Transcript Is it wrong to speak to my Latino babies in their home

Cradling Literacy:
Supporting Young English
Language Learners
Eva K. Thorp and Sylvia Y. Sánchez
Graduate School of Education, George Mason University
[email protected] [email protected]
March 20, 2007
Session Objectives
 Explore the power of language in the lives of
linguistically diverse infants and toddlers and
their families;
 Learn about the stages of second language
acquisition and how they apply to infants and
toddlers acquiring a first language;
 Develop an understanding of culturally and
linguistically responsive strategies for infants
and toddlers and their families.
General Demographics
 In 1990, 32 million people (14%) over the age of
five spoke a home language other than English
 In 2000, 47 million (18%) of U. S. population
 In 2000, 15% of all public school PK children were
identified as ELLs
National Center for Education Statistics
 480 languages represented in PK-3rd grade, 80%
of children speak Spanish
Kindler, 2002
Latino Children, Birth to Age 5
 In decade and a half, Latinos increased from 3.5
to 38.8 million
 In 2000, 3.7 million Latino children (0-5)
 By 2050, 8.6 million
Current Population Survey (CPS), March 2002
 In 2000, 17% of the children served under Part C
were Hispanic
NEC*TAC
 South experienced tremendous growth for
children 0-4, No Carolina (417%), Arkansas
(392%), Georgia (342%), Tennessee (339%)
National Council of La Raza, N.D.
Language and Very Young Children
The home language plays a significant role in
supporting infants and toddlers through the two
major developmental tasks they are faced with
during this period in their life:
 to develop a strong emotional relationship with
the significant people in their lives; and
 to develop the knowledge, skills, and world view
to help them make meaning of their environment.
Language Loss
 What did this young woman lose?
 If this had occurred in infancy, how would
her loss relate to the two major
developmental tasks of infancy?
 What societal messages might contribute
to language loss in the infants and
toddlers your work with?
When Infants and Toddlers
Experience Linguistic Discontinuity
They might:
 Appear unresponsive and/or disorganized
 Exhibit excessive shyness
 Appear resistant or defiant
 Refuse to interact and communicate
 Be mistakenly identified as having a language or
behavior problem
Keep in Mind

Language is strongly linked to emotion, affect, and identity
 Providing linguistic and cultural continuity advances
language and cognitive development, as well as emergent
literacy.
 Language loss and discontinuity occur when young
children and their families get the message that their home
language is not an acceptable means of communication.

If providers cannot provide linguistic continuity, they can
still support language and literacy development by
encouraging infant-family interactions through the use of
the home language.
How Does a Child Acquire English?
Stages of second language acquisition in older
children:




Home language use
Observation of new language
Telegraphic and formulaic language
Productive use of the new language
Conversational fluency may take two years
Academic proficiency takes five to nine years
L2 in Young Children Under 3
 Very young children are language learners, not
just English language learners
 For most children and families, no choice to grow
up bilingually or monolingually
 Young children are surrounded by English on
television, in schools, in the community
 Families continue to be told not to speak their
home language, and English acquisition is
occurring at a faster pace than ever in history
Supporting Language Development
 Support family-child relationships in the home
language through meaningful play embedded in
daily routines.
 Be a willing communicative partner with child and
family. Focus on efforts to communicate.
 Encourage families to share their stories with
their children and with you.
 Encourage families to continue using home
language.
Child in Crib Video Clip
Think about the two major developmental tasks
for infants and toddlers: building emotionally
secure relationships and learning about their new
world

Family member was using their strong
emotional bond to scaffold the cognitive
foundation.

Home language was the tool used to
mediate the relationship and to help the
baby learn about his new world.
Willing Communication Partner
Mirror Video Clip
 How is she a good communication partner?
Notice that her focus was not on using
English words, but on reading the child’s
cues.
 How could she now turn this over to the
baby’s non-English speaking parent?
Power of Family Stories Video Clip
 to a great extent we are the stories we tell, and
our memories of personal experiences are what
give us a history and a sense of who we are--past,
present, and future.
~Susan Engel (1994). The stories children tell.
 From their families, young children gain a feeling
of belonging, a sense of personal history, the joy
of shared meaning, and the security of knowing
who they are and where they come from.
~Sánchez, 1999
Stories and Young Children
 …to a great extent we are the stories we
tell, and our memories of personal
experiences are what give us a history and
a sense of who we are--past, present, and
future.
~Susan Engel (1994). The stories children tell.
Encourage Families to
Use Home Language
 There is no evidence that acquiring more
English is helped by the loss of the home
language
 On the contrary, building the first
language helps the acquisition of a
second one
 Attachment is a primary development goal
and family –child interaction is essential
for babies to meet that goal
Key Points to Remember
 For children who lose their home language, the effect can
be devastating as their socio-emotional foundation is
weakened and their cultural identity becomes brittle
 Language is not taught—it is acquired within the context of
responsive relationships with the significant people in
children’s lives
 Language is central in the process of relationship building
between families and babies
 Language is the primary means used by families to
socialize young children as members of a cultural
community
Resources
 Head Start: English Language Learners Focus Group Report
http://www.headstartinfo.org/publications/english_learners/appa.h
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 Im, J., Osborn, C., Sánchez, S. Y., & Thorp, E. K. (2007). Cradling
literacy: Building early language and literacy in young children
birth to five. Washington, DC: Zero to Three Press.
 Sánchez, S. Y. (1999). Issues of language and culture impacting
the early care of young Latino children.
http://nccic.org/pubs/sanchez99.html (English version)
http://www.nccic.org/ccb/issue24sp.html (en espaňol/Spanish
version
 Sánchez, S. Y. Is it wrong to speak to my babies in their home
language?
http://www.headstartinfo.org/English_lang_learners_tkit/Home.ht
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