Ten things that you can discuss in class about another country if a child in your care is about to travel
30th March 2014
Dual language texts
21st April 2014
The use of children’s home language is another extremely important element of learning a language. Cummins highlighted that:
- “bilingualism has positive effects on children’s linguistic and educational development.
- The level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development.
- Mother tongue promotion in the school helps develop not only the mother tongue but also children’s abilities in the majority school language.
- Spending instructional time through a minority language in the school does not hurt children’s academic development in the majority school language.
- Children’s mother tongues are fragile and easily lost in the early years of school.
- To reject a child’s language in the school is to reject the child.”
Cummins, accessed April 2014