Promoting First and Second Language Development

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Promoting First and Second Language Development

• Presented by
• Jacqueline Lopez
• Los Angeles County Office of Education
• Head Start-State Preschool Division

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Training Outcomes

• Acquire an overview of research findings for
  first and second language acquisition.
• Review the developmental stages of second
  language acquisition.
• Obtain strategies to support English Language
  Learners.

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Current Trends

• Changing Demographics
• Focus on School Readiness

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Demographics

• Nationwide Statistics
• 5.5 million English Learners nationwide
• More than 140 languages are represented in Head
  Start programs nationwide
• Linguistic representation of English Learners in
  Head Start is predominantly Spanish-speaking
  followed by Asian languages, Native American
  languages and other languages
• -Head Start English Language Learner Focus
  Group Report, 2002

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A Key Predictor in Academic Success

• Academic concepts developed through both primary
  and secondary language leads to active discovery
  and cognitively complex learning.

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How to Provide Early Language Enrichment

• Stimulation
• Quantity
• Quality
• Repetition
• Conversation
• Fun Activities

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Research

• There are many different ways in which children
  are exposed to a second language and have had
  varying amounts of exposure (including no
  exposure) to a second language when they enter
  early childhood education programs.

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The Bilingual Experience

• There are different pathways to becoming
  bilingual.
• Share with a partner What has been your
  personal experience in acquiring a second
  language?

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Research

• Children who learn two languages simultaneously
  have varying rates of language development
  depending on which language is more salient in
  their experience.

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Developmental Stages of Successive Bilingualism

• 1. Use of the home language to communicate with
  others who use the second language.
• 2. Passage through a nonverbal period.
• 3. Use of telegraphic and formulaic speech.
• 4. Productive use of the second language.

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Research

• In the process of learning a second language,
  children can lose aspects of their first
  language.

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• As a child who was a second language learner
  from first generation immigrants, being
  culturally competent in English, and in the home
  language, has been essential and invaluable.
  This is because one cannot help but feel a deep
  sense of loss when ones home language cannot be
  passed on to our own children. It is something
  that is so essential to ones identity and self
  esteem.
• -Head Start English Language Learners Focus
  Group Participant, 2002

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Identifying English Proficiency Levels

• Limited English proficient students need to be
  identified, because failure to do so will
  jeopardize their future success in school.

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Evaluating Oral Language Development

• Obtain information from family members.
• Sample the childs ability to use English in
  different context.
• Make a determination about the childs ability to
  use English.

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English Language Learner Teachers

• Teachers should
• be knowledgeable of the language acquisition
  process.
• possess cross-cultural skills.
• be flexible and modify activities.

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Creating Safe Havens that Foster Second Language
Development

• Learning Community
• Learning Environment

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Building a Learning Community

• Establish Community Agreements
• Attentive Listening
• Appreciation/No put-downs
• Right to Pass
• Mutual Respect
• Introduce Community Circle
• Zoo Stories

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Learning Environment

• Classroom Management
• Routines and transitions
• Room Arrangement
• Organized centers for independent use
• Classroom Materials
• Language-enriched
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Books, music, materials, food, activities

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Features of Effective ELD Programs

• Positive Social-Emotional Climate
• Non-threatening Environment
• Developmentally Appropriate
• Student-centered
• Socially and Culturally Appropriate
• Meaningful and Relevant
• Cognitively Engaging
• Comprehensible Input
• Scaffolding
• Thematic or Integrated Learning
• Multiple Modalities
• Clear Expectations and Goals

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Recommended Strategies

• Total Physical Response (TPR)
• Cooperative Learning or Play
• Language Experience Approach
• Games and Finger Plays
• Reading Aloud

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Read Aloud Activity

• Before, During and After Reading Activities for
  Im the King of the Mountain by Joy Cowley.

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• The whole issue of bilingualism, language and
  culture is really a global perspective,
  especially when we think about the trends in this
  nation. We really need to think about the
  children we are working with and 30 years from
  now, the kind of world they are going to be
  working in, and living in. We all need to
  understand the value from the language and
  economics point of view as one world, and as one
  humanity, in a very positive way.
• -Head Start English Language Learners
• Focus Group Participant, 2002

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Resources

• One Child, Two Languages A Guide for Preschool
  Educators of Children Learning English as a
  Second Language by Patton O. Tabors
• Assessing and Fostering the Development of a
  First and a Second Language in Early Childhood by
  Santa Cruz County Office of Education
• Help!They Dont Speak English Starter Kit for
  Primary Teachers by Eastern Stream Center on
  Resources and Training
• Tribes A New Way of Learning Together by Jeane
  Gibbs