Technology Enhanced Language Learning in Early Childhood: Competencies for Early Childhood Teachers

The Game: “Schlaumäuse – Kinder Entdecken Die Sprache”

The game “Schlaumäuse – Kinder entdecken die Sprache” [Children explore language] (Kochan & Schröter, 2006) is a learning game intended to help children to improve their use of the German language as a mother tongue or as a second language. Kochan and Schröter developed the game at the Technical University Berlin in the Computer Learning Workshop. The first kindergarten classrooms that adopted the game were located in social hot spots where there were a large number of children with German as a second language. For most of the children, the computer in these initial kindergarten classes was the only contact with ICT.

The population of children in early childhood settings is becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse, and these changes in demographics have warranted teachers becoming more culturally responsive and better prepared to work with different groups of children and families. This phenomenon can be observed as a characteristic of developed countries, especially in urban areas (Lim, 2009). The learning game is a possibility to bring children together with diverse language acquisition.