to acquire conversational English skills (Cummins, 1980) • Demands on Kindergarteners are greater than what is reflected in the SCOS

  29. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Preschools give DLLs a chance… • Assessment begins on the first day- all Kindergarten assessments are language-demanding • Students with a preschool background are more confident and forge successful social relationships more readily than those without • Families understand the system!!

  30. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Unique challenges to DLLs in the early elementary years • Most mainstream teachers have not had adequate training in meeting the linguistic needs of DLLs. • Academic language is entirely different than the social language children bring to the school setting- teachers are fooled into thinking that the child is a fluent bilingual when they still have years of development ahead of them

  31. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Unique challenges to DLLs in the early elementary years • School expectation that parents “help” in the acquisition of English literacy skills- many parents are not English-speaking • Cultural adjustments- students often exhibit signs of culture shock in the first months of Kindergarten, causing the child to exhibit behavior that is deemed inappropriate in a K-5 setting

  32. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Family Connections • The #1 thing that a preschool program can do is create a strong partnership with the families of DLLs- setting a precedent for future school years. • Encourage parents to bring their “funds of knowledge” (Moll, 1992) to the relationship, working together in the best interest of the child.

  33. Growing up: DLLs in early elementary • Family Connections • Parents must feel that it is their right and responsibility to advocate for their child in the K-5 setting • Continue literacy development in the first language • Resist remediation • Resist special education referrals • Resist retention

  34. Talk to your partner • Consider the idea that the development of a model school-family partnership might be as important for your DLLs as the academic instruction you are providing. • What deliberate strategies is your program enacting to cultivate these relationships? • What successes have you had? • Where can you improve? • What supports do you have in place to support the smooth transition from a preschool to a K-5 setting?

  35. NuestrosNiños Program: Promoting School Readiness for Dual Language Learners http://nnrp.fpg.unc.edu/

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