This course book is the companion text for the Multilingual Learners course that focuses on building the capacity of educators in the early childhood field to be able to respond to the unique needs of children who are multi-lingual learners (MLLs), birth to age 5. Connections are made between research-based effective practices and program policies and systems currently in place to enable and empower educators to adapt their practices to meet these unique needs. Emphasis is placed on gaining a deep understanding of language and literacy development of children who are MLLs, in addition to an understanding of strategies that can be used to support learning in any content area.

Throughout the United States 11.2 million children, or 33% of all U.S. children under the age of 9, are considered dual language learners or multilingual (Migration Policy Institute, 2019). The rapid growth of this segment of the population creates a need for educators to expand and enhance their knowledge of child development and teaching strategies to include an understanding of first and second language acquisition, cross-cultural awareness, and MLL curricular supports. In this course you will be encouraged to actively engage in the content in ways that will serve you for the duration of your career. You will also have opportunities to apply the concepts you are learning by observing and working with children who are multilingual learners and their families in an early learning setting. During these times, you will have access to support from your instructor as well as fellow course participants.

Click on the following title to expand the ➕ and read more:

ABOUT THIS COURSE BOOK

This course book uses Pressbooks technology to provide the content that is viewed online as a webbook. In this webbook, links to external sources are marked with  and will open in a new browser tab.