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Preschools and childcare centers are becoming filled with more and more culturally and linguistically diverse children. With the rise in the number of young multilingual learners, educators face both the challenge, and the exciting opportunity, to plan activities and create learning environments that are inclusive, and make sure every child feels a sense of belonging - no matter what language they speak at home.
This article explores the growing presence of multilingual or bilingual learners in early childhood education and offers practical strategies for educators to facilitate effective communication - not only with the children, but also with the families.
It is essential that teachers cultivate an accepting and inclusive atmosphere that not only supports language development, but also celebrates diversity.
So when people say the prevalence of bilingual or multilingual children is increasing, what do they mean?
Dual Language Learners (DLLs) is the more official term for multilingual and bilingual children. Specifically, DLLs are young children, usually between 0 to 5 years old, who are learning two or more languages.
The Learners part of this term is key because it emphasizes the fact that children of this age are still developing in their primary language(s), while also learning one or more additional languages.
In a recent case study by the Migration Policy Institute, the number of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in the U.S. were broken down by state. The findings are that between ages 0-8 years old, there are 10,848,000 children - which is 32% of all children - that are a part of a bilingual household!
The top 5 states with the highest number of dual language learners are: California, Texas, New York, Florida and New Jersey.
This just shows how critical it is for early childhood curriculums and educators to accommodate diverse language backgrounds (and if you want some insights on how to do that, read Angele’s article I talked about above!). Too many children will struggle in early childhood programs that only cater to English-only speaking children and families.
An early childhood consultant and expert, Angele Sancho Passe, shared with Family some foundational tips and basics of supporting dual language learners. She mentions specific ways that early childhood educators can make their classroom inclusive for a variety of cultural backgrounds. I highly recommend reading it (It’s just a quick, but super insightful and helpful read!
In this article I want to talk about how technology - specifically Famly’s communication features -actually makes communicating with non-english speaking parents at their childcare easier and more accessible. No more worrying about anything getting “lost in translation.”
At the heart of Famly’s digital platform is the dedication to make communication between all adults in a child’s life easy, accessible and consistent - no matter what their native language is.
These 3 features are exclusive to Famly’s platform. We love them and our customers love them. They help you and your staff create a digital experience that reflects your inclusive and diverse community!
With Famly’s live translation tool, both the staff and the families can translate all communication into 133 different languages. Yes, you read that correctly. 133 languages!
How it works: All communication (posts, updates, messages, child observations) can be translated instantly to the language of their choice. So, if a teacher needs to remind a parent to bring an extra change of clothes tomorrow, they can type out their direct message in English (or any language they prefer), and the parent who is receiving the message can instantly translate it to Spanish, Chinese, French, or any of the other 130 languages!
Sidekick Writing Assistant is actually Famly’s first AI feature - and the first AI feature in any of the childcare management softwares. Sidekick helps you with grammar, spelling and tone of all of your communication through Famly.
This means all staff can communicate clearly, correctly and professionally, which also means less communication tasks for the director or manager, and less time triple checking every staff’s communication!
How it works: Type out your message, post, or observation and click the Sidekick button. Grammar and spelling will be checked. Plus, you have different options of tones you can choose. For instance, make it polite or make it conversational. If you don’t like the suggested text, you can disregard, or ask Sidekick to suggest a different option!
Famly’s entire platform is available in Spanish. We know that Spanish is the second most common language in the U.S., and so our platform is available entirely in Spanish for either ECE staff or family members.
How it works: If one person wants the Famly platform in Spanish, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to. Simply reach out to our customer support team, and they’ll help you and your families get all set up.
Just like Facebook, Famly has its own Newsfeed. Or, you could think of it like a digital bulletin board.
Childcare staff can post updates with photos and videos of the children throughout the day to Famly’s Newsfeed. You can also post learning observations with photos and videos to share with each child’s parent or primary caregiver. Families love this feature because it gives them a window into their child’s day and allows them to feel a part of their daily growth and development, even from afar.
The best part is that you can choose the audience of every post to the Newsfeed. Should the updates, photos and videos only be available to individual parents, or to the parents of a specific classroom, or for the whole community? These optional restrictions are perfect to maintain privacy, and share in a way that all parents feel comfortable.
Plus, you can see who has and has not viewed the Newsfeed post.
Easily log both default, and custom, actions throughout the day for each child. Like, diaper changes, naps, meals, and any other custom action you want to add.
Direct messages to one parent, 5 parents, 20 parents, or 100 parents. All of it can be done right in the Famly app. Plus, Famly works across all devices (which is also exclusive to Famly’s platform!), like your cell phone, tablet or computer. This means you, your staff and your families will always be instantly notified, and can check the message when convenient for you.
Famly’s notifications are just like if you would get a notification when you get a new email, or when your friend sends you a text message – instant.
This is amazing for families who are busy during the day, and don’t have time to check email or to respond to text messages. If they see a notification from the Famly app, they know it is related to their child’s preschool or childcare.
On the other hand, it is also amazing for staff because once their work day is over, they know that if they need to be reached, it will come through the Famly app, and not their email.
Plus, here are 10 more reasons why you should use Famly for your preschool’s teacher-parent communication, and we further explain why the features above are so beneficial to your childcare business, and strengthening your family partnerships.
Clear, direct and consistent communication between teachers and families is essential to early childhood development. Young dual language learners should have the same level of communication between their families and their educators. Famly not only makes that possible, but super easy and accessible.
Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.
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The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.
Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
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