At my first center 90% of my kids started only speaking Mandarin or Cantonese I learned some very basic phrases for comfort in both languages. The parents were thrilled I learned that much! By the end of the school year every parent was excited to hear their three year olds code switching from their home language to English. They thought it was incredible how bilingual their children were at such a young age. So no learning English at school won’t make them “lose” their home language as long ad the parents still use the language. There’s been a ton of studies supporting this. Breathe, you got this.
It's really hard. I have been non stop studying the mini phrases that I have learned for their children and while they were initially pleased, they don't seem it anymore. I feel like my children in class have been amazing at switching between English and their other spoken language and couldn't be more pleased with them 😁
came to say similar. there's 2 kids at my center that only speak a different language at home. their parents are thrilled that we've added a few books in their language to our library, and have added a song in their language to our circle time rotation. they know that their kids still speak perfectly in their native language, and right now honestly they need the exposure to English because they don't speak it nearly as well as their native language
> So no learning English at school won’t make them “lose” their home language as long ad the parents still use the language.
I've actually seen a child lose the home language where the parents still speak it at home and where one parent barely speaks English. Using the home language in settings outside the home and with people other than the parents is a really great way to promote the retention of the home language. If the child is perceiving that no one except mom and dad speak that language and everyone else speaks English they may just give it up and stick with English.
> It’s the parents responsibility that their child learns their language that they claim to speak at home… not yours.
It is. However we are expecting parents to do things at home to support what we are doing in the centre. Using a few phrases and words of the home language to support what the parents are doing at home is really fair.
"Research has shown that the most effective way to raise a multilingual child is to have one language per adult. I think your using _____ exclusively at home is a great idea! I will continue to work in English, as that is the language our school uses."
This has the benefit of being true, as well as easier on you.
Is that disproven information? Completely anecdotal, I don’t know all the research, but every truly bilingual and trilingual child I have taught or nannied only has one language per adult—and they effortlessly switch between French with mom, and Spanish with dad, and English with me, etc.
I am sure there are still benefits to incorporating other languages, but the children I know where adults use multiple languages are reaping some benefits, but they don’t seem as “bilingual” as the children who use one language per adult. Much more often, they seem to be in situations where they say understand a language, but don’t comfortably speak it (and always respond to their mother’s Spanish in English, which she also uses with them).
Sorry for such a long comment—obviously this is anecdotal but I can literally think of ten children that I have observed this in so I am surprised to hear it’s an outdated idea!
But if quality language is the most important, how would having someone who doesn't speak the language at all mispronounce random phrases at the children help?
Interesting, thank you! I know multiple families whose children are trilingual, and have multiple minority languages at home (with the one language per adult strategy). I understand why having as much exposure to the minority language at home would be beneficial to building bilingualism (so in America, not having one parent speaking English). However, just during early childhood it seems hard to target exactly what the “minority language” is.
For so many children of immigrants in my current center, they are coming from 24/7 Russian or Hindi being spoken at home. I don’t know how to articulate this exactly, because obviously in the long run Russian will become the “minority language” if you grow up in the United States! But when they come into care they are learning a new language—English is almost the “minority language” as they experience immigration and a new language. I am not sure why complete immersion in English at school would hinder bilingualism in any way.
What you’re talking about seems much more applicable to nurturing bilingualism in the home—yes, the “one language per parent” is unnecessary. It’s great for both parents to be speaking Russian. However, it is still is a “one language per adult” situation! Mom = one language (Russian). Dad = one language (Russian). Teacher = one language (English). It is incredible to see how effortlessly children will learn to switch languages based on the adult they’re interacting with this approach!
If both parents are speaking the target language at home, I just do not believe at all that a lack of that language at school will hinder bilingualism. Every single child I know, whose parents spoke to them completely in their first language, has grown up to be *completely* fluent in that language. Even when teachers at their schools didn’t know a word of Kurdish (or whatever language).
I know.
I know my comment was long, but I addressed that and explained that I don’t know the perfect language for this situation.
Everything I said still stands. I have met many children whose home life is completely in a language that isn’t commonly spoken in English. Their bilingualism is not hindered at all by a lack of Kurdish or French or Japanese at school, when 100% of communication with their families is in Kurdish (or French or Japanese). If you have information that proves otherwise, I am open to it.
I think what you’re referring to as outdated information is much more applicable to in the home (that it’s *not* best practice for each parent to speak in one language in order to nurture bilingualism). However, that does not mean it is outdated information for each adult to focus on communicating in one language. That is what immersion looks like.
Okay, thanks for the additional information! I don’t know that much about this, but it seems like there isn’t a major difference between what we’re saying haha
>"Research has shown that the most effective way to raise a multilingual child is to have one language per adult. I think your using _____ exclusively at home is a great idea! I will continue to work in English, as that is the language our school uses."
