Assessing the Progress of English Language Development of Children Who Are Dual Language Learners in Head Start and Early Head Start Webinar

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Sharon Yandian: Welcome to our webinar "Assessing the Progress of English Language Development for Children Who Are Dual Language Learners." I'm Sharon Yandian, the Early Language Specialist at the Office of Head Start, and I want to welcome you to our webinar "Assessing the Progress of English Language Development for Children Who Are Dual Language Learners." As we begin, I want to introduce you to our panelists that I'm excited to have with us today.

The first is Dina Castro, who has many years of research experience working with young dual language learners, and she's currently the Director of the Center for Early Care and Educational Research for Dual Language Learners at the Frank Porter Graham Center in North Carolina.

Next is Ruth Reinl, who has over 20 years experience in the field as a teacher and as a support to teachers who work with children who are dual language learners, both those with and without disabilities. And she was most recently the Statewide Consultant for Pre-school Dual Language Learners in the state of Wisconsin. So welcome, Ruth.

Linda Espinosa -- you may have seen her on some of our other webcasts or webinars -- welcome. She is a well known expert in Early Childhood Education Assessment, as well as curriculum and working with children who are dual language learners. And her most recent book is entitled "Getting It Right: Applying Research to Improve Practice for Young Children From Diverse Backgrounds."

And welcome, Graciela Italiano-Thomas, who many of you have seen as our facilitator in this professional development opportunity series that we're -- that this webinar is a part of this year. She is an expert in Early Childhood Education and working with dual language learners. And, again, she will serve as our facilitator today. So welcome, Graciela. Graciela Italiano-Thomas: Thank you.

Sharon: You know, as we begin today, again, the focus today, you know, as you heard me say, is on English language development, which is one important part of getting children ready for school. I want to remind everyone that we have had other opportunities for learning about the progress, looking at the whole child in terms of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, most recently on our last webcast.

But today, we're going to zero in on English language development. Of course, it's all interrelated and interconnected, but, again, to focus right on the English language development is our purpose today. I want to remind everyone about the Child Outcomes Framework, which is where you will find those requirements on listening to, understanding, and speaking English, which is -- are going be our focus in terms of receptive and expressive language.

The Child Outcomes Framework, again, helps anchor us in terms of what we're looking at, what children know and can do overall, and, again, in the area of English language development, as well. I also want to remind everyone that as we're talking about children who are dual language learners, we need to remember that -- that our children are learning in these two languages in home -- in their home language and in English, and they're learning concepts in both of those languages.

However, they may be learning vocabulary terms in English as part of their Head Start day, in terms of the curriculum and the routine, and they'll have some words in Spanish and they'll have some words in English, or have some words in Somali and some words in English, and they may not be the same. And that's the -- part of our focus for today.

Lastly, you'll be hearing us talk about what you're observing for and how to use that information in your work with children. There are many individualized, standardized tests, such as the pre-ITP and the pre-LAS, that are often used for program effectiveness and funding, but are not typically used to inform instruction.

So today, though, our focus for this webinar is on that authentic observational assessment to help teachers understand where the child is in terms of English language development and be able to use that information to take that child to the next level in their learning.

Today, we'll be focusing on giving you the knowledge to understand the developmental process by which children learn in two languages so that you can use those tools, methods, processes that you have more effectively. In order to do that, you have to be able to understand what you're observing and use that information in your instruction.

Lastly, I want to remind everybody that this webinar builds on other webcasts and webinars in our Dual Language Learner series. While it's not necessary to have viewed the other webcasts and webinars, I do encourage you to -- to access those on the ECLKC if you've not done so already, and it will enhance your -- your learning today. So with that, I'm going to pass it to Graciela as we begin the first segment.

Graciela Italiano-Thomas: Great. Thank you, Sharon. Hello, everyone. Thank you to the panelists and the listening audience. We are getting ready to start our first segment, Getting to Know Children Who Are Dual Language Learners. In this segment, we're going to discuss the importance of getting to know the child and the family, and the different ways in which children learn in two languages. We are going to start with the first question. Why is it important to remember that children who are learning in two languages are children first?

