Educating Young Children Volume 1 – Spring 2025 | Page 75

In our research and publications, we( the authors) focus on the early literacy experiences of children in biliteracy learning environments, where children read and write in more than one language. We also serve as assistant superintendents at the Freeport Illinois School District, where children enrolled in our district’ s bilingual program develop in their home languages and in English. In our roles, we support preschool and elementary educators as they intentionally align instruction with curriculum goals and honor children’ s linguistic assets, including during whole- and small-group experiences.

Here, we share examples from bilingual prekindergarten and kindergarten classes to discuss how educators can leverage the benefits of different formats to foster dynamic and inclusive learning experiences. While we focus on multilingual learners’ oral language development in this article, the instructional approaches we share can be used to address various content learning goals.

Emergent multilingual children do not develop their languages as two separate monolingual systems. Instead, the languages are interconnected, creating a range of skills and knowledge multilingual children can draw upon to make meaning. Each child’ s oral language development follows a unique path and requires authentic, individualized approaches.

Oral language development is an important component of an early literacy curriculum and contributes to future literacy learning and success for all children. For multilingual learners, research underscores the link between their oral language skills and their later reading comprehension. It also emphasizes the role of instruction. Promoting oral language skills requires intentional planning for both child- and teacher-directed experiences, including engaging discussions; songs, rhymes, and movement games; and strategies and materials like sentence stems, prompts, and open-ended questions. Educators can also observe and assess