IDT in Preschool Settings with English-Language Learners

·       IDT Trend in one of the various settings (choose from Business and Industry, Military Education and Training Environments, Healthcare, P-12 Education, or University Setting). Choose one that you closely identify with, or one that you would like to work in. Describe the trend, provide two resources that provide more information on this trend and explain why these readings or resources stood out to you,  

The setting that continues to be interesting to me is the early childhood education setting. There is a controversy in the field regarding the influence of screen time on young children’s development.  Its either magic or dust (depending on who you read) in terms of enriching children’s exploration of literacy and math versus dulling their creativity and social skills.  I have starting volunteering at the Charlotte Bilingual Preschool (CBP), and the teachers and director are very interested in using interactive white boards to help build vocabulary for children whose home language is not English.  With that kind of project in mind, I wanted to see what the trend is in terms of IDT and bilingual learning with this young age group.  I think that the growing population of immigrant families with young children is a very important one to focus on in terms of early enrichment so that they are ready for kindergarten and all that the educational system can offer.  And if there is a way to use technology to provide access to English language proficiency for preschoolers, I want to be as informed as I can be.

There are many issues surrounding English language learning in preschools in addition to the question technology’s contribution to outcomes.  It seems that most preschools have children with various home languages and school systems just do not have the ability to spread credentialed English as a Second Language teachers out to all of the settings in which they are needed.  Furthermore, materials that are written in various languages for the preschool population are just not readily available. Research has shown that a bilingual approach to teaching preschoolers yields the best outcomes.  Instruction should be provided in the child’s home language so that the child can acquire the concepts as well as the vocabulary.  Combining vocabulary in a “bridge” approach seems to support children in learning a second language.  With this information in mind, I sought resources that might demonstrate a role for technology in bridging two language approaches.

I found two interested resources in this area.  According to Nemeth & Simon (2013), there are a variety of ways to use digital tools to enhance dual-language learners’ (DLL) opportunities in the preschool classroom.  These authors discussed methods to use digital cameras to capture photos of familiar items to create games in various languages.  They recommended creative digital storybooks using various types of available software.  Children use their home language to narrate the story and the teacher can use Google Translate or iTranslate to capture their stories in English.  The digital stories can be emailed home or used to Skype with relatives in the classroom setting thereby enriching all of the children’s experiences.  Another easy use of technology in these settings is to videotape children’s play to see their progress and persistence in English and their home language as they bridge the two “worlds” in the world of play.  One of the most interesting aspects of this resource was the survey study these authors did to find out if preschool teachers would use these approaches in their classrooms, and the found that more than half of preschool teachers surveyed nationally already use technology to support DLLs. 

In another article by Walsh, Cromer, & Weinel (2014), these researchers focused on using technology to provide a home-school connection with Spanish-speaking parents who themselves had low literacy levels in Spanish and English.  These researchers made bilingual DVD newsletters on a weekly basis to showcase children’s efforts at school.  The digital newsletters contained announcements, teacher demonstrations of literacy strategies, footage of children playing and learning, and messages from the teachers about how to practice some of the classroom skills at home.  I found this method of “inviting” parents into the classroom to be very powerful.  The researchers reported that parents enjoyed the DVDs and furthermore, the children enjoyed watching the DVDs with their parents while they talked about their experiences at school.  In a sense it created a way for parents and children to review the important lessons from the week.  It was even found that the children watched each DVD at least three times at home, furthering their exposure to the classroom lessons.

The trend of encouraging teachers to use various forms of technology in preschool settings with ELL and DLLs was interesting to me and I can imagine a variety of ways to build on these ideas with the CBP teachers.  Both resources emphasized the personalization of digital products, the use of digital products to connect home and school for your children, and the ease as well as the willingness shown by teachers to actually utilize these approaches were significant take-aways for me in investigating this trend of maximizing the use of technology for preschoolers who are learning English.

Resources

Nemeth, K., & Simon, G. (2013). Using technology as a teaching tool for dual language learners in preschool through grade 3.  Young Children, 68(1), 44-52.

Walsh, B., Cromer, H., & Weigel, D. (2014).  Classroom-to-home connections: Young children’s experiences with a technology-based parent involvement tool.  Early Education and Development, 25(8), 1142-1161.