Three-year-old Nilufer and her mother were choosing two books to take home from our parent and preschool nursery school. Nilufer, whose first language was Turkish, picked up a bright board book with text written in Japanese. "But it's not one of the Turkish books," I said. "That's OK," said her mother, "she's going to read it to me, and she can't read Turkish either."

For many years now, the St. Jamestown Language Project nursery school has had a Borrow-the-Book program. At last count, it was operating in 11 languages, including English. We launched the program at our school's December holiday party back in the early '80s. Instead of the traditional stocking, each child was given a bright primary-coloured bookbag with his/her name in gold sparkle. Inside each bag was a book, carefully chosen for the child's age and cultural background.

Then, when "school" started again in January, there was something new: a library of books to borrow, take home and read with the family. We even included books for infants and toddlers. Not only were there good English-language books to borrow -- board books, story books and picture books -- there were books in Turkish, Japanese, Cantonese, German, Spanish, Gujerati, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Korean and Russian.

No, we didn't win the lottery. We simply discovered how the public library system could help us. Let me tell you how it works.

Originally, we got the idea for the Borrow-a-Book program from Linda Hart-Hewins, Jan Wells and Una Villiers of the Toronto Board of Education, who adapted the findings of the Belfield Reading Project (1981) in England for the Kindergarten/Primary program at Frankland Public School in east-end Toronto. It is no news now that children learn to read by being read to. However, 14 years ago, the idea was new, as were the report's findings that reading out loud to parents can be more important to the development of children's reading skills than practice in school. If, as reported, parents can learn to read by listening to their children read to them, can children learn to read by being read to, and by then reading to their parents? As a result, families with children in this class were asked to make a commitment to read two books to their children every night. Linda Hart and parent volunteers stitched up bookbags for every one of the children in her JK/SK/Grade 1 family grouping program. Every day, when a parent brought his/her child to school, the child and parent together would bring back last night's "homework" books and exchange them for two more books to be read together that night. The books were carefully screened for difficulty in reading. Families were to start with basic books and advance in difficulty as the child's reading level advanced. The school held a number of fund-raisers to purchase the books for the program. The result was that the children learned to read by leaps and bounds.

What were the implications of this for our nursery school? Our program offered English and orientation classes for immigrant and refugee women and their preschool children. The children in the nursery program ranged in age from infant to five years. Almost all had been born outside Canada and all had a first language other than English. We knew how important early reading was for all children, but most of the mothers could read only a few basic English words. And very soon the children would be leaving us to go to school.

Question: How could we help the children get ready to learn to read and love to read when their families could read only minimal English?

Answer: Start by providing books in their first languages.

But how? We were a community-based preschool with a small amount of government funding that couldn't be stretch to include buying lots of books. Good books, as we all know, are expensive. So I went to the local public library. What I discovered was that the main branches, one in Scarborough, one in North York and several in Toronto, had collections of children's books in many languages other than English. Even the small local branches had children's books in the languages reflected in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Ours, for instance, offered Greek and Cantonese. The librarians believed the books were there to be read and they said they'd be delighted to help us in any way. They were willing to lend our program bags full of books every two weeks. They even asked us to tell them exactly which languages we needed, so that when they spent the little funding they had for new acquisitions, they would be sure to be getting what the community wanted.

Within a few weeks, mothers were exchanging books with each other and translating so that they could tell the stories in their own languages. The children, like Nilufer, simply chose books with bright pictures that appealed to them. Often, they also selected the English books that I had read to them that morning. (Whenever possible, I would sign out multiple copies of these favourites from the library because everybody wanted to take them home.) We also made trips to the local library and obtained personal cards for all the children. We only took a few children at a time so that the visits would be special. And so our enjoyment of books grew and grew.

Bilingual Literacy

Why do we think it is so important to support the development of pre-literacy skills among preschool children whose first language is not English? Because a child who lives in a world with two languages needs to be able to grow and learn in both languages, which obviously includes reading in both languages.

The Family -- Wong-Fillmore (1991) has shown us that children who come to an English-language preschool or child care program usually learn English instead of rather than in addition to their first language. This is referred to as subtractive bilingualism. If children "forget" their family language, they cannot communicate with their parents, their extended family, and, especially, their grandparents. This is a high price for families to pay for sending their child to child care -- the possible loss of the ability to transmit their culture and values, and the loss of the connection between generations.

Reading or telling stories to our children is one of the best ways for this communication and connection to take place.

Self-Image -- What is the message conveyed to children if their families' language is not reflected in the world in which they live? What will happen if they don't hear their home language spoken, don't see its calligraphy or script, don't even hear its music? If children hear their parents switch to English whenever they are outside the home, whether or not they speak it well, then they may grow up thinking that their home language is second class, that their parents don't belong in their new school world and that they themselves are not as good as the other children. Teachers have a crucial role to play here. It doesn't matter if you don't speak a second language. It is your attitude towards language that counts. Because your opinion is so very important to the children's development of values, it is essential that you respect and value their language by reflecting it in your classroom. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is through books.

Language Development -- Teachers must tell families that their children need to hear stories in their own language. In the Heritage Language Bulletin, Jim Cummins points to research showing that bilingualism can help children do very well in school, in fact to out-perform monolingual children on both linguistic and educational tasks. Skill in their first language can actually increase their language abilities in English. He goes on to say, however, that "for children to experience these beneficial effects of bilingualism it is important that both their languages continue to develop. Children who can read and write as well as speak two languages have a major advantage, not just in school but also in finding jobs after school" (Cummins, 1985).

