CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Introduction

Language development in young childrenECE 315Before children can learn to read or write English, they first must learn to understand and speak the English language through interactions. There are several ways that infants and toddlers learn language within the context of there environment (Gokee-Rindall, 2001). Caregivers will naturally attempt to communicate with children within their classroom in various ways, tone, gestures, and facial expressions all communicate messages (Gokee-Rindall, 2001). Children that are linguistically diverse will need an environment that they can communicate with others regardless of the language spoken by the others (Gokee-Rindall, 2001).

A caregiver should be natural with the linguistic child in a variety of ways by responding to their needs, establishing a warm relationship and providing them with a rich, interactive environment (Gokee-Rindall, 2001). However, if a child is within a daycare that is part of a school district, there are programs that will be offered to support the child in learning a second language.

One such program offered in schools is the ESL program, taught by specially trained teachers. This program ?focuses only on teaching English, the students first language is not considered, nor is it used in classroom instruction as teachers teaching ESL programs oftentimes do not speak the Childs language. One main challenge posed by this program is to develop and implement instructional strategies and techniques that foster the English language. ESL programs are usually found in schools where there is a wide linguistic diversity, without enough students with the same linguistic background (Otto, 2010).

The immersion program is another approach to teaching linguistically diverse children. In this a program, children are grouped according to their first language. Teachers in the immersion classrooms will be fluent in both languages. With this program, instruction in language arts is taught ...