Resources
Inclusive holiday activities for multicultural classrooms
In this happy hour, we discussed activities for including multiple cultures and languages in holiday activities for young children.
Developing Learning Activities for Children:
Tasks that Engage
Have you ever known what you want children to learn but struggled with an activity to help them learn it and show evidence of their learning?
Join us to discuss strategies on developing activities for children that connect to early childhood standards. We will focus on how to make activities engaging while scaffolding learning and allowing the adult to see how much a child has learned and what they need to learn next. You will work with colleagues to develop a variety of activities that you can implement immediately!
Speaker:
Sabrina Silverstein, SWS Consulting, LLC (New Haven, CT)
Global Citizenship in the Young Learner Classroom
In this webinar, Dr. Mónica Lourenço demonstrates how Awakening to Languages, a pluralistic approach with a long tradition in Europe, fits especially well as a pedagogy for global citizenship in early childhood. She provides an overview of the evolution of Awakening to Languages in Europe and presents concrete examples from practice, which show how Awakening to Languages can develop children’s curiosity and respect for other languages, foster empathy towards otherness, and cultivate a broader sense of belonging. Finally, she offers recommendations for teachers and stakeholders concerning the integration of multilingual pedagogies into early childhood education.
Speaker:
Dr. Mónica Lourenço, University of Coimbra (Portugal)
Social and Emotional Learning with Multiple Languages
Building social and emotional skills in the early years can have a lifelong, positive impact on children's lives. But how do educators promote these skills in classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse young learners?
In this Happy Hour, early childhood experts exchanged ideas, strategies, and resources for social and emotional learning with multiple languages in their classrooms.
Harmonious Bilingual Experience and Child Wellbeing:
The Case of Singapore
In this webinar, Dr. He Sun will introduce the Harmonious Bilingual Experience Framework, which focuses on the social-emotional skills of bilingual children. This framework aims to systematically investigate the potential factors (such as parental bilingual proficiency and attitudes towards language use) and outcomes (such as children's social-emotional skills) of bilingual children's use of two languages, their literacy environment, and their bilingual proficiency. Findings from studies involving participants from Singapore will be shared, along with practical recommendations, including the benefits of shared eBook reading, for promoting early bilingualism.
Speaker:
Dr. He Sun, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological (Singapore)
Physical Activity & Languages
In this Happy Hour, early childhood teachers, researchers, and our guest speaker — Dr. Michael Laughlin (Southern Connecticut State University) — shared ideas for incorporating physical activities and movement with languages in classrooms with young learners.
Guest speaker:
Dr. Michael K. Laughlin, Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT)
Building Multilingual Awareness in Preschool: Activities for Learning and Assessment
In this webinar, we present findings from a study conducted in preschool classrooms in the Northeastern United States in which we explored a shared book reading activity using a multilingual picturebook. We present the strategies teachers employed during the shared book reading as well as the kinds of responses children produced. We discuss findings relative to how shared book reading can be used for assessment.
Speakers:
Dr. Veronika Timpe-Laughlin (ETS) & Dr. Lorraine Sova (ETS)
The "December Dilemma" - Teaching about Holidays Across Cultures
In this Happy Hour, researchers, teachers, and ECEC directors met and shared ideas, resources, and approaches to including multiple holidays in their early childhood classrooms.
Authentic Picturebooks in the lives of young EFL learners and their teachers
In this webinar, Dr. Réka Lugossy from the University of Pécs (Hungary) shared the findings from a multiyear research project on using picture books in four primary schools, where children had no access to the target language outside the classroom.
Find the list of the picture books here.
Speaker:
Dr. Réka Lugossy, University of Pécs (Hungary)
Ways to Find Out about Children’s Home Languages
In this Happy Hour, researchers, teachers, and ECEC directors met to talk about ways that children’s home languages and cultures can be used to support smooth home-to-school transitions and promote student engagement and learning in early education settings.
World Language Learning in U.S. Preschools
In this webinar, we presented findings from a research study that explored world language learning practices in preschools in the Northeastern United States.
Speakers:
Dr. Veronika Timpe-Laughlin (ETS), Dr. Lorraine Sova (ETS), Dr. Mónica Lourenço (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Kylie Peslak (Somerset Hills, YMCA)
Multilingual Picture Books
In this Happy Hour, early childhood educators, directors, and researchers talked about different multilingual picture books. Additionally, they we watched Dr. Sandie Mourão’s video with strategies about using picture books in class, and we came up with a list of recommended picture books.
Guest speaker:
Dr. Sandie Mourão, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Portugal)