As infant/toddler programs encounter growing diversity, they need to reenvision the impact they have on children and families in all areas of practice, from recruiting new enrollees to stocking classrooms to changing the ways adults interact with children and families with different languages and from different cultures. What happens on the first…

In this article, the authors discuss how Bennington College Early Childhood Center (ECC) developed a dual language program. In a dual language program, children are immersed in two languages throughout the day. Each classroom has two teachers, one speaking English, the other the second language exclusively. Children learn the second language in…

Over its 40 years, Head Start has evolved from serving a population of primarily Spanish-speaking English-language learners to working with children and families who speak more than 140 different languages. In some Head Start classrooms, as many as 10 different languages are used by the children. In other classrooms, a majority of the…

Explores the second-language learning process from the point of view of what early childhood educators need to know to understand and help young second-language-learners. Discusses types of programs for preschoolers whose home language is not English and the developmental sequence of second-language acquisition. Considers issues of supporting…

Describes the development and implementation of EL Paso Community College's model Intergenerational Literacy Project, which brings Spanish-speaking parents and their children together in the classroom in an effort to improve the two groups' literacy skills in English and Spanish. (BB)