Title: Speaking for Diversity: Promoting Multilingualism in Early Childhood Education: Effective Teaching and Learning for Minority-Language Children
Country: Latvia
Authors: International Step by Step Association
CategoryCurricular Materials
Date of Publication: 2006
Keywords: inclusion, language development, promoting multicultural and multilingual societies
Resource Language(s): English, Russian, Slovak, and Estonian
Pages: 246
Level of Education: Preschool and Kindergarten Teacher Education
Publisher: International Step by Step Association, Nador u. 23/IV/1, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary; phone: (361) 354-3920
Access: Contact the publisher, the International Step by Step Association for further information regarding this publication.  Nador u. 23/IV/1, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary; phone: (361) 354-3920; website: www.issa.hu
Abstract: This text and program promotes democratic values by working for the inclusion of all children’s languages and cultures into the learning environment instead of just those of the dominant culture. The program consists of (1) a training module for teachers that includes the following topics: working in a multicultural society, language development in early childhood, second language acquisition and bilingualism, how and why to simultaneously support the development of the home language, environments and strategies to support second-language acquisition in classrooms, cooperating with families and other team members, and literacy development and (2) a teachers’ guide that addresses how language develops and how to support multilingual and multiliterate development. The program helps teachers to reach children who enter kindergarten not speaking the official language of the country to learn the official language. It also addresses the need for greater inclusion of children’s first language and home culture into the classroom and to more effectively include in the mainstream educational process those children, families, and communities who may be disenfranchised due to language issues.