Dr. Dina C. Castro: Good afternoon, Graciela, and everyone. To begin talking about that, though, answering to your question, I would say that it is important for every teacher to remember that children are -- I mean, to look at the whole child before even thinking about how children are in their process of learning English. So I think that's the most important part and responsibility in the early educator -- education setting.

I would -- I mean, we have to remember that children have particular characteristics regarding their temperament, what they like or dislike, and all the aspects of their functioning: social, emotional, physical development, and how they understand math concepts and science, for example. So we need to look into the whole child even before concentrating on their -- the child's language development as a dual language learner.

And why do this? Because if we go straight to looking only at their language development, then we -- then we might be just focusing on an area in which they are in the process of learning. So they may not be proficient enough in English yet, and therefore, we may get the impression that this child is having developmental problems or is not yet at the point or the expectation that we have for them.

Ruth Reinl: I agree. I think it's really important to remember that somebody has been raising this child, and talking to -- to the child, and singing to the child for a long time -- or a short time. But someone has been shaping that child socially, and that we can't forget that parents are the children's first teachers and the most important teachers.

They're with us for a very short time, but they're with their parents forever, and so the parents can give us a lot of important information about the child that we need to know before we're even looking at their -- their English language development.

Sharon: Yeah. You know, and I would say, also, that they can give us a lot of information around their language, but also, what -- what do they like? What is going to get us engaged with this child, who we may not be able to communicate with, you know, in terms of do they like trucks, do they like dinosaurs, do they -- do they like -- what do they -- what are their favorite colors?

Those things that -- you're trying to get that environment warm for that child, and so we -- we really need to tap into those things. Graciela: Well, you've already started discussing the -- the -- the answer to the next question. Why is it important to know about the language learning environments that children have been in before they come to Head Start or Early Head Start?

Dr. Linda Espinosa: Well, we always want to be mindful of the fact that children come to any setting with prior experiences in both their family and within their community. These children have strong attachments to important people in their lives, and they've formed those attachments through their -- their home language and through their family culture, and these things help define who they are as a person. That's already been developed before we ever see them in the -- in the early childhood setting.

Dr. Castro: And I would say, also -- I mean, following to what Linda just said, these children have had a variety of experiences in the home and, particularly talking about their language development, they may have been exposed to different -- a variety of linguistic environments. So there - there's not just one way. We tend to think that, okay, these children are coming to our program with -- you know, with not -- in the process -- being in the process of learning English, and we assume that they do not know anything about English.

For example, we may make that assumption when that might not be exactly true. They might be primarily speaking their home language at home with the family, but they may also have been exposed to English at home, let's say through conversations with their siblings, if they have older siblings that go to school.

There might be older adults in the -- in the home that are English speakers, or there's a combination between maybe one parent speaking one language, and -- and the primary language, or the other parent speaking English. So there are all sorts of combinations here that will definitely impact where the child is in the process of learning English when the child comes to our programs.

Sharon: That is very true. And I would say that's why it's wonderful for programs to think about using some type of language survey as they are trying to gather this information, because as they'll find out some information, as, Dina, you're talking about, in terms of what siblings -- are there siblings in the home, is there -- what language is the grandmother speaking versus one parent versus the other parent? And actually, I had the -- a recent experience of the reverse.

I was in a classroom observing, and a little boy there -- and I was talking with the teacher, and she said, "Well, we recently learned through quite accident that one of our children was from a Francophone country." But because he was in a program and there were a large number of African-Americans, and, you know, his mother was from Africa, from a Francophone country, and they didn't -- they didn't know that.

Dr. Espinosa: So, you know, and as we described in our -- in the last webcast, we also talked about this -- this -- that if you do language surveys or start communicating with families, that this opens the conversation. This is how we start to reach out and to engage parents in our family so that we start this two way process of both finding out from them and sharing with them so we're -- we're on the same page.

Ruth: Getting information from parents, they love to talk about their -- their child and it's just a perfect opportunity to have a family describe their child's language development. And that's critical for -- for programs to know about so that they can support that child in the program, and if there are ever any concerns along the way, that they have all of that information, and how they can meet those -- that child's needs. So they might be asking a parent if their child is speaking and listening like other children of that age.

If they have siblings, are they speaking and listening, how their siblings did, how their cousins are. And also, do they communicate their desires, can they understand one or two step directions? Different things, of -- just trying to get us a sample of where children are in their language. And parents are a great fount of information for that.

