Around the world, school districts and institutions are exploring ways to provide quality education to their students. With this, there is a deeper need for multiculturalism in classrooms, as many students are from varying cultures and speak different languages. Early Childhood Education From an Intercultural and Bilingual Perspective provides emerging research on the use of play, toys, and games as tools for meaningful multicultural and bilingual education. By highlighting topics such as cross-cultural psychology, classroom management, and second language acquisition, this publication explores the importance of culture in games and play. This book is an important resource for educators, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the role of intercultural education in society and modern approaches to early education.

Through different approaches like toys and play, children explore and know the rules and symbols of their communities and recreate roles and situations that reflect their sociocultural and 21st century plurilingual world. As a result, they learn how to subordinate desires to social rules, cooperate with others willingly, and engage in socially appropriate behavior. When they are evaluated together psychologically, there is a current need for action to increase the amount and quality of play provided to children. Since discrepancies are observed between urban and rural areas, as well as among different cultures, there is also a need for a research initiative where cultures can learn and take advantage of the experiences of each other. International Perspectives on Modern Developments in Early Childhood Education is an essential scholarly publication that identifies ways of intertwining key areas of early childhood education, including international approaches, intercultural education, bilingual/plurilingual education, and the role of play and toys as means for meaningful intercultural and multilingual learning. By incorporating a view of different cultures, societies, languages, and educational experiences in early childhood education, this volume provides data for international and intercultural exchange for the benefit of children. Highlighting a range of topics such as educational systems, play therapy, and games, this book is ideal for early childhood teachers, educators, academicians, researchers, professionals, psychologists, sociologists, and students.

Ensure children of all backgrounds can thrive with an intercultural approach to early childhood education In a multicultural society such as Canada’s, early childhood educators work with children and families from a diverse mix of ethnicities, religions, languages, abilities, and lifestyles. Diversity enriches the experience of children and educators alike in these environments, but it can also present challenges in supporting each child’s growth and learning. In Introduction to Early Childhood Learning and Care, early learning specialists Carole Massing and Mary Lynne Matheson present an intercultural perspective as a foundation of equitable outcomes in early childhood education, but just what does that look like? An intercultural approach involves the respectful exchange of ideas between people from diverse backgrounds, leading to mutual trust and deeper relationships. Guided by a diverse team of reviewers, this book examines the concepts, approaches, and strategies that every early childhood educator needs to know to provide sensitive, culturally responsive care for children and their families. Topics include: - The theoretical bases for an intercultural approach to early childhood education and care - The factors that impact a child’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development - How to create environments that enhance children’s wellbeing and affirm their identity - How to support children’s creativity, literacy, and inquiry skills through an intercultural lens - The skills, responsibilities, and challenges of working as an early childhood educator

A child-centered curriculum that fosters; growth through the variations in culture that comprise a child's daily world. Promotes the home language as well as the learning of a second language.

Educating children and leading them towards the path of bilingualism is a valuable and challenging task for any educator. Effective language teaching can contribute to young learners’ cognitive growth, develop their problem-solving skills, enhance their comprehension abilities, and provide children with the satisfaction of succeeding in the challenge of learning a foreign language. All these issues must be taken under consideration when researching children and their teachers. The current literature indicates that further material is needed to provide professionals with different classroom situations and enhance the art of teaching children. Teaching Practices and Equitable Learning in Children's Language Education focuses on various perspectives of efficient practices, approaches, and ideas for professional development in the field of young language learners. The chapters in this book link the theoretical understanding and practical experience of teaching children languages by concentrating on teaching practices, material design, classroom management, reading, speaking, writing, and more. This book is designed for inservice and preservice teachers, administrators, teacher educators, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the field of early language learning and applied linguistics at large.

Using an interdisciplinary perspective to discuss the intersection of language development and learning processes, this book summarizes current knowledge and represents the most critical issues regarding early childhood research, policy, and practice related to young bilingual children with disabilities. The book begins with a conceptual framework focusing on the intersection between the fields of early childhood education, bilingual education, and special education. It goes on to review and discuss the role of bilingualism in young children’s development and the experiences of young bilingual children with disabilities in early care and education settings, including issues of eligibility and access to care, instruction, and assessment. The book explores family experiences, teacher preparation, accountability, and policy, ending with recommendations for future research which will inform both policies and practices for the education of young bilingual children with disabilities. This timely volume provides valuable guidance for teachers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.

This volume provides an up-to-date collection of key aspects related to current preschool bilingual education research from a socio-linguistic perspective. The focus is on preschool bilingual education in multilingual Europe, which is characterized by diverse language models and children's linguistic backgrounds. The book explores the contemporary perspectives on early bilingual education in light of the threefold theoretical framework of child's, teachers', and parents' agencies in interaction in preschool bilingual education. Five significant theoretical concepts are promoted in this volume: the ecology of language learning, an educational partnership for bilingualism, a notion of agency in early language development and education, language-conducive contexts, and language-conducive strategies. The volume examines preschool bilingual education as embedded in specific socio-cultural contexts on the one hand and highlights its universal features on the other. The book is a fundamental read for scholars and students of second language teaching, preschool education, and bilingual education in multilingual and multicultural societies.

As education becomes more globally accessible, the need increases for comprehensive education options with a special focus on bilingual and intercultural education. The normalization of diversity and the acclimation of the students to various cultures and types of people are essential for success in the current world. The Handbook of Research on Bilingual and Intercultural Education is an essential scholarly publication that provides comprehensive empirical research on bilingual and intercultural processes in an educational context. Featuring a range of topics such as education policy, language resources, and teacher education, this book is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, language learning professionals, principals, administrators, academicians, policymakers, researchers, and students.

"What is the state of multicultural education in child care centres in Western European countries? What should multicultural education in these centres look like? These are the two key questions addressed in this book. In this study the authors have analysed the state of multicultural education in child care centres in the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. The main situation considered here is the Netherlands where the recent and rapid growth of the number of child care centres, together with the growing numbers of immigrant children visiting these centres, have given a strong impetus to concerns about the quality of centre education from a multicultural perspective." "For centre staff, sensitive responses towards children and parents, as well as parental involvement, have become essential for managing cultural diversity in a way beneficial for both migrant and indigenous families. It is argued that defining and improving the quality of centre education from a multicultural perspective require discussions between staff and parents about educational goals and the means to achieve them. The book gives recommendations for improving the relationship between staff and parents by way of consensus building about these aims."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

By exploring the key issues, arguments and messages that exist in the field, Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Early Childhood provides an international, comparative look at aspects of early childhood education and care. Pedagogical practices, learning cultures and the professional development of practitioners are considered within the wider political agenda of different countries. Pertinent policy and practice issues, such as numeracy and literacy, are carefully examined. Theodora Papatheodorou and Janet Moyles highlight how important it is to engage with and listen to children, to provide positive learning encounters.