Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/building-family-engagement-with-multilingual-families/5027070/
Multilingual learners are young children who are learning their home language at the same time they are learning a second language, (Sawyer, Manz, & Martin, 2017) or sometimes more than a second language. In recent years, these children were often categorized as “dual language learners.” However, it has become widely recognized and accepted that many children are learning more than two languages at the same time.
There are more than 12 million children who speak a language other than English in the United States (Statista Research Department, 2022). Early childhood professionals often find it difficult to communicate with parents of multilingual learners due to the language barrier. This article provides several strategies that early childhood professionals can use to build family engagement with families of multilingual learners, in order to develop better communication and family engagement.
Relationships
Relationships with families should be ongoing, mutual, built on trust and respect, and focus on children’s learning and achievement (WIDA, 2017). Relationships are continual and can always be built upon. Think about those who are your closet friends. At one point they were strangers to you, and you built those relationships to where they are today. The same is true of building relationships with the families ...