Dr. Castro: And in following on your thought, I think a very important piece to add is that parents can report on how children are doing all those things in their home language, and that would be -- that is okay because that's very important information. Ruth: That's critical.

Graciela: So why is it important for teachers to know something about the languages children have been exposed to and speak at home or outside of the environment where they are with the teachers?

Dr. Espinosa: Well, it definitely helps to know something about the home language as a language, and the similarities and differences between that language and English. For instance, if the -- if the family is speaking Mandarin Chinese at home, we know that this is a tonal language that has very different characteristics than the phonological structure of English. That's important to know as the child starts to produce English. In Spanish, adjectives come after the noun.

So instead of saying, "The big house," the child might say, "Casa grande." So these different -- these similarities and differences, either the words might sound the same and we can build upon that, or there might be very different grammatical structures that the child has already encoded and learned those grammatical features of their home language, and that might transfer, initially, as they're starting to use English.

So I think as teachers it's important for us, and, I'd have to also say, I think it's enriching for us to learn as much as we can about -- about the characteristics of that language the child's speaking in the home.

Sharon: Which also tells you something else, that the child is using the -- those linguistic resources that they have to apply to English, which is a very important thing to know because that is progress, and we'll be talking about that a little bit later. Graciela: Right, right. They are using what they know to say, "The house big."

Dr. Espinosa: Exactly! Exactly. And that's sophisticated. That's a sophisticated application of a rule system that they've learned, but they've very quickly learned. Sharon: One might think that is a mistake, but in true -- in truth, it -- it is not. It is the -- the process of learning English. Dr. Espinosa: Right. Graciela: So what are the different ways in which young children learn in two languages?

Dr. Espinosa: Well, what we know now is that there is a continuum of development that happens for all children. Researchers have described at least two ways, but primarily two ways in which children can learn different languages, either simultaneously or sequentially/successively. And this depends upon the age at which a child was first exposed to the second language and the amount and quality of that second language exposure. So we -- we shouldn't think about this as a linear process.

It's really -- it's really one of those, kind of -- more -- it's a little messier than that. Children might move in or out, might not be -- we might not be able to identify them as cleanly as a simultaneous or successive because these language environments are often mixed with different -- different types of exposure. So some children are what we call simultaneous dual language learners. These are children who learn one or more languages from birth, or during the first few years of their life.

So they're systematically exposed in a balanced way to two languages from the first year of life. This -- this actually is not that common because children tend to get more exposure in one language or another language, but -- but that doesn't mean that a child who enters your program might not be a simultaneous dual language learner.

It just doesn't occur as frequently as the next category, which is the sequential, or successive, dual language learners. And these are children who begin to learn an additional language after about two or three years of age, that is, after their first language has been well established. They know the grammatical rules, they know how -- the pragmatics, how to use the language. So they know a lot about language, and now they're adding on a second language, which is typically English in our programs.

Graciela: Ruth, can you give us some examples, yes? Ruth: Yeah. I'm -- I'm thinking, also, of -- of -- with simultaneous -- learning a language -- the languages simultaneously, sometimes we think that that only is -- is exclusive to one parent, one language. But there are many examples of young children coming into Early Head Start programs, parent visitation programs, where that child is -- has a home language of Spanish, Hmong, and then in the Early Head Start program the teacher's speaking exclusively in English.

So that would be another example of -- of a simultaneous learner, that they're learning both those languages if they're getting the same kind of input. Also, some children...

Another thing to remember is that Spanish might be their second language, that they have an indigenous language that they are speaking. Mexico has over 60 languages. I've had experience with these children. So Spanish is their second language, and now English is their third language. And so we need to be very sensitive to that, and not just assume that English is their second language, that they might have even a more rich linguistic base.

Dr. Espinosa: One other important point about this, particularly as children come into our programs, it might appear as though they're becoming very fluent very quickly, that they're very rapidly -- I mean, I hear this from teachers all the time, "Well, he already speaks English."

"Why -- why do I have to attend to or care about what's happening in the home language?" In reality, it takes many years to -- to develop the deep understandings of all of the features of a second language. While children might be conversationally and socially very adept and use the language very adequately in many different situations, in fact, all of the aspects of language learning are happening slowly, and -- and it will take several years.

