"Look What We Can Do!" Planting Seeds for Creating Bilingual Early Learning Spaces

• In Event: Contra la Corriente: Cultivating Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Learning Spaces for Chicagoland Latinx Youth

Abstract

In this paper, we explore a pilot implementation of Look What I Can Do! Language-Focused Toolkit for Early Childhood Programs (LWICD), developed by WIDA at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, to meet the learning needs of multilingual children and their families. LWICD supports EC teachers in programs serving multilingual preschool children using an asset-based approach to early learning and language. It is a suite of tools and resources to help teachers take a language-focused approach to interactions with children, instruction, assessment, and family engagement. Specifically, drawing on Latino young children and their families, this paper examines how teachers use the tools from LWICD to promote equitable, language-focused relationships with Latino families, observe and gather information on bilingual children’s language use and development across various settings and over time, inform language-focused planning for culturally and linguistically sustained care and instruction, and facilitate the transition to kindergarten.

The study used a multiple case study method (Stake, 2006) in Illinois urban, suburban, and rural communities in settings that serve 3-5-year-old bilingual learners. Data collection included analysis of state policy, four virtual interviews, and two instructional observations with each participating teacher, as well as interviews with WIDA designers and developers of LWICD Illinois multilingual early learning policymakers, school/center administrators, multilingual children (primarily Latino), and parent focus groups. The Illinois case studies were a part of the larger Creating Opportunities with a Language-Focused Toolkit (COLT) project– a pilot study of EC teachers working with multilingual children in Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan. We analyzed data through qualitative coding (Saldana, 2016) and thematic analysis (Emerson et al., 1995) to describe teachers’ experiences using LWICD to support young Latino children’s learning, including language development.

This Chicago suburban case study illustrates what EC teachers can do to create bilingual early learning spaces by integrating LWICD tools with the existing resources from their program, along with their knowledge and skills in working with bilingual children. Ms. D, a teacher in a suburban site, described how the program’s curriculum fits well with LWICD “Creative Curriculum is good for working with the kids and LWICD is good for the parent piece.” Because she had a Spanish-speaking assistant and a Spanish version of the Creative Curriculum, Ms. D thought LWICD affirmed her existing practice and enhanced her communication with families. Ms. D used the state-wide Home Language Survey to identify bilingual children so LWICD’s Language Use Survey offered less than it might in another context, however, it helps her better understand Latino children and families. In fact, in other communities, the survey was an important resource for teaching practice. In this way, Ms. D used LWICD to create a line of communication with families, giving her a window into children’s homes and cultures as well as providing opportunities for her to share information with families. This helped her to understand family linguistic resources and provide culturally and linguistically sustaining education based on the information gained from Latino families.

Authors

• Fujiuju Chang, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Lorena Mancilla, Migration Policy Institute
  Presenting Author

• M. Elizabeth Graue, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author