These materials provide support for initial teacher educators, school based mentors and other practitioners to introduce practitioners and trainee teachersto the needs of young bilingual children in the early years. The term ‘bilingual children’ is used throughout to refer to those children who in their daily lives operate in more than one language; the term does not suggest equal competence or fluency in these languages.
Young 3-5 year old children who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) and their language learning needs are sometimes overlooked in educational texts, as well as in schools and settings, because it is assumed that young children will ‘pick up’ English naturally and very quickly. This strand presents an overview of the complexities involved, examines play as a vehicle for learning in general and especially for learning a new language, and highlights the critical role of monolingual and bilingual practitioners.
Section Editors
Carrie Cable
Maggie Gravelle
On this page you will find web pages from the archived ITTSEAL site for teacher educators new to initial teacher training. Much of this material is being substantially rewritten and incorporated into our new site but we have maintained this archive to support referencing and site users.
The PDF pages are arranged in the same structure as on the original site. Please note that embedded hyperlinks in the documents will not work and external weblinks are no longer necessarily live. If you are searching for a particular resource which you cannot find, please contact us and we will try to help.
Supporting bilingual children in the early years
A socio-cultural view on early years education for bilingual children
The importance of play for cultural and language learning
Why support bilingualism?
Stages of early bilingual learning
Strategies for monolingual practitioners
The role of bilingual practitioners
Listening to bilingual children
