Monday I proposed additional blogs about this critical situation for our young children. As stated, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2030 Latino children will make up twenty-five percent of the total student population in our country. Head Start is seeing this change beginning in 2007 with twenty-six percent of children enrolled in Head Start Pre-K programs that speak Spanish and are classified as dual language learners. Also, we learned from a recent Head Start report that these Spanish-speaking children come from different Latino countries, which means that translation and support can be problematic for Head Start teachers. Sadly, there are no solid research findings to inform us as to how children can maintain their native language and acquire English.

The Head Start Act of 2007 requires programs to try to support the “cultural backgrounds” of Head Start children. Children are to be screened within 45 days of enrollment to determine a child’s linguistic background. The Office of Head Start is providing language institutes and webinars to provide technical support for the programs. The University of North Carolina recently received a $4.5 million grant to open a dual language learner center for conducting research to provide answers to the methodology that should be used.

Lastly, a major challenge is hiring and retaining Head Start personnel who are bilingual. Some programs are paying higher and implementing ways to attract these individuals to Head Start. Many programs are addressing dual language learners in a variety of ways. I am happy to see the attention being paid to this very important issue. Let’s hope we obtain good research findings from the North Carolina center to make sure that what we are doing is correct.

By the year 2030, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that Latino children will make up 25% of the total school population. Twenty-six percent of children enrolled in Head Start Pre-K programs spoke Spanish in 2008. With the addition of other immigrant populations growing as well, early childhood teachers are facing challenges to provide English language instruction. In some cases, a teacher may have three languages other than English in their classroom.

Unfortunately, there is conflicting research on how to teach these children. Good solid research is desperately needed. In recent years, the dual language approach appears to be the answer while waiting for good research results. However, in the dual language approach there appears to be many different approaches. Interchangeably, some early childhood teachers speak English one day and Spanish the next. On the other end, some teachers teach English in the morning and using the same curriculum, teach Spanish in the afternoon.

During my blogs this week, I will be sharing more about this crucial topic.

Source: Maggie Stevens, Early Ed Watch