Abstract
This chapter presents a teacher education program that aimed to prepare early childhood educators and English language teachers to collaboratively introduce multilingual learning opportunities in pre-school education in Greece using English as a bridge-language among students' languages and cultures. The program, which was designed to support education policy that introduced the English language into the curriculum of Greek state preschools, had four goals. Firstly, it aimed to approach English as a bridge-language that can help promote multilingual meaning-making. Secondly, it encouraged the use of pedagogical translanguaging in order to support teachers to challenge prevalent monolingual instruction patterns and build upon the children's entire linguistic repertoires. Teachers were also trained in experimenting with and employing arts-based learning and creativity. These learning outcomes are illustrated in the chapter by drawing on teacher training materials and participant output, which provide useful data on the implementation and overall impact of the program.
TopThe Background Of The Program
The intensifying drive towards the early introduction of ELT in education across the world is associated with ongoing globalization processes (Stelma & Kostoulas, 2021) as well as discourses and policies that connect early language learning with multilingualism and intercultural awareness (European Commission, 2011). Early language learning programs are premised on the belief that they can help foster the development of plurilingual awareness and competence as well as to contribute to positive academic and cognitive outcomes (Bland, 2015; Kirsch et al., 2020; Scheffler & Domioska, 2018). However, concerns have been raised about such early language programs, which are often implemented before sufficient empirical evidence has been collected regarding their effectiveness (Pfenninger & Singleton, 2017). Furthermore, the expedience with which such programs are introduced often means that educational systems do not have adequate time to adapt appropriate methodologies, materials and teacher capacities (Enever, 2004). Moreover, the salience of English as the most widely taught language in early language learning programs (Eurydice, 2017) has also attracted critical attention (e.g., Pennycook, 2007; Phillipson, 1992, 2009).
The trend towards intensification of ELT provision is evident in the Greek education system. English was originally introduced in primary education in the early 1990s, and the starting age has been progressively lowered in every successive curricular reform since then (Kostoulas, 2018). In the 2020-2021 school year, a pilot program was implemented for the introduction of English in 58 kindergartens, which are attended by students aged 4-6 as part of compulsory education. Typically, in kindergartens in Greece, all educational activities are part of holistic thematic “cycles”, which are designed and implemented by an early education specialist. However, the pilot program stipulated that kindergartens would be visited by an ELT teacher twice a week for an hour of English lessons, co-taught by the two teachers (i.e., the early education specialist and the language teacher). Evaluative data about the program are still emerging, but as of the 2021-2022 school year, ELT was made a compulsory part of the curriculum across the country.
Key Terms in this Chapter
A multilingual, inclusive teaching approach: The development of inclusive, multilingual learning environments, by making the students’ home languages more visible in the class context, and by actively embracing and valuing linguistic diversity in language education. The focus is on ‘multilingualizing’ language teaching.
Plurilingual approaches: Approaches that facilitate interconnections between languages in class, by softening linguistic boundaries, aiming to develop a unitary plurilingual competence among learners.
Art-based learning: Music, singing, drama in education techniques, puppetry, dialogical drama with puppets, animating objects, visual arts, and other creative arts that can make English learning more enjoyable and interesting for young learners and that students to express themselves creatively during multilingual activities.
Translanguaging: A theoretical concept and a pedagogical approach to integrate languages in teaching through a holistic approach, by encouraging transfer across languages and by bringing the students' linguistic repertoires and identities to the fore.
English as a 'Multilingua Franca': English is introduced as a language that can be used to make links to other languages, especially the children's home languages and minoritized ones in order to support multilingual communication and translanguaging in class, drawing on all linguistic, semiotic resources the children have at their disposal.
English as a bridge-language: English is approached as a vehicle for multilingual and intercultural encounters in class, as a language that can act as a semiotic bridge to facilitate the contact and interplay among different linguistic and cultural resources (children's home languages, the school, foreign languages as well as 'invisibilised' ones).
Collaborative teaching: This refers to co-teaching models and opportunities for teachers: i.e. preschool and English language teachers, to jointly plan and implement activities in class thus building on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to form relationships based on trust, active listening, and a willingness to learn from each other.