Dr. Castro: Coming back to this, you know, the topic of simultaneous and sequential, I also want to mention that even though we will expect that most children, for example, coming to Head Start programs will be sequential, could be into this category of sequential dual language learners. Older children can also be simultaneous dual language learners because they may have been exposed to English earlier in -- in the home.

So it is important for us to find out, and not just assume, that because a language other than English is being spoken at home, these children are going -- the first experience with English is going to be when they come to our programs.

And -- and related to this is also the fact that we have to have in mind all the time that not all dual language learners are going to look alike, and that is very important.

There will be -- children can be at any point in this continuum of, you know, being proficient in two languages or just in learning one language, being, you know, one language being stronger than the other. So they can be at any point in this continuum.

Sharon: Yeah, and I think it just reinforces the importance of really gathering from the family information, you know, that we talked about a little bit earlier, in -- in all facets, and maybe more than once, because you can do that at the beginning, and then you can have a child in your program for, you know, a month or two. You -- you may need to go back and -- and probe a little bit more.

Ruth: And I think that that brings up a really important point about it's about building that relationship with the parent, and it's over time. I know in the experience I've had with other teachers, and with myself as a teacher, that information is coming out all the time over time. So it's never a one shot deal, gathering this information, at all, and important things are revealed. Sharon: Absolutely.

Graciela: Great. Thank you. Wonderful conversation. So what are the implications for assessing progress towards English for children who are very young dual language learners?

Sharon: Well, Graciela, I think with our very youngest dual language learners, I think it's important to remember that all children need home language support, but it's very important for our youngest in terms of their -- supporting their overall development -- social, emotional, cognitive -- and doing that in their home language.

These are important for healthy child development and the quality interactions in the home language. Lay the foundation for English language development. So that is the connection, that it is laying the foundations. And I will say that programs must do their very best to hire staff who speak the home language, but for programs that -- that don't or aren't able to do that, we understand that that is also true.

It's important to look for other ways to support that home language, and there are many ways to do this, which we've discussed in other webinars and webcasts. But the bottom line is that we need to respect, value, and support, and use home language.

And again, as Ruth just commented, relationships with families are key in all of this. So for our very youngest dual language learners, our focus should be on language development overall. When we're talking about documenting children's acquisition of English language skills, as we are today, we're really focusing on older children who already have developed skills in their home language and can already communicate verbally.

Graciela: Great. Thank you, Sharon, and thank you, panelists. We're now going to go to the takeaways for Segment I. Knowing the child and families' linguistic circumstances provides a critical context for understanding the child's English language development. For infants and toddlers, our focus should be on supporting loving, quality interactions in their home language.

And there are two different ways, more or less, in which children learn in two languages. Some are simultaneous dual language learners. These are children who are -- who are learning one or more languages from birth or at least within the first few years after birth. Others are sequential dual language learners. These children begin to learn an additional language after about two or three years of age. They enter Head Start with foundational abilities in their home language and are adding English to that foundation.

So these are the main concepts that we've tried to discuss in Segment I. And we are now going to ask you to stay tuned, to come back for our Segment II, in which will be discussing Observing and Understanding English Language Development in Young Children. And we are going to go through the -- the continuum of -- of -- of development in detail, and as usual, we're going to show you clips. So stay tuned, we're coming back. Thank you. [Music]

Graciela: Hello. Welcome to our Segment II: Observing and Understanding English Language Development of Young Children. In this segment, we will describe and provide examples of the developmental sequence of children who are learning English. We will provide illustrations of each stage along the developmental sequence and discuss implications for observing progress in learning English. So how can we describe the process of English language development for children who are dual language learners?

Dr. Castro: Well, Graciela, I think that first and -- I should say why we are describing this process. Graciela: Great. Dr. Castro: Understanding the process of English language development in children who are dual language learners is essential to assessment because you need to know what you are going to be observing.

In addition to that, of course, this information then will help you make the appropriate decisions when you are working with the children and supporting their development and learning throughout the -- their participation in the program.

Let's take a look at what this developmental sequence looks like. First, and many of the teachers who work with dual language learners, they have observed that children will go through these different phases or stages in the process of learning English.