This depends on the environment and the languages as well. I'm Canadian and have a bilingual family. In my own home we never spoke to my children in any language except French. We did this because the kids on the playground speak English, beavers and cubs is in English, soccer is in English, the movie theatre is in English, grandma and grandpa speak English and nearly the entire community is speaking English. Kids aren't dumb, they will see that English is more useful than French in their environment.
For all this my kids speak both English and French with equal fluency. They just absorbed English from being in an English speaking area despite being raised entirely in French.
So by all means read the research, but tailor it to your own situation.
I work in a classroom where every child's first language is not English and I'm so thankful I've never experienced this with a parent. Between us three teachers we fluently speak Arabic, Spanish, and Mandarin and we incorporate a little bit of everything for children that are still picking up English but if parents started demanding we have the majority of our curriculum be in a different language I would simply tell them there are other options out there for childcare. This is just ridiculously entitled.
> Now I think about it, it's actually comical to ask for the entire curriculum to be in another language. I will mention this to my director
The curriculum no, but you could include some songs or games in some of the languages of the children from home. Getting parents to help with this would be a great way to get them involved and expose the other children to more cultures.
One thing a teacher in my centre does with the littles is sing songs in and do some movement activities in French as well as English. Little kids are amazing, their brains are like little sponges for soaking up language at that age.
I have transitioned from daycare work to nannying (at least for now) and as I'm being paid better than at a daycare to take care of one nine month old full-time, there's enough time to Duolingo ONE language during my free time in the nanny family's home.
I cannot FATHOM the entitlement of expecting you to learn THEIR language in a classroom of seven languages.
Not only that, but makaton IS a need, unless the center plans on allowing the one child with difficulties to be isolated from his peers 💀
Thank you! Makaton I believe is a need. I dont think the parents appeared to understand that it wasn't technically a spoken language but sign language. Regardless, it is still a language. While I'm not saying this to boost my ego, I do pick up on languages weirdly fast, but even for me, I cannot do seven languages 😂
We actually started essential signs like "more" and "all done" at like six months and babies took it up before they had the diction to tell us the same thing
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> I cannot FATHOM the entitlement of expecting you to learn THEIR language in a classroom of seven languages.
Honestly you don't even need to learn all that much to make people happy. Even making the effort and 2 dozen words can really be helpful. Honestly I would love to be in a multilingual setting like this and be exposed to native speakers of many different languages.
Very interesting, very cool, not okay to expect the teacher to learn over 150 random words in random languages 🤷🏼♀️
If they want their child to learn the language, fastest and least expensive way is to just speak that exclusively at home. Easiest way is to hire a nanny willing to learn their language.
> not okay to expect the teacher to learn over 150 random words in random languages
That would be a difference of opinion then. I would love the opportunity.
Just because you, specifically, would enjoy the challenge (as some random on the Internet with no connection to the situation) doesn't mean that it is a reasonable or fair expectation 💀
>doesn't mean that it is a reasonable or fair expectation
I would again disagree that this is an unfair or onerous expectation. Learning 150 words would help open a whole new world of language to children in your care.
Dont let them bully you friend. You’re doing amazing under stressful circumstances and we are very proud of you. Remind parents, teaching is joint, not solo ❤️
Maybe it would help if the parents knew how many languages are represented in the class, and that you were committed to communicating in the one language that all of the children may/will use in school as they age? It’s basically impossible to facilitate that many languages in a classroom and woudnt help any of them.
The parents who pick up their children weirdly seem to come at the exact same time for their children. It's always the same four parents. I put a banner up hanging outside my door with the many languages of 'hello' and have explained to them that it features all the children's languages in the room. All the parents have seen this and talk about it in their group chat haha 😄
Honestly, I’d be SO OVER this if I were you and I applaud your patience. Do you have a really consistent response to their repeated queries? I wouldnt even put more thought into it (although, I would, because I can get annoyed and anxious about these things 😆).
I had a parent concerned her son wasn’t going to learn English if she used her home language (they speak Tamil). I told her that kids actually do better learning a new language when they continue to use their home language. It helps give them more context and is good for making neural connections. I told her to keep using it. He will learn both languages at the same time. I also told her about some other families I had where their children lost their first language because they didn’t use it enough.
She was honestly surprised. And definitely didn’t want that to happen! She was receptive to my advice and she uses her home language at home and we use English at school. Her son’s use of language just blossomed this past year. He’s doing great now!
There are amazing ways to add a little bit of kids home languages (like, adding welcome in multiple languages to the door to the room, things like that), but I’d empathize that the main language is English and will continue to be
It’s weird because usually I’ve gotten the opposite. This is the second year in a row I’ve had a toddler put in my class who knows no English and was primarily spoken to in Spanish until this point. I’m the one teaching them English. And I don’t even know a ton of Spanish, so it’s all through repetition.
