Flipping Our Mindsets Regarding Young Emergent Bilingual Children
by Erin Hamel, PhD – ICS Policy Research Fellow
Dr. Erin Hamel is an associate professor in the department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at Winthrop University. She also serves as Director of Macfeat Early Childhood Laboratory School at Winthrop University. She received her B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Winthrop before job teaching first grade and kindergarten. While teaching, Dr. Hamel obtained her M.Ed. in Reading from Winthrop before pursuing her Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education with a focus in emergent literacy at the University of South Carolina.
“I do not know what magic you all use, but my child says he wants to come to the camp everyday and all summer!” Mateo’s mother explained to his camp teacher as they said their goodbyes. Mateo, four years old, attended the summer camp for emergent bilingual children I co-directed. Comments like this were prevalent as families reflected on their child’s camp experience during our last day together. “Thank you for everything you inspired in me and my children because I can know that there are still people with a big heart,” wrote another mother. God bless you and your family forever. This is from me and my family.”
On the one hand, the camp staff were overjoyed that the children and families were so enthusiastic and positive about their time at camp. After all, we were strangers to one another eight short days ago and now we were sad to say goodbye. We felt like family. On the other hand, we were disheartened. Why did this positive experience seem like such an outlier for these children and families? While we were proud of our work, we certainly didn’t view it as magical. We thought it was fundamental.
The term “emergent bilinguals” is widely used to describe children whose primary or home language is not English. Although the term “English language learners (ELLs)” is widely used in schools and in education policy, it prioritizes English while devaluing the plethora of language resources and assets of these young learners (García & Kleifgen, 2018). The term emergent bi/multilingual learners, more accurately recognizes the exceptional language skills of these children. Rather than viewing them as someone who can’t speak/write English, they are viewed as capable and competent, exceeding the linguistic skills of a monolingual person like me, who only speaks English.
So, what made our time together so magical? I believe it was this flipping of the mindset from these children can’t (speak/read/write English) to these children can do so much! Our camp was built on the premise that children’s cultural and linguistic identities must be honored, respected, and utilized in learning spaces. We viewed these children as rock stars, rather than deficient. For us, this meant our camp was a place where:
Interaction is ENcouraged, rather than DIScouraged
Days at camp were filled with lots of interaction. Children were talking, reading, singing, dancing, building, drawing, writing, and experimenting. And they were doing these things together rather than in isolation. We wanted children to have the space to engage with one another in a variety of settings. We intentionally created spaces and invitations that enticed and motivated children to play, create, and collaborate, so that authentic language interactions could abound. Camp was noisy. Camp was busy. Camp was filled with children happily and fluidly communicating.
Languages are used freely to communicate and make meaning
Children had the flexibility to use language in ways that made the most sense to them. Sometimes they used Spanish. Other times they used English. There were also times when they used a combination of Spanish and English during a communicative interaction. There were no rules about what language had to be used in any given circumstance.
Materials reflect the lives and communities of the children
Books, posters, dolls, puzzles, music, food…it was all selected intentionally to mirror the lives of the children and their communities. We wanted them to feel at home and to recognize themselves in the surroundings and materials in the camp space.
Children have agency in their work
Children’s voices had a strong place in the camp. The children mattered. They had power to make choices about their work and play. They made decisions about what they would do, how they would do it, and who they would do it with. They were treated as responsible, capable thinkers and doers.
The premises above are not new. These ideas have been around for a long time. But what seems important, is that they are applied with the mindset that emergent bi/multilingual children are not inadequate, limited, or deficient in any way. Instead, they are exceptional – owning linguistic skills that far exceed those of monolingual adults, like me. When we flip our mindset to own this stance, magic can happen.
Interested in learning more about working with young emergent bi/multilingual learners in your own spaces? Consider the following resources:
Affirming the Rights of Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Children and Families: Interweaving Research and Practice through the Reggio Emilia Approach Edited by Brenda Fyfe, Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, Juana Reyes, Geralyn (Gigi) Schroeder Yu (2023)
Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity by Sydney Cail Snyder and Diane Staehr Fenner (2021)
Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Learners by Ofelia García and Tatyana Kleyn (2019)
Guided Drawing with Multilingual Preschoolers Developing Language, Vocabulary, and Content Knowledge Christina M. Cassano and Kathleen A. Paciga (2023)
Translanguaging in Early Childhood Education: Beyond Monolingual Ideologies edited by Ofelia García, Susana Ibarra Johnson, and Kate Seltzer (2018)