First of all, when a child has not been exposed to English before, will come to the program and begin by using his or her home language to communicate because that's the only language they know and the language they have been using from birth to communicate with people around them. So that's natural for them to use their home language. However, of course, children will quickly find out that that language is not working. So it's not helping them in communicating with other people.

Therefore, if they do not have enough English at that point, they will decide that they better stop talking. So at that point, they go into this -- another stage, which is more -- what we call the observational or listening stage, in which children will be observing around, listening what people is saying, and learning. This is very important because children are learning English during this stage.

So it is -- it's very important. Even if they are not talking, they are learning. As -- little by little, as they feel more confident about their abilities, they will be trying out some of the words that they learned or learning. So at the beginning, that will be maybe one word or two word communication using, you know -- that's what we call telegraphic or formulaic communication.

They will begin by memorizing chunks of language that they will then use to communicate with other people, peers and adults, maybe phrases like, "I don't know," "I don't like it," those type of things.

And finally, until they will be getting into the final stage that's called productive language use, which is actually a huge stage because most of their productive development of English will happen. And that will be a gradual process, you know, that will affect children's vocabulary, learning of grammatical structures, learning of sounds in the -- in the new language, and learning of how to use this language. So we are going to be describing, you know, more in full each of these stages.

Graciela: Thank you. Thank you very much, Dina. Dr. Espinosa: It -- and it's important to remember in these first two stages, children are not using much English, so they're not producing English. But there's an active, receptive English language learning process going on during those first two stages.

So these are critical times during -- during that process of starting to understand and being able to use the -- the English language, but during the first two stages they're not producing much. And it's also important to remember that these stages overlap and they are not discrete. Children will progress at different rates through the stages and keep strategies from previous stages as they acquire new ones. So I like to think of them as waves. They go in, and they come out.

So even though they might be -- be producing one word English vocabulary words or using telegraphic speech, they're still probably doing an awful lot of observing and -- and watching, and absorbing the features of the language as they're moving into the higher stages. And so this is not a linear process where children just move through each stage neatly and cleanly. In fact, they -- they go back, they go forward, they go back. They -- they can be at a variety of stages depending upon what you're looking at.

Graciela: Thank you for -- for all the points you've made. It's very important then that teachers understand this, internalize it as they practice observing children going through these stages in their classroom, and with each child, they will learn some more and add that to their own repertoire. So let's -- let's go into this first developmental stage. What do we observe in children who are at this stage of using the home language in an environment where that is not the language that is being used?

Sharon: Well, Graciela, as we talked earlier about the home language survey, we will find that many of the children that come to Head Start really are coming with that home language predominantly, exclusively. So at this stage, we have to remember that when young children find themselves in that social situation where those around them speak a language different from the one they know, they have two options, really.

They can continue to speak the language they know, already know, or they can stop talking. Some children initially continue to speak the language they know, regardless of the language around them. Some may do it for a day or two, and -- and then they say, "Oh, boy, nobody understands me." Others will just keep right on. Again, it goes back to the temperament of the child. You know, we need to know all about the child. They may persist for longer periods.

And I think, you know, what's important here, and we're going to talk about it a little later, is how we respond to that child. You know, just because you don't understand Mandarin or Somali, you know, we don't ignore the child who's talking to you in another language. Even though you may not understand them at all, you know, what you want to do is get down on their level, respond back to them, have parallel talk, do those things to validate their attempts at communicating, regardless.

They will learn soon that no one is understanding them, and then you'll have a different technique, but that's important to remember. Graciela: Great. Thank you. Yes, Ruth?

Ruth: I think it's -- I think it's also important to remember that there are some children who are dual language learners who come to our programs with speech/language disabilities, maybe cognitive disabilities, and so sometimes, people in the field will think that those children shouldn't be using their home language as much, especially if English is being spoken in -- in that -- that program setting.

And it really is important to continue supporting that home language for the children with speech language disabilities in their home language. And -- and what they might notice is that the children aren't speaking as much in their home language or in English, but that really providing that extra support is going to need to be provided for those children to be able to develop that foundational home language.