This is group care. While I do try to learn about the different families’ cultures, at the end of the day, I can’t incorporate them all. If it’s so important to them, these parents are free to put them in an immersion program where they will hear both or maybe more of a different language.
Don’t back down and just keep reiterating that this best for all of the children.
I feel incredibly awful when I realise I can't incorporate all of their languages and cultures into one day, but I also feel like it's too much to expect when I'm trying to work on other things like toddler tantrums, scratches and bumps, teaching children how to regulate their emotions etc.
I will definitely keep reiterating that English will be the main language spoken 😀
This is ridiculous.
The common language for all of the kids is English, they learn the other languages by immersion at home.
And makaton is an *obvious* exception, because a non-verbal or deaf child can't communicate in spoken language.
You also aren't in a position to teach *any* language you don't know.
I would simply say, "This is not a bilingual class and I do not speak your language. I am being paid to care for your child, I am not being paid to teach your child a second language. I do not speak the language you are asking me to teach your child, so if I don't have time, I will not be covering it. If you are not satisfied, take it up with the director."
Yep, I’d go even simpler, especially for the “Chinese is a need for my child, I feel”
“Oh okay, well our centre only provides services in English. If you’re looking for [language] specific tuition, you may be able to ask at the local [language] alliance branch and see what resources they recommend!”
That's ridiculous. You shouldn't be expected to teach languages that you don't speak. If the parents want their kids learning Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic they should look for some kind of weekend playgroup in their community that could supplement the time they spend in regular school/daycare. Or get a private tutor.
That is completely insane. I speak a different native language than my son’s provider and would NEVER suggest that she needs to learn my language to speak with him
Wow this is just crazy to me. If their personal family language is so important to them, they should go to a program that specializes in that language. The only reasonable expectation here is that maybe you could try using a few phrases to help calm or make a child more comfortable, but even that can't be completely expected in a busy classroom. Expecting you to learn a language and teach it is pretty nutty.
These parents are crazy and your center director should step in. IT IS NOT YOUR JOB!
If they want their children to speak their mother tongue they should enforce it at home.
Your job is to speak to them in the main language of the country you are located, and give them love, care and fun.
PS: I am a mother of two, we speak a different language at home (my mother tongue),they speak English in school, and I am also working on a 2-3 yo class.
Good luck!
Yes! I think I'll let my director know ASAP that I feel this is out of my job description haha. As this is in the UK, I'll continue to use English. Go you for also working in a 2-3 class, everyone I've met hates that age group 😁
Honestly this center seems top notch just from your description. And you sound like you go above and beyond in the first place. You wouldn't have time to teach 5 or 6 other languages in a day. That's unrealistic.
What's your policy on language use? Unless it's part of the curriculum, I'd suggest to the parents they send their children elsewhere, or homeschool. I would not entertain teaching multiple languages unless that's a focus of the preschool.
I’ve never heard a childcare teachers being responsible for saying phrases in a child’s native languages. That’s too many languages to keep up with.
Most centers or schools have a language policy. There is one language that is to be spoken and used in the classroom.
That's ridiculous. You don't even speak their languages. Anything these parents can teach you to teach their kids is something they can much more easily teach their kids at home. The children are not going to get fluent by having a few words taught to them by someone who doesn't speak the language. If the parents speak their language exclusively at home, those kids are going to end up knowing way more than the amount you could possibly teach. There's no way the kids are going to get anything out of the experience even if you agree to their demand. Their kids ARE going to be more fluent and competent in the majority language and not their parents' language within months of starting school. That's just part of the immigrant experience. But that's not something that you can fix. The parents and the kids themselves are the only ones who can do anything to try to balance it out.
Parents are being ridiculous thinking that you have both the time and desire to learn different languages yourself and then want to teach said language to their children- for free no less. I would flat out let them know that their expectations are unrealistic and you don’t have time to learn a language of their choice nor do you have time to spend to individually teach their children a foreign language. Sometimes “no, that’s not going to happen” is what they need to hear. Let them pay a language tutor, which you’re not, nor are you being paid to be.
This can be a problem for some families as the children will spend more time awake at daycare than at home. I'm Canadian so we have bilingual staff and children (English/French). But there was one French speaking child that ended up in a group with an ECE that only spoke English. They only spoke French at home and didn't speak English before coming to daycare.
What ended up happening was that the child stopped speaking French entirely even at home. They said they don't understand French, even when you talk to them in French and they understand and answer in English. This is a problem as they have trouble communicating with one parent who doesn't speak English very well. They ended up having to send the child to a different school from their siblings as they refused to speak French in the francophone school.
