Supporting the child with EAL in the early years: moving away from language

Learning Together

In this video, we visited the Early Language and Learning Lab in DCU which examines the ways in which early educational environments contribute to young children’s development and learning. Dr Sinéad McNally and her team, Ms Emma Reilly and Ms Christina O'Keeffe, share their knowledge and expertise on how to support EAL and how to create a welcoming environment for migrant children and families.

Chapters:
🟠 00:20 How can we be inclusive of children with EAL?
🟠 04:27 What’s the role of play?
🟠 06:24 How to support social emotional development of the child with EAL?
🟠 07:56 How do we engage with parents?
🟠 08:56 What’s the best way of supporting EAL development of the child?

Learning Together Education Network is a community of practice created by Mother Tongues for teachers and practitioners in education settings who are interested in the themes of migration, inclusivity, language learning and child development in multicultural families.

Mother Tongues provides training to family support services, early years practitioners and primary school teachers in relation to how to make the most of linguistic diversity in the classroom or given setting.

We recently conducted a survey and the overall results highlighted low confidence in supporting migrant children and their families. The aim of the Learning Together Network is to enable practitioners to learn and share successful practice for engaging with children and families from a migrant background to prevent educational disadvantage, potential misdiagnosis and social isolation in the long term. It is a space to meet other practitioners and experts in the sector, to learn about what is being done, and to identify what further support is needed and where the gaps are.

The Learning Together Education Network is a project funded by What Works Learning Together Fund, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

📜 What is Mother Tongues?
Mother Tongues is a social enterprise working to promote multilingualism and intercultural dialogue in Ireland.
We do this through three interconnected goals:
1- Educating and empowering parents and educators
2- Creating networks and support groups for multilingual families
3- Raising awareness of the benefits of multilingualism and intercultural dialogue for individuals and society

📩 Contact
For inquiries about our education programmes, email [email protected]
For general inquiries please email [email protected]
Website: https://www.mothertongues.ie/
Members Website: https://www.discover.mothertongues.ie/

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