Graciela: Great. Thank you. Let's look at a -- at a clip of Andres, a child who is at this first stage, and we'll see him as he sort of shows us all the different stages he's at. And -- and let's -- let's just watch as he speaks his home language in -- in this environment where English is spoken.

[Video begins] Teacher: Oh. "Animal Nursery Rhymes." Oh, boy. Andres: [Speaking in Spanish] Teacher: Hmm? Andres: [Speaking in Spanish]

Teacher: You like this one? Which one do you want? Andres: Ni�o. teacher: This one? The baby? [Video Ends]

Graciela: So what did we observe in this clip? Ruth: Well, first of all, Andres comes in saying [Speaking in Spanish], and he's ready to go. "Okay, here I am. Let's go." And the teacher -- and then he says something else that is not quite able to see -- able to hear exactly what he's saying, but he's very engaged and very talking right there.

And then he says -- she asks, "What -- what do you want to -- to -- to see?" And he says, "Ni�o," child, andshe says, "Oh, the baby," because they're pointing at a picture. So, as a teacher, you'd want to write down verbatim what this child is saying in Spanish. He has lots of -- of labels and -- and -- and phrases to say. And if you wouldn't know Spanish, you would write down that he's responded with some Spanish phrases or words so that we have a sense of where he is at in his home language.

Graciela: Great. Thank you for those excellent examples of what you would document if you were engaged in an interaction with Andres. Any other comments from our other panelists on this particular clip?

Dr. Espinosa: Well, the only other thing that I could say was that I also noticed that -- that Andres appeared to have good receptive abilities. He understood what the teacher was asking, and he was engaged, and he -- like the other two girls, he wasn't sitting back on the couch. He was out there, which, again, gives you information about his personality and his likeliness to put himself in situations where he will start to acquire the second language. I -- I would predict this is going to happen rapidly for Andres.

Ruth: Yeah. He's -- he's a risk taker. Dr. Espinosa: Yes. Exactly.

Dr. Castro: I just want to mention something that is -- watching this video made me think, and it's about the child's temperament. And obviously, you know, as has been said, Andres is a very outgoing child. But what will happen with a child who is more , I mean, quiet and timid, and when the child is exposed to a situation in which only English is spoken and the child has not been exposed to that, doesn't have enough English?

So I've seen situations in which, and I've seen it firsthand, a -- a child coming out of a -- of her first day in an English- speaking center saying, "No quiero ni�os en Ingles nunca mas." Graciela: Which means, "I don't want children in English."

Dr. Castro: "I don't want children in English anymore, not ever again," and crying. So we have to be very mindful of this. It's very important that all children aren't going to react like Andres, and maybe we need to provide them with more support in these kinds of activities in their home language, to support children both for the learning and the social and emotional development piece that is involved in this process, as well.

Dr. Espinosa: So, when... Yeah?

Sharon: I was going to say it -- it is incumbent on teachers to make that connection for children. Also, there are children who are very sensitive to other children, so once that is explained over time, especially if you have children who are English speakers, who only speak English, and you have other speakers, that it is the role of the teacher to help make that connection and help them understand where that child is coming from or may be coming from in terms of their, you know, feel -- not having -- being -- being scared and being afraid of what that environment offers.

Graciela: So when they stop talking and they go into this observational listening stage, what do we observe in children who are in this stage? Can you help us describe that?

Dr. Espinosa: Well, typically, what you'll see will be, children will start to withdraw a little bit, and maybe we might see this with Andres, maybe not, but that they'll start to withdraw and -- and just talking, in general, a lot less. And this is when they start intensely focusing on listening to, watching, trying to hear the sounds of this new language so that they can master it and join the group and play and find their friends, all of those things that children need to do.

I also wanted to make the point, you know, following up on what Dina and Sharon said about it's incumbent upon the teachers to observe for and tune in to the temperament the child is -- is showing us, is that we do know that when children and teachers don't share a language, when the teacher doesn't understand or speak the child's home language, that those children tend to get less -- they get less interactions, less language,...

...but also teachers tend to smile at them less, and touch them -- and have that emotional sort of welcoming environment, tends to be less present when teachers and children don't share a language. So once we're aware of that, hopefully, we can start to adjust and -- and include Andres and his two little friends in everything they do.