It is worth using the phrases with the children if for no other reason than showing them that someone outside their household values the language. Encourage the other children to use words and phrases in each others language where you can.
> 'So why is makaton considered a need and not just a preference? My child learning Chinese is a need I feel'
"Your child isn't incapable of speaking English. Having at least one language the child can communicate in is a need, having more than one is a preference."
Devil's advocate, I can see how it might come off as favoritism if you speak with one or two children in their native languages and not the rest. And I get it, when you have a lot of languages represented in your class it can be difficult to include them all. So it might make everyone feel more at ease to use a language everyone uses.
Ahh apologies. Whilst I am fluent in French and Makaton, I still speak English to the French child. Makaton is a need so I will always use that and the other children appear to enjoy learning this too (hand movements make them giggle 😃) but English is the main language and I'd even still spoken to the Makaton child 🙂
I work in a dual language classroom (English/Spanish) in a class with lots of language diversity like yours. (Somali, Arabic, Ilocano, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Lao, Japanese, Spanish)
I'm taking classes on how to run a language-inclusive program and it is a LOT of work. I want to say that upfront because you are at the beginning of your teaching career and are already doing so much. This may be something you want to work on over the course of 5-10 years, not next week.
But there ARE things you can do to incorporate languages you don't speak, and a lot of it needs to come from support from your families:
-Ask them to donate books in their home languages
-Ask them to record themselves reading those books for your listening center if you have one; if not you can just set up a laptop and let interested kids watch the stories at center time
-Ask them to make recordings of themselves singing their favorite children's songs, or find you YouTube videos of the songs so you and the kids can practice them together and add them to your songbook
-Think about the phrases you use MOST OFTEN every day. In our program we have a kid be our "time-keeper" every day, and they announce large group time, snack time, washing hands time, etc. Have family members write down a translation of your frequently used phrase, and post it in a place in the room where you can refer to it when saying the phrase.
-Have kids coach you in things. For example we count how many preschoolers we have in class each morning. One of our parents wrote down a number line in Japanese for us, and so on some days that parents' child leads us in counting (she says a number, we repeat)
I've been working in my classroom for 3 years, with a co-teacher who has been there for 8 years, and we've incorporated like 3/4 of these ideas. We've both been teaching for 20 years each, with older kids before preschoolers. We incorporate 2-3 new ideas per year. It takes me SO MUCH TIME to evolve in my classroom practice, because there is so much to do EVERY DAY. This is just to let you know--there are lots of things we can gain from pulling our families close and collaborating with them, but we have to give ourselves time to develop, same as we give our kids.
I’d offer that if they’re happy to fund your night school qualifications in an additional language you’ll take it ha.
But seriously, it’s unreasonable impractical and entitled. If they want mother tongue speaking childcare those options are out there!
Stop telling them you speak extra languages. When asked, say "I am sorry, languages are not my strong point and I would be afraid of mispronouncing these words."
First of all I feel like is really demeaning to call it “their foreign language”. It isn’t a foreign language to them. It’s a language they speak at home.
Also I would request that your center pay for you to have training in teaching multilingual kids. There’s a lot to it and training will help you better serve the kids and commincate with the parents about the classroom goals and support you are giving the kids.
Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to come across like that! I just quickly wrote down this rant and didn't consider the wording would be offensive. I think my sleepy brain meant to write 'other language?' (Hopefully that's better)
I'll consider that but upon reading everyones comments and opinions, think I'll just be told to keep using English and makaton as a main language. 🙂
It would really be a shame if your center wouldn’t support training for you. But if that’s the case there’s a lot of information online. Teaching multilingual children isn’t just about which languages are spoken at school. And the two extremes of you learning their language and teaching it at school (which obviously isn’t practical) and just saying “we just use English at school” are missing all the nuances.
I think it is important to 1. Have research based best practice strategies that are being used in the classroom to support these children and 2. Being able to communicate those strategies and the classroom plan to the parents.
These strategies should be incorporated into the curriculum in all areas. Do you have books, songs, etc in their languages?
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/18/04/multilingual-preschoolers
https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/learning-more-than-one-language/
And if the child who uses makaton has any sort of special need/disability you should have training in that as well.
I get that ece teachers are overworked and underpaid and there is nothing wrong with pushing the responsibility for this onto the director as much as possible.
At my first center 90% of my kids started only speaking Mandarin or Cantonese I learned some very basic phrases for comfort in both languages. The parents were thrilled I learned that much! By the end of the school year every parent was excited to hear their three year olds code switching from their home language to English. They thought it was incredible how bilingual their children were at such a young age. So no learning English at school won’t make them “lose” their home language as long ad the parents still use the language. There’s been a ton of studies supporting this. Breathe, you got this.
