Supporting children and families with English as an Additional

HELLO
Helping Early Language & Literacy
Outcomes
Supporting children and families
with English as an Additional
Language
By
Stefanie Reardon
First Steps Early Years Centre Derby
Created and funded by Department for Education 2015/16 VCS grant funding. This resource is available under Open Government licence. ©Crown
Copyright 2016
E.A.L not S.E.N
Children shouldn't be labelled as having
additional learning needs if they are learning
English as a second language.
They may need targeted support but this is not
the same as SEN support.
If a child has a speech or language problem, it
will show up in both languages. However,
these problems are not caused by learning
two languages.
If you know a child who is learning a second
language and you have concerns about
speech and language development in their 1st
language then an EAL child may be SEN and
further support and referal may be needed.
The figures
• Statistics released indicate that around 15% of children
starting primary school in England have a mother
tongue other than English. This figure is constantly
raising and is most likely considerable more.
• More than 200 languages are spoken in the homes of
children attending schools in England.
• 25% of children on roll at First Steps Early Years Centre
at Spring Term End 2016 are either EAL, Bilingual or
have one or more languages spoken within the home
environment.
Celebrating the E.A.L child
No harm will come to a child’s language development if one language is
spoken at home and another within the setting.
Practitioners should actively promote this practice. If a child can progress and
confidently learn one language (Mother Tongue) this will mean that child
will have developed secure linguistic skills, grammar and sentence
structure knowledge that will then be transferable in developing and
learning another language.
Being Bilingual is an asset:
Bonjour!
?Hello?
-There are advantages for children’s learning
-Strong foundations in home language will
support the acquisition of other languages
-It is vital for maintaining family
relationships.
Children need a strong foundation and
confidence in their home language and
culture to feel confident exploring the
language and culture of others
Code Switching
• What does this mean ? .... Take a look at this
video to find out !
• What does this look like in practice? .... Watch
this video and see !
Code switching is the practice of moving back and forth between two
languages, or between two dialects or registers of the same language.
Code switching is expected when children are learning more than one
language
Types of Bilingualism
Simultaneous: Two languages are learned at the
same time
Sequential: One language is learned first and then
another
Additive: An additional language is learned without
losing the skills in the first
Subtractive: Skills start to be lost in the first
language whilst learning the additional language.
Passive: The language is heard in the environment
e.g.TV, Radio or other people speaking but the
language is not directly spoken to the child.
Typical Bilingual Language
Development
Simultaneous Bilingualism
• Stage 1 – Child mixes languages
• Stage 2 – Child separates languages
• Stage 3 – Child uses mainly one language
Typical Bilingual Language
Development to be aware of
Sequential Bilingualism
Stage 1 – Home language use
Stage 2 – Non verbal period
Stage 3 – telegraphic speech
Stage 4 – Productive language use
Stage 5 – Competent language use
Importance of Home Language
Development
Why is it important to consider children’s home language development?
Discuss...
By finding out which languages are used ...
Helps you identify if children are having difficulties
Helps communication with parents and families
Promotes children and families feeling valued, respected and included
Enables you to support home language/s development
Helps develop positive relationships with their children and their families
Helps you support development of setting language
How Can adults support and extend
language?
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Continued talking even when children do not respond
Persistent inclusion in small groups with other children
Use of varied questions
Inclusion of other children as the focus in the conversation
Use of first language
Acceptance of non verbal responses
Praising of minimal effort
Expectations to respond with repeated words and/or counting
Structuring of programme to encourage child to child interaction
Provide activities which reinforce language practice through role
play
Supporting Language Development
At all Stages: It is important to model language,
while playing alongside a child. Use
descriptive commentary – talking about what
you or the child is doing. Modeling language
and using descriptive commentary should
make up most of your interactions, and even
less should be used on direct questioning.
Allow time for children to formulate responses.
Assessing E.A.L children
The EYFS requires assessment in English – use all
assessment tools /interpreters where available. It
is important to look at all aspects of speech
language and communication development
BUT – It is important to gain a picture of home
speech, language and communication
development by regular dialogue with parents.
See attached Supporting Document created for our
EA.L children hear at First Steps Derby.
How to identify E.A.L children with
additional needs
Mother tongue skills POOR
Mother Tongue Skills
GOOD
Additional Language skills POOR
Additional Language skills
POOR
Assess all skills to gain profile of overall
development provide a language effective
environment and develop play skills monitor
child’s response to input
GOOD PROGRESS
Typical EAL :
Child will learn new
language in a language
Effective Environment
Child with
Transient
difficulties:
will learn new
language in a
language
effective
environment
POOR PROGRESS
Discuss with SENCO to
provide targeted input
GOOD PROGRESS
POOR PROGRESS
Possible Persistent difficulties:
refer to SLT
Red Flags
No code switching
Poor vocabulary development in home language
and English
Social communication difficulties reported by
parents and observed in setting
Stammering
Slow rate of language development in home
language(es) and English.