Graciela: And -- and you've just -- they get celebrated when they -- they understand or say something in English, as opposed to, you know, kind of a flat response, often, when they -- when they do -- you know, when they, somehow, say something in their native -- in their home language.

Ruth: I've experienced that a lot and -- and have observed that in a lot of settings where that happens, and teachers are not aware that that's happening. But the unspoken message is that, "To speak in English, I get all this praise and -- and all this attention, but when I speak in my home language, nobody seems to notice me." And so I think that's really an important point.

Sharon: But, again, yeah -- and then I would add on, again, when -- now, when they're no longer speaking in their home language, there is that possibility that they are not seen, that they are just not there at all. And so again, you know, as Linda also was saying, it really is incumbent on the teacher to be even more...

You know, we do this as good early childhood teachers anyway in terms of the gestures and our props and all of those things, but really for the child who is in that observational listening stage, it's really key to provide all of that, all of those contextual clues that you can to help him.

Dr. Espinosa: You know, one thing that the teacher could have done -- I think this -- the teacher was very responsive and obviously engaging Andres in -- in that book reading interaction. But when he said, "El ni�o," she could have repeated it and said, "El ni�o." Because that's what we can do. We can learn the language of the home, and the children can help us speak it, and they can then start to get the message we're all language learners.

Graciela: Thank you for this great conversation. Let's look at an example of a child, an older child, who is in -- in this observational listening stage, Jasmine, and -- and see what the interaction is here. She is the little girl in the brown shirt and pink skirt.

[Video begins] Teacher: Let's see. First, let's figure out who's not here. Isabella : Yesenia. Teacher: Ooh. If you have an idea, put your hand up, okay? So number one was Isabella, and she said Yesenia. Do you remember Yesenia, what letter her name starts with? Child 1: Diego! Diego.

[Teacher makes "y" sound] Child 2: Ye...sen...ia!

Teacher: Yesenia begins with a "y". Yesenia. Now, if there's somebody with an idea that has their hand up, I'm going

to call on them. Let's see. Let's see. Diego? Diego: Eduardo! Teacher: Eduardo. Do you remember Eduardo's first letter? [Teacher makes "e" sound]

Children: "E"! Teacher: "E." Eduardo. Child 3: I knew that. Teacher: Eduardo. Jasmine?

Jasmine: Huh? Teacher: Jasmine? Jasmine : Huh? Aide: Quien? Quien? Quien falta? Quien falta? Esta preguntando quien no vino. Teacher: Who is not here?

Aide: Diego vino hoy? Child 1: Diego. Child 4: Mateo! Teacher: Jasmine, what do you think? Diego? Let's ask Jasmine. Is Diego here? No, he's not. Child 5: Mateo's not here. [Video ends]

Dr. Espinosa: Jasmine was clearly engaged in the activity. However, she did not appear to understand the teacher's directions. What we saw from Jasmine, really when -- when the other children started raising their hands, Jasmine followed sort of the -- the peer behavior and raised her hand, and then she had some Spanish language support behind her who was -- that was helping her understand what the nature of the interaction was and what -- what the question was.

However, when the teacher directly asked Jasmine, "Is Diego here," you could see in her big eye -- her eyes just got big. I mean, she wanted to be a part of it, but she didn't know what was being asked of her. So there was -- there was the desire to be a part of the group. She was imitating behavior, but I would want to probe a little bit more about her -- her receptive language abilities.

Ruth: And I'm thinking, as a teacher, too, to further support that, and I couldn't see what that teacher was doing, but just as -- as a next step is to -- to be, maybe, holding up a picture of the child she's asking and gesturing, "Is he in this room," to give her that extra support at this -- at this crucial stage where she doesn't have that understanding.

Dr. Castro: And another idea, I think, would be to actually explain to Jasmine beforehand what this activity was going to be about in her home language so she will know what to expect. And then when she received the support from this -- it was great that she had someone behind her, but I think if she would have known beforehand what the type of questions -- what the activity was about, that would have helped her. Graciela: There is an element of surprise in her face. It's too much coming at her all at once.

Dr. Espinosa: And, you know, as teachers, when we observe children as they are in the early stages of English language development, we often will see them follow along with other children, even doing clapping, doing the same things, and, unless we ask them directly, we might make the assumption that they understood the direction, but they probably -- or they might not have, and in this case, that's where we would need to do a little bit more.