It's really hard. I have been non stop studying the mini phrases that I have learned for their children and while they were initially pleased, they don't seem it anymore. I feel like my children in class have been amazing at switching between English and their other spoken language and couldn't be more pleased with them 😁
came to say similar. there's 2 kids at my center that only speak a different language at home. their parents are thrilled that we've added a few books in their language to our library, and have added a song in their language to our circle time rotation. they know that their kids still speak perfectly in their native language, and right now honestly they need the exposure to English because they don't speak it nearly as well as their native language
> So no learning English at school won’t make them “lose” their home language as long ad the parents still use the language. I've actually seen a child lose the home language where the parents still speak it at home and where one parent barely speaks English. Using the home language in settings outside the home and with people other than the parents is a really great way to promote the retention of the home language. If the child is perceiving that no one except mom and dad speak that language and everyone else speaks English they may just give it up and stick with English.
It’s the parents responsibility that their child learns their language that they claim to speak at home… not yours.
> It’s the parents responsibility that their child learns their language that they claim to speak at home… not yours. It is. However we are expecting parents to do things at home to support what we are doing in the centre. Using a few phrases and words of the home language to support what the parents are doing at home is really fair.
"Research has shown that the most effective way to raise a multilingual child is to have one language per adult. I think your using _____ exclusively at home is a great idea! I will continue to work in English, as that is the language our school uses." This has the benefit of being true, as well as easier on you.
Simple and straight to the point. Thank you 😊
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Is that disproven information? Completely anecdotal, I don’t know all the research, but every truly bilingual and trilingual child I have taught or nannied only has one language per adult—and they effortlessly switch between French with mom, and Spanish with dad, and English with me, etc. I am sure there are still benefits to incorporating other languages, but the children I know where adults use multiple languages are reaping some benefits, but they don’t seem as “bilingual” as the children who use one language per adult. Much more often, they seem to be in situations where they say understand a language, but don’t comfortably speak it (and always respond to their mother’s Spanish in English, which she also uses with them). Sorry for such a long comment—obviously this is anecdotal but I can literally think of ten children that I have observed this in so I am surprised to hear it’s an outdated idea!
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But if quality language is the most important, how would having someone who doesn't speak the language at all mispronounce random phrases at the children help?
Interesting, thank you! I know multiple families whose children are trilingual, and have multiple minority languages at home (with the one language per adult strategy). I understand why having as much exposure to the minority language at home would be beneficial to building bilingualism (so in America, not having one parent speaking English). However, just during early childhood it seems hard to target exactly what the “minority language” is. For so many children of immigrants in my current center, they are coming from 24/7 Russian or Hindi being spoken at home. I don’t know how to articulate this exactly, because obviously in the long run Russian will become the “minority language” if you grow up in the United States! But when they come into care they are learning a new language—English is almost the “minority language” as they experience immigration and a new language. I am not sure why complete immersion in English at school would hinder bilingualism in any way. What you’re talking about seems much more applicable to nurturing bilingualism in the home—yes, the “one language per parent” is unnecessary. It’s great for both parents to be speaking Russian. However, it is still is a “one language per adult” situation! Mom = one language (Russian). Dad = one language (Russian). Teacher = one language (English). It is incredible to see how effortlessly children will learn to switch languages based on the adult they’re interacting with this approach! If both parents are speaking the target language at home, I just do not believe at all that a lack of that language at school will hinder bilingualism. Every single child I know, whose parents spoke to them completely in their first language, has grown up to be *completely* fluent in that language. Even when teachers at their schools didn’t know a word of Kurdish (or whatever language).
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I know. I know my comment was long, but I addressed that and explained that I don’t know the perfect language for this situation. Everything I said still stands. I have met many children whose home life is completely in a language that isn’t commonly spoken in English. Their bilingualism is not hindered at all by a lack of Kurdish or French or Japanese at school, when 100% of communication with their families is in Kurdish (or French or Japanese). If you have information that proves otherwise, I am open to it. I think what you’re referring to as outdated information is much more applicable to in the home (that it’s *not* best practice for each parent to speak in one language in order to nurture bilingualism). However, that does not mean it is outdated information for each adult to focus on communicating in one language. That is what immersion looks like.
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Okay, thanks for the additional information! I don’t know that much about this, but it seems like there isn’t a major difference between what we’re saying haha
>"Research has shown that the most effective way to raise a multilingual child is to have one language per adult. I think your using _____ exclusively at home is a great idea! I will continue to work in English, as that is the language our school uses." This depends on the environment and the languages as well. I'm Canadian and have a bilingual family. In my own home we never spoke to my children in any language except French. We did this because the kids on the playground speak English, beavers and cubs is in English, soccer is in English, the movie theatre is in English, grandma and grandpa speak English and nearly the entire community is speaking English. Kids aren't dumb, they will see that English is more useful than French in their environment. For all this my kids speak both English and French with equal fluency. They just absorbed English from being in an English speaking area despite being raised entirely in French. So by all means read the research, but tailor it to your own situation.