As educators, we are in the lovely position of being able to help to educate bilingual children, with most of the work being done by the family. The more we help them develop their home language, the more successfully they will acquire high levels of English language skills. If we are able to help the family to "set the tone" for first language development, our influence will be felt in their children's education for many years after they have left child care.

Building Literacy Skills in the Child's First Language

Suggestions for Child Care or Preschool Programs

• Encourage the children to use their home language in play, especially "pretend" play.
• Fill your centre with books in all languages, but use your good ECE skills to evaluate for suitability. Even if you can't read the words of a book you can assess the illustrations and length. Parents can help screen books if you ask. So can your local children's librarian. Library books will be labelled by the language, so that you can tell if it is written in Chinese or Japanese, Gujerati or Hindi, Spanish or Portuguese.
• Children's books will often be donated to your centre by community associations, churches, synagogues or mosques; or by relatives here or in other countries. Often these books have been outgrown by older children. Ask the families to help make these connections.
• When you purchase books, try to find bilingual or multilingual books, such as the Hand in Hand: Multicultural Experiences for Young Children series. They will have a simple text in more than one language, so that you all can share the same book. A parent or other community member may be able to help you translate the text of some of your books onto self-stick labels. Add the corresponding label(s) to each page.
• Put up a few words in each family language on your bulletin board. Start simply with "Hello" or "Welcome" and then progress to phrases. Your local Board of Education or Citizenship Office may have some common messages and announcements translated into several languages.
• Ask the families in your centre to look for calendars that reflect their culture and/or religion and the script of their language. These are often available near New Year's or other special celebrations, which come at many times of the year: in January (Chinese/Vietnamese New Year), September (Rosh Hashanah), October (Diwali), March (Now-Ruz), etc. Calendars are useful tools for children.
• If the families help in gathering boxes and cans for your housekeeping centre or store, the packages will reflect the foods they eat at home, as well as the script of their language.
• Translate your parent information letters into the languages needed by your community. These are standard letters that will be used many times, so the expense will be worthwhile. Boards of education usually have lists of approved translators. It is very important to show that you respect the parent's need to understand your program.
• Read and read and read some more. Don't force children to listen to a book, but make both books and yourself always available. Favourite books can be read on tape and, if family members read some books in other languages for you, ask them to ring a bell when it is time to turn the page, just as you do when taping a book in English.
• Show how important writing is by doing it. Write notes to other teachers that the children can deliver. Put lists on the wall and check them off as they are done.
• Provide writing materials that are child-accessible, including menu forms in the restaurant area and grocery lists in the housekeeping corner.
• Collect stamps from other countries. Perhaps children can bring envelopes from their family mail at home and deposit them into a mailbox. After talking about the stamps and where they came from, you can use them to make simple cognitive games, such as lotto, bingo and memory cards.
• Gather reading and reference materials from all sources: magazines, car repair manuals, architecture journals in the block area and cookbooks near the stove. All of these are available in other languages.
• Perhaps you can get a donation of a typewriter or computer (after someone upgrades). Encourage story writing. If you have a staff member, assistant or volunteer who speaks the other language, then the children can be helped to write in both languages. Of course, most of this will be "play writing" but, if you sit and help, the discussions will be wonderful.
• Make your own books, using children's artwork and photographs of your classroom and community. Translate simple captions or text.

In the Home

• Read and tell stories to your child in your first language. Stories include your own family saga, where you are from and funny things that people have said and done.
• Borrow books from the child care centre or the public library. Take your child to get his or her own library card. Even infants and toddlers can have a library card. It's free. Ask the librarian about books in your first language.
• If you still have relatives or friends in your first language country, ask them if they can send books for your child. After they are outgrown, consider donating them to the child care centre. If you travel, remember to look for books.
• Talk to your child in your first language and point out interesting things to them. Also read signs, labels and posters to them when you are out.
• Offer to translate simple books into your family's first language for the preschool or child care centre, either in print, on tape or by telling a story to the other children.
• When your child is old enough to register for elementary school, ask the school for information on Heritage Language or International Language classes in your first language.

If we talk to our children, point things out, explain things, tell stories and read stories, we will be getting them ready to read in both languages. By the way, a very special thing happened in our Borrow-a-Book program that first year. One of the parents learned to read herself, in both languages. Wasn't that a wonderful gift to give?

Merylie Wade Houston is the former coordinator of the Early Childhood Education program at Seneca College in North York, Ontario, where she teaches anti-bias education. For twenty years, she was the supervisor of several nursery schools for newcomer children under the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship. As a writer and a trainer, she was part of the development of the Multicultural Early Childhood Education - Kit and Training Program for the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services in 1990. Houston is a founding member of the Early Childhood Diversity Network of Canada, and has presented workshops and training sessions on second language development and bilingual education across Canada. Her most recent publication is "Bilingualism and Second Language Development" in Exceptional Children. Houston is currently on leave from Seneca College, working on Ph.D. studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

References

York, Stacey (1991) Roots and Wings: Affirming Culture in Early Childhood Programs. Redleaf Press, St. Paul, Minnesota.

This article appeared in Interaction (Spring 1995), published by the Canadian Child Care Federation.

Posted by the Canadian Child Care Federation, August 1997.

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