Post 8: Literacy in the Early Years and English as an Additional Language: The Case of a British Int

Englezou and Fragkouli's (2014) article "Literacy in the Early Years and English as an Additional Language: The Case of a British International School” is interesting because it looked at being inclusive in the preschool setting. I was able to find comparisons between this article and the first blog post in looking at the MI theory by sampling auditory, kinesthetic, and visual lesson activities, among others.

This article was different from others in that it does not touch on working with parents, but only strategies that the teacher can use in the classroom.

The article is based on a study that investigates teachers’ literacy development methods used in British Preschools and focuses specifically on children having English as an additional language (EAL). Findings from teaching observations and from interviews with teachers present the techniques used in order to develop pupils’ literacy and oral language skills. The study supports professionals by shedding light on various inclusive techniques for facilitating the literacy development of a class with a significant number of EAL children.

Literacy in early years is extremely important for children’s development as language is the ticket to communication with people from their surrounding environment and provides opportunities for extended learning.

The key points from the article that I found most beneficial are as follows.

I took these photos when we visited Michelle Dizy's preschool class at École St.Mary school in Regina. I thought it would be a god example to show as the painting and drawing aspect. There is also clay to do artistic expression through modeling with the hands. All of these art mediums are ways to get students talking about their piece in a way that they can best explain it, as it is their own creation.

I really enjoyed this article. It offered so many ideas, that were proven through research, really helped me see all of the different strategies I can use. This article had a lot to say about literacy, and I now agree that it is a very important part of language learning.

References

Englezou, E., & Fragkouli, E. (2014). Literacy in the early years and English as an additional language: The case of a British international school. Journal of Research in International Education, 13(1), 46-62. doi:10.1177/1475240914528851