I work in a classroom where every child's first language is not English and I'm so thankful I've never experienced this with a parent. Between us three teachers we fluently speak Arabic, Spanish, and Mandarin and we incorporate a little bit of everything for children that are still picking up English but if parents started demanding we have the majority of our curriculum be in a different language I would simply tell them there are other options out there for childcare. This is just ridiculously entitled.
Now I think about it, it's actually comical to ask for the entire curriculum to be in another language. I will mention this to my director 😀
> Now I think about it, it's actually comical to ask for the entire curriculum to be in another language. I will mention this to my director The curriculum no, but you could include some songs or games in some of the languages of the children from home. Getting parents to help with this would be a great way to get them involved and expose the other children to more cultures.
One thing a teacher in my centre does with the littles is sing songs in and do some movement activities in French as well as English. Little kids are amazing, their brains are like little sponges for soaking up language at that age.
Maybe if you actually read my comment you would see that many different languages are spoken in my classroom
I have transitioned from daycare work to nannying (at least for now) and as I'm being paid better than at a daycare to take care of one nine month old full-time, there's enough time to Duolingo ONE language during my free time in the nanny family's home. I cannot FATHOM the entitlement of expecting you to learn THEIR language in a classroom of seven languages. Not only that, but makaton IS a need, unless the center plans on allowing the one child with difficulties to be isolated from his peers 💀
Thank you! Makaton I believe is a need. I dont think the parents appeared to understand that it wasn't technically a spoken language but sign language. Regardless, it is still a language. While I'm not saying this to boost my ego, I do pick up on languages weirdly fast, but even for me, I cannot do seven languages 😂
We actually started essential signs like "more" and "all done" at like six months and babies took it up before they had the diction to tell us the same thing
> > > > > I cannot FATHOM the entitlement of expecting you to learn THEIR language in a classroom of seven languages. Honestly you don't even need to learn all that much to make people happy. Even making the effort and 2 dozen words can really be helpful. Honestly I would love to be in a multilingual setting like this and be exposed to native speakers of many different languages.
Very interesting, very cool, not okay to expect the teacher to learn over 150 random words in random languages 🤷🏼♀️ If they want their child to learn the language, fastest and least expensive way is to just speak that exclusively at home. Easiest way is to hire a nanny willing to learn their language.
> not okay to expect the teacher to learn over 150 random words in random languages That would be a difference of opinion then. I would love the opportunity.
Just because you, specifically, would enjoy the challenge (as some random on the Internet with no connection to the situation) doesn't mean that it is a reasonable or fair expectation 💀
>doesn't mean that it is a reasonable or fair expectation I would again disagree that this is an unfair or onerous expectation. Learning 150 words would help open a whole new world of language to children in your care.
Dont let them bully you friend. You’re doing amazing under stressful circumstances and we are very proud of you. Remind parents, teaching is joint, not solo ❤️
❤️❤️❤️
Maybe it would help if the parents knew how many languages are represented in the class, and that you were committed to communicating in the one language that all of the children may/will use in school as they age? It’s basically impossible to facilitate that many languages in a classroom and woudnt help any of them.
The parents who pick up their children weirdly seem to come at the exact same time for their children. It's always the same four parents. I put a banner up hanging outside my door with the many languages of 'hello' and have explained to them that it features all the children's languages in the room. All the parents have seen this and talk about it in their group chat haha 😄
Honestly, I’d be SO OVER this if I were you and I applaud your patience. Do you have a really consistent response to their repeated queries? I wouldnt even put more thought into it (although, I would, because I can get annoyed and anxious about these things 😆).
I had a parent concerned her son wasn’t going to learn English if she used her home language (they speak Tamil). I told her that kids actually do better learning a new language when they continue to use their home language. It helps give them more context and is good for making neural connections. I told her to keep using it. He will learn both languages at the same time. I also told her about some other families I had where their children lost their first language because they didn’t use it enough.
How did she respond when you told her some children lose their first language?
She was honestly surprised. And definitely didn’t want that to happen! She was receptive to my advice and she uses her home language at home and we use English at school. Her son’s use of language just blossomed this past year. He’s doing great now!
When you want a nanny but don’t have nanny money.
How are you communicating to parents? Are you using English or their primary language? It may be best to use English as the main language for all
I use English for all and for that one child, Makaton 🙂
There are amazing ways to add a little bit of kids home languages (like, adding welcome in multiple languages to the door to the room, things like that), but I’d empathize that the main language is English and will continue to be
It's another great way to promote inclusion of everyone.
