Free Video: Dr Christine Parker on Multilingual Early Childhoods

Dr Christine Parker has been a professional educator for over 45 years, teaching children and adults within the early childhood and primary phases of education in England schools and Higher Education Institutions in England and Pakistan.

Her research specialisms have centred around Multilingual Childhoods and Early Years’ Leadership. Currently Dr Parker is engaged in longitudinal ethnographic research with family members on viewing young children’s play through a cluster of theoretical lenses within an Arts context; a small scale research project exploring early years’ leadership through poetic inquiry; and a series of research projects investigating themes around multilingual childhoods.

In this session, Dr Christine Parker looks at what multilingualism really means for young children, and shares ten pedagogical strategies practitioners can use to support and celebrate multilingual childhoods in their settings.

In this episode you’ll:

Discover why every child can be considered multilingual, and what that means for your confidence as a practitioner
Learn what the “silent period” looks like and how to respond to it with patience and skill
Explore ten practical strategies for supporting children acquiring English as an additional language
Understand how your environment, resources and outdoor spaces can support multilingual inclusion
Consider how your own cultural heritage can strengthen your practice with multilingual families

Watch this session for a fresh way of thinking about multilingualism, plus ten strategies you can put into practice straight away.