Week 4 – Early Childhood Multilingualism – resources for further study

The readings, videos and activities below are designed to provide opportunities for deepening your knowledge about the topics covered in Week 4 of the MOOC (e-Course) on the topic of  “Early Childhood Multilingualism”. It is aimed to be used in academic seminars, providing extra materials, some suggestions for activities etc. 

In order to become familiar with the basics of the topic, it is recommended that you go through the self-study e-Course as follows:

1. To become generally acquainted with the topic and concepts of early childhood multilingualism, study the MOOC materials of Week 4 part 1 here:  https://sisu.ut.ee/multilingual/book/language-acquisition-early-childhood
2. Week 4 part 2 here:  https://sisu.ut.ee/multilingual/book/2-rich-language-input 
3. Week 4 part 3 here: https://sisu.ut.ee/multilingual/book/language-emergence-childhood 
4. Complete the Week 4 quiz here:  https://sisu.ut.ee/multilingual/node/19167

 

Extra materials for academic seminars or for individual learners to deepen their understanding of the topic: 

Creating bilingual minds

Dr. Naja Ferjan Ramirez is a researcher studying the brain processing of language in infants and young children. In her talk, she showcases the latest techniques to study the infant brain and explains why all babies have the full potential to learn two languages at the same time. She discusses the benefits of bilingual environments for language and brain development, and describes what it takes to create bilingual minds. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but was independently organized by a local community.

Video – Ramirez, Naja Ferjan “Creating bilingual minds” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2Fvkt-TRM  (TEDxLjubljana)

Questions for the follow-up discussion: 

• How does Dr Ramirez’s view compare to your previous understanding of the topic?
• What conclusions could you draw to your own work? How could you use her suggestions? Are there any obstacles that might constrain the use of her ideas?

 

Visual representation of multilingualism in early childhood classrooms in Cape Town, South Africa

The article presents some findings of visual representation of multilingualism in South African classrooms.
In urban classrooms, immigrant childrens’ multilingual competence is not always recognised and this is often reflected in the visual environment itself. The physical elements in the classroom reflect priorities that can send messages to families and visitors and influence how children think. 

To explore whether this was the case in the multilingual nation of South Africa, photos were taken in two first grade classrooms in Cape Town searching for signs that multilingualism is represented visually in the physical environment, reflecting a multilingual linguistic landscape. In addition teachers were interviewed regarding this topic. The findings indicate that South African teachers’ own multilingual identity may have enabled them to more readily recognise the multilingual resources of their young pupils.

Kari Bratland, “Visual representation of multilingualism in early childhood classrooms in Cape Town, South Africa”. Journal of the European Teacher Education Network 2016, Vol. 11, 142-149, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/369b/71d9442754b9ac9d70fb387e84f3ca7efd53.pdf 

Questions for reflection: 

• Have you noticed any visual representation of multilingualism in the classrooms where you have studied, taught, visited? 
• Why do you think there are such representations in some classrooms and not in others? 
• What could be done in your classroom/institution/country to be more inclusive of diversity in the physical environment? 

 

 The Brain Science of Bilingualism

Reading – Ramirez, Naja Ferjan, and Patricia Kuhl “The Brain Science of Bilingualism”   http://ilabs.uw.edu/sites/default/files/2017_FerjanRamirez_Kuhl_NAEYC.pdf

 

Investigating cognitive-linguistic development in second language acquisition

Reading – Kersten, Kristin, and Werner Greve “Investigating cognitive-linguistic development in SLA” (second language acquisition SLA)

https://www.uni-hildesheim.de/media/fb3/englische_sprache/PDF/K_Kersten/Greve___Kersten__accepted__Investigating_cognitive-linguistic_development_in_SLA__PREPRINT_.pdf

 

 

Seminar activities (options): 

1) Phonetics and prosody – authentic exposure

Using a nursery rhyme, song, or chant, explain how it can be used to stimulate listening to sound patterns and encourage early vocalization in the L1/L2.

Identify the song, explain why you have chosen it, and write a brief explanation [200 words] of how it can be used with very young learners.

2) ‘Doing’ the Montessori method

Drawing on the Montessori method observed in Week 4 Task 3, choose an object and explain how it could be used variously to stimulate language activity. Pay attention to provide ‘rich language input’ in your activity.

Early language acquisition and intercultural communication

http://www.elias.bilikita.org/

The webpage provides materials on the topic of bilingual education at the pre-school level.
The Comenius programme of the European Union under the name ELIAS has been funded with support from the European Commission.
The products reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 

Supporting linguistic and cultural diversity in early childhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWg-ZrV3wPk (for teacher training)

The video presents an inclusive, culturally diverse preschool and how the educators work together to embed children’s home culture and languages in everyday preschool routines.

 

CLIL-orodje za izbiro nejezikovnih vsebin./Werkzeug für die Auswahl von nichtsprachlichen Inhalte

In the article below (in Slovenian), the authors discuss the selection of non-linguistic content for CLIL teaching. Read the article and think about how useful the proposed tool is for selecting suitable CLIL content for different levels.

Reading: article by Lipavic Oštir, A., Lipovec, A., & Rajšp, M. (2015). CLIL-orodje za izbiro nejezikovnih vsebin. Revija za elementarno izobraževanje, 8(1/2), 11-26.

https://search.proquest.com/openview/5a50d12985f955d669d8abeb86ae36ef/1?cbl=1316364&pq-origsite=gscholar

 

Plurilingual children/Večjezičnost otrok

Listen to the radio programme in Slovenian on the children’s brain activity when learning different languages at the same time. The broadcast includes reports from multilingual families, an international school and an interview with the Slovenian neuroscientist dr. Naja Ferjan Ramirez.

Radio programme: Plurilingual children https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/frekvenca-x/174451396

 

Learning foreign languages: when to start?/ Kdaj se začnemo učiti tujih jezikov?

Watch the interview with two Slovenian language learning experts about the best time to start learning foreign languages and the best approaches used with young learners. Discuss: What are the implications of the “monolingual paradigm”?

Video: https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/dobro-jutro/174639915

How toddlers perceive different languages?/Kako malčki zaznavajo različne jezike?

Read the article by Anita Sila and Silva Bratož and discuss the different ways in which toddlers perceive their mother tongue and foreign languages. How can the research findings be applied in foreign language teaching practice?

Reading: article by Sila, A. in Bratož, S. (2019). Kako otroci prvega starostnega obdobja zaznavajo različne jezike? Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem. (article not available on-line)