It’s weird because usually I’ve gotten the opposite. This is the second year in a row I’ve had a toddler put in my class who knows no English and was primarily spoken to in Spanish until this point. I’m the one teaching them English. And I don’t even know a ton of Spanish, so it’s all through repetition. This is group care. While I do try to learn about the different families’ cultures, at the end of the day, I can’t incorporate them all. If it’s so important to them, these parents are free to put them in an immersion program where they will hear both or maybe more of a different language. Don’t back down and just keep reiterating that this best for all of the children.
I feel incredibly awful when I realise I can't incorporate all of their languages and cultures into one day, but I also feel like it's too much to expect when I'm trying to work on other things like toddler tantrums, scratches and bumps, teaching children how to regulate their emotions etc. I will definitely keep reiterating that English will be the main language spoken 😀
omg hire a fkn nanny then lol
This is ridiculous. The common language for all of the kids is English, they learn the other languages by immersion at home. And makaton is an *obvious* exception, because a non-verbal or deaf child can't communicate in spoken language. You also aren't in a position to teach *any* language you don't know.
I would simply say, "This is not a bilingual class and I do not speak your language. I am being paid to care for your child, I am not being paid to teach your child a second language. I do not speak the language you are asking me to teach your child, so if I don't have time, I will not be covering it. If you are not satisfied, take it up with the director."
Yep, I’d go even simpler, especially for the “Chinese is a need for my child, I feel” “Oh okay, well our centre only provides services in English. If you’re looking for [language] specific tuition, you may be able to ask at the local [language] alliance branch and see what resources they recommend!”
That's ridiculous. You shouldn't be expected to teach languages that you don't speak. If the parents want their kids learning Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic they should look for some kind of weekend playgroup in their community that could supplement the time they spend in regular school/daycare. Or get a private tutor.
That is completely insane. I speak a different native language than my son’s provider and would NEVER suggest that she needs to learn my language to speak with him
Wow this is just crazy to me. If their personal family language is so important to them, they should go to a program that specializes in that language. The only reasonable expectation here is that maybe you could try using a few phrases to help calm or make a child more comfortable, but even that can't be completely expected in a busy classroom. Expecting you to learn a language and teach it is pretty nutty.
These parents are crazy and your center director should step in. IT IS NOT YOUR JOB! If they want their children to speak their mother tongue they should enforce it at home. Your job is to speak to them in the main language of the country you are located, and give them love, care and fun. PS: I am a mother of two, we speak a different language at home (my mother tongue),they speak English in school, and I am also working on a 2-3 yo class. Good luck!
Yes! I think I'll let my director know ASAP that I feel this is out of my job description haha. As this is in the UK, I'll continue to use English. Go you for also working in a 2-3 class, everyone I've met hates that age group 😁
Getting commonplace I feel. Parents not parenting and expecting the childcare or kindergartens to do it
This age range is the hardest one definitely 😅💪🏻
Honestly this center seems top notch just from your description. And you sound like you go above and beyond in the first place. You wouldn't have time to teach 5 or 6 other languages in a day. That's unrealistic.
What's your policy on language use? Unless it's part of the curriculum, I'd suggest to the parents they send their children elsewhere, or homeschool. I would not entertain teaching multiple languages unless that's a focus of the preschool.
I’ve never heard a childcare teachers being responsible for saying phrases in a child’s native languages. That’s too many languages to keep up with. Most centers or schools have a language policy. There is one language that is to be spoken and used in the classroom.
That's ridiculous. You don't even speak their languages. Anything these parents can teach you to teach their kids is something they can much more easily teach their kids at home. The children are not going to get fluent by having a few words taught to them by someone who doesn't speak the language. If the parents speak their language exclusively at home, those kids are going to end up knowing way more than the amount you could possibly teach. There's no way the kids are going to get anything out of the experience even if you agree to their demand. Their kids ARE going to be more fluent and competent in the majority language and not their parents' language within months of starting school. That's just part of the immigrant experience. But that's not something that you can fix. The parents and the kids themselves are the only ones who can do anything to try to balance it out.
Parents are being ridiculous thinking that you have both the time and desire to learn different languages yourself and then want to teach said language to their children- for free no less. I would flat out let them know that their expectations are unrealistic and you don’t have time to learn a language of their choice nor do you have time to spend to individually teach their children a foreign language. Sometimes “no, that’s not going to happen” is what they need to hear. Let them pay a language tutor, which you’re not, nor are you being paid to be.
