Preschool programs across the country are becoming more and more diverse.  Teachers want to support the home languages of the children in their classrooms while giving their English-speaking children the benefits of learning new languages. There are some surprisingly easy first steps that any teacher can take to help all of her children learn the languages of their friends and neighbors. Let’s get started! 

GREETINGS: Talk to each family to find out exactly what language the child speaks at home so you can plan for their first day of school.  Ask parents or volunteers to teach you how to use the greetings that are meaningful to the children in your program.  Learn how to pronounce each child’s name – it is important to their self esteem. Everyone in your program should know how to greet each other in the different languages to create an environment that welcomes diversity. 

SURVIVAL WORDS:  Think of about twenty words that will help any child feel more comfortable on his or her first day.  Words to try: yes, no, bathroom, eat, drink, stop, come, hurt, help, clean up, good job and ‘mommy will be here soon’.  Send the list home with the parents – even include a small voice recorder.  Ask them to write or record the correct pronunciation.  It’s important for the teacher to establish basic communication with each new child.  It is even better if all of the children can learn a few words to help their new friends.  And, these words are much more useful than learning the days of the week or counting to ten!  Make new words easier to learn by adding them to a song or chant.

FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY:  Once you get started, you will find that all children are interested in learning the languages of their friends – but it takes practice.  As you are adding to everyone’s vocabulary, try to include words they will actually use several times a day in play, during regular class activities, at mealtimes, greetings or goodbyes. What words do children need to know – or WANT to know – so they can play and learn together?  If they love the block area – introduce words like help, build, up, down, tall, short, long, and “watch out!”.  If you serve family style meals, think about practicing terms like hot, cold, good, not good, cup, plate, fork, spoon, napkin, more, please, no, thank you, and all finished.  Focus on words you and the children will use every day.  Post pronunciation cue cards or labels to help the staff remember the useful new words.  Use some of the great photo resources available in the Kaplan catalog to illustrate and facilitate communication among all languages.  Real photographs and authentic props help children learn by building on prior knowledge.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE:  Get parents and community members involved.  A diversity committee is a great way to invite parents of different backgrounds to work together for your program.  They can find resources and materials in different languages.  They can also review translated materials to make sure they are correct, and right for the audience. Ask them to share their culture in the classroom with songs, poems, stories, recipes and games they remember from their childhood. These collaborative activities will help immigrant parents practice their English while English-speaking parents can learn the languages their children are learning. Everybody wins! 

Karen Nemeth is the author of Many Languages, One Classroom: Teaching Dual and English Language Learners (Gryphon House, 2009) She earned her BA in Psychology from William Paterson University and her M.Ed. in Learning, Cognition and Development from Rutgers University. She has been a teacher and a teacher educator for more than 25 years, and has presented at national, state, and local conferences on topics related to first and second language development. She is on the executive board of NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/NJ Bilingual Educators and is co-coordinator of the Early Childhood Special Interest Group. Currently, she teaches at William Paterson University and consults with programs throughout the country. For more information about young English language learners, visit her website at http://www.languagecastle.com.

Parent involvement is much more than a school full of parents. For parent involvement to be truly effective, schools must strive to draw in parents from all walks of life in order to share research-based reading strategies. Students will be able to reach their full academic potential when schools engage parents and empower them with effective strategies they can use at home. 

Laura Beaver and Jill Nolen, natives of North Carolina, have a combined 30 years experience in education. They have worked as regular classroom teachers as well as specialists for struggling and gifted students. While teaching across the hall from each other, Beaver and Nolen pursued their dream of writing a book.  In 2004, they published Into the Tub, a children’s book that includes research-based reading strategies for parents to use during story time.  Beaver and Nolen began spending after-hours time together outside the classroom doing book signings to promote this book.  Soon, this energetic pair found themselves traveling across the nation training educators on how to empower parents with the tools they need to help their children become successful readers. 

Their vision of parent involvement is much more than simply having a school full of parents...it is also about making sure that all parents walk away from the school empowered to use research-based reading strategies with their children. Their message applies to any parent – from a poverty-stricken teenage mother to a busy, middle-class father, from a grandmother raising her grandchildren to a well-educated lawyer.  They believe parents should walk away from every parent involvement event with strategies to make a positive impact on their child’s academic success.  By sharing strategies based on research in parent-friendly terms and by modeling strategies with parents so they can easily use them at home with their children, educators can draw in parents by the dozens. 