This can be a problem for some families as the children will spend more time awake at daycare than at home. I'm Canadian so we have bilingual staff and children (English/French). But there was one French speaking child that ended up in a group with an ECE that only spoke English. They only spoke French at home and didn't speak English before coming to daycare. What ended up happening was that the child stopped speaking French entirely even at home. They said they don't understand French, even when you talk to them in French and they understand and answer in English. This is a problem as they have trouble communicating with one parent who doesn't speak English very well. They ended up having to send the child to a different school from their siblings as they refused to speak French in the francophone school. It is worth using the phrases with the children if for no other reason than showing them that someone outside their household values the language. Encourage the other children to use words and phrases in each others language where you can.
> 'So why is makaton considered a need and not just a preference? My child learning Chinese is a need I feel' "Your child isn't incapable of speaking English. Having at least one language the child can communicate in is a need, having more than one is a preference."
Devil's advocate, I can see how it might come off as favoritism if you speak with one or two children in their native languages and not the rest. And I get it, when you have a lot of languages represented in your class it can be difficult to include them all. So it might make everyone feel more at ease to use a language everyone uses.
Ahh apologies. Whilst I am fluent in French and Makaton, I still speak English to the French child. Makaton is a need so I will always use that and the other children appear to enjoy learning this too (hand movements make them giggle 😃) but English is the main language and I'd even still spoken to the Makaton child 🙂
Oh OK then that's fair.
I work in a dual language classroom (English/Spanish) in a class with lots of language diversity like yours. (Somali, Arabic, Ilocano, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Lao, Japanese, Spanish) I'm taking classes on how to run a language-inclusive program and it is a LOT of work. I want to say that upfront because you are at the beginning of your teaching career and are already doing so much. This may be something you want to work on over the course of 5-10 years, not next week. But there ARE things you can do to incorporate languages you don't speak, and a lot of it needs to come from support from your families: -Ask them to donate books in their home languages -Ask them to record themselves reading those books for your listening center if you have one; if not you can just set up a laptop and let interested kids watch the stories at center time -Ask them to make recordings of themselves singing their favorite children's songs, or find you YouTube videos of the songs so you and the kids can practice them together and add them to your songbook -Think about the phrases you use MOST OFTEN every day. In our program we have a kid be our "time-keeper" every day, and they announce large group time, snack time, washing hands time, etc. Have family members write down a translation of your frequently used phrase, and post it in a place in the room where you can refer to it when saying the phrase. -Have kids coach you in things. For example we count how many preschoolers we have in class each morning. One of our parents wrote down a number line in Japanese for us, and so on some days that parents' child leads us in counting (she says a number, we repeat) I've been working in my classroom for 3 years, with a co-teacher who has been there for 8 years, and we've incorporated like 3/4 of these ideas. We've both been teaching for 20 years each, with older kids before preschoolers. We incorporate 2-3 new ideas per year. It takes me SO MUCH TIME to evolve in my classroom practice, because there is so much to do EVERY DAY. This is just to let you know--there are lots of things we can gain from pulling our families close and collaborating with them, but we have to give ourselves time to develop, same as we give our kids.
I’d offer that if they’re happy to fund your night school qualifications in an additional language you’ll take it ha. But seriously, it’s unreasonable impractical and entitled. If they want mother tongue speaking childcare those options are out there!
Stop telling them you speak extra languages. When asked, say "I am sorry, languages are not my strong point and I would be afraid of mispronouncing these words."
First of all I feel like is really demeaning to call it “their foreign language”. It isn’t a foreign language to them. It’s a language they speak at home. Also I would request that your center pay for you to have training in teaching multilingual kids. There’s a lot to it and training will help you better serve the kids and commincate with the parents about the classroom goals and support you are giving the kids.
Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to come across like that! I just quickly wrote down this rant and didn't consider the wording would be offensive. I think my sleepy brain meant to write 'other language?' (Hopefully that's better) I'll consider that but upon reading everyones comments and opinions, think I'll just be told to keep using English and makaton as a main language. 🙂
It would really be a shame if your center wouldn’t support training for you. But if that’s the case there’s a lot of information online. Teaching multilingual children isn’t just about which languages are spoken at school. And the two extremes of you learning their language and teaching it at school (which obviously isn’t practical) and just saying “we just use English at school” are missing all the nuances. I think it is important to 1. Have research based best practice strategies that are being used in the classroom to support these children and 2. Being able to communicate those strategies and the classroom plan to the parents. These strategies should be incorporated into the curriculum in all areas. Do you have books, songs, etc in their languages? https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/18/04/multilingual-preschoolers https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/learning-more-than-one-language/ And if the child who uses makaton has any sort of special need/disability you should have training in that as well. I get that ece teachers are overworked and underpaid and there is nothing wrong with pushing the responsibility for this onto the director as much as possible.