Over the past few years, Beaver and Nolen have created a variety of materials that are being used by schools as part of their parent involvement initiative. Learn how to draw in parents by the dozens by offering interactive, non-threatening evens, such as hunting for hidden treasures, building model cars or even making pepperoni pizzas.  With just a few clicks, you will be well on your way to a perfectly planned workshop at your school with a Parent Workshop Survival Kit.  And you can draw in parents by the dozens with Family Fun Events for all ages.  Planning parent involvement events for Pre-K to Grade 5 has never been so easy!

Jill and Laura have conducted school-based and district-wide staff developments across the U.S. sharing their vision and inspiring educators to become better partners with their parents. Request training information for your staff and let Jill and Laura help your school develop a new vision of parent involvement. Their contagious enthusiasm and practical solutions will leave you with a smile on your face, a stitch in your side and the knowledge and passion to empower your parents with the tools they need to help their children succeed.

A few nights ago, I attended a concert at a local high school. The choir sang and the symphonic orchestra and band played wonderful music. As I watched the teenagers perform so beautifully, I became teary-eyed. Seeing children – no matter what age- involved in music brings me great joy.    

Music experiences are especially important for young children because they affect every area of development. Dr. Howard Gardner cites music as the first of the seven multiple intelligences to surface. [Gardner, H. (1985). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences] According to Gardner, musical-rhythmic learners are sensitive to nonverbal sounds and are very much aware of tone, pitch and timbre. Using rhythm, chanting, and songs with children can increase their attention and interest while motivating them to learn.

Why should a child learn music?  Simply ask a reading teacher who needs children to understand sequencing or a science teacher who is teaching about sound.  Or ask a math teacher who understands musical time signatures or a dance instructor who needs students to hear the beat!

Music can be used to teach math, language and listening skills.  It can help children understand science.  It develops coordination and helps children develop enhanced cognitive skills in a fun and pleasurable way.  A major form of communication, music is calming and helps us express our thoughts and emotions. Music also teaches spatial reasoning skills, which is particularly significant because spatial reasoning skills are part of the abstract reasoning skills that the brain uses to perform common, everyday activities, such as walking, and complex functions such as solving problems in mathematics and engineering.

Using the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It” as an example, let’s explore how music can stimulate many areas of a young child’s development. When children sing this song, they employ cognitive development (to identify body parts), gross motor skills (to perform required actions with the body parts), and emotional development (to express happiness).  Recent brain research tells us that early experiences affect the development of the brain. This early “wiring” shapes the way a child thinks, learns, and behaves for the rest of his life.  Singing the song increases listening skills because the child is copying what you are singing. She is matching the tones of the melody. She is learning loud and soft, fast and slow, up and down. Auditory discrimination is totally enhanced.  The song develops vocabulary, differentiates between letter sounds (phonemes) and can include rhyming and sequencing which are all important pre-reading skills. Singing the same song over and over again increases attention span, concentration, and memory.  The actions in the song develop coordination and rhythmic beat.

Universally, children universally love music.  Language, cultural and developmental barriers come tumbling down when children listen to sounds, sing songs, discover rhythms and patterns in nature, make instruments, and listen to music.  Music is non-judgmental.  There is no right or wrong. It is joyful for everyone!

This post was contributed by Jackie Silberg, who has an M.S. in child development.  An early childhood advocate and popular keynote speaker, Jackie received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Emporia State University, recognizing her current achievements as well as her long and prolific career. Jackie founded and directed the Jewish Community Center School of Music in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked for Channel 41 television, planning the music and performing her original music for "41 Treehouse Lane," a children's program.  She wrote and produced a television show for Time Warner called "Just Kids," which addressed children's needs and interests. Jackie has worked as a consultant with the Discovery Channel, setting up their music streaming website. She has given workshops, keynote addresses, seminars, and family concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and in Singapore. Jackie has served as an adjunct instructor at both Emporia State University and the University of Missouri at Kansas City and lectures at Johnson County Community College. Jackie is the owner of Miss Jackie Music Company.

Books by Jackie Silberg: Games to Play with Babies , Games to Play with Toddlers, Games to Play with Two Year Olds, Revised, Reading Games for Young Children, Brain Games for Babies, Brain Games for Toddlers & Twos