Sharon: Yeah, I just wanted to -- to pick up on what Linda and Ruth had said. I think what was important, and we don't know the background, she maybe was or wasn't introduced -- introduced to the activity, but that would very -- be very appropriate in the home language, and then if they had the -- a prop or something. But the support behind her was not simultaneously interpreting what was going on.

I mean, in terms of the learning of English, she was a support, you know, so she is accessing in -- in her -- in the stages of observing. She is taking the clues that she can get from the teachers and the children, and when she needs support, that -- that -- that person...

...you know, the aide or whatever was behind her, supported her but wasn't whispering in her ear the entire time what was going on because that isn't a method that works very well because she would just tune out the English and tune in to what she's hearing. So I just wanted to kind of make that point. Graciela: Great. Thank you. Let's look at another video where these children now are doing an art project. They're also in the observational and listening stage. Let's watch.

[Video begins] Teacher: Okay. This is for you to use. Do you want me to hold it for you? You could bring the whole jar over here if you'd like. Then you'll have many choices. Child: Color. Teacher: Okay.

Teacher: Okay. So which colors are we going to try? Vanessa has the pink. Okay. Which color? The blue? Okay. [Video ends]

Ruth: Well, I think we had another great example of a child who's looking around her a little bit. She's understanding a little bit more English about going to get the jar, but it's really unclear how much she is understanding the teacher's direction about the blue. Does she even know the color blue? But you hear her rehearsing the word "okay." And children will do that to start practicing what they're hearing and I thought that was a really nice example of that.

Graciela: Anything else? These are -- you know, from this little clip, they are definitely in this observational listening stage.

They are following directions, they are functioning within the classroom, but we really do not know how much they are really understanding, and that's the point we want to make. We're going to go back now to see another clip of Andres, the -- the -- the little boy we saw reading the book with his teacher before and speaking in Spanish.

Now, we said before that Andres was in the first stage, using the home language in the second language setting, but of course, we see him in this -- in this progression now. He's going to be demonstrating how he's adding to his repertoire, and he's showing us his progression to -- into the next stage. As Linda said earlier, the stages often overlap and are not discrete, so here, we'll see actually Andres doing something that is -- is quite productive in -- in kind of a language context.

[Video begins] Teacher: [Singing] "Wink, wink, wink. His keeper came, came, came. To take him back, back, back. 'Oh, please don't go, go, go.'"

"Said Mary... Mac, Mac 'Please don't go, Mac. I'll feed you hay, hay, hay.'" Teacher: "'And peanut tea, tea, tea If you will stay, stay, stay.'"

"'Right here with me, me, me.'" Good job. [Video ends]

Graciela: So. [Laughs] What -- what did we see there with Andres and -- and his little classmates?

Dr. Espinosa: He might not have understood what the word "Go, go" meant, but he was practicing it. He wanted to produce it. So again, he's putting himself in situations, and he's taking that risk of saying this new language, whether or not he's pronouncing it correctly, to make that connection, to make that connection with the teacher and the activity and whatnot.

Ruth: Also, that little girl who had been not really responding before started clapping and participating in the song, and I've had the opportunity to see this video before, and I think she even was mimicking a few words at the end or trying to say some of those words. So that clapping and that movement really engages children's language, and they hear that rhythm.

Sharon: Yeah, yeah. I was just gonna say, again, that's another key for teachers as you look at the implications for this

-- for this stage and other stages is that, you know, those multiple ways of engaging children around language, around the music and the rhythm. We don't know whether the little girl on the left understood or not, but she certainly heard her voice and the -- the singing, which engaged her, which is important.

Graciela: Great. In this next one again, Andres is going to respond nonverbally to his teacher, and then all of a sudden, so he's still in this observational listening stage, and then he will show us that he's progressing.

[Video begins] Teacher: Okay. You want to say hi? Okay. [Teacher makes clicking sound] Say hello. Be careful. Stay right there. Give him -- pick up his bowl. Andres, get his bowl and give it to him, please. There you go. Okay. Come back. You want to sit? Sit down. Oh, there he goes. Oh! See?

Andres: Hee hee! Teacher: Oh. He's hungry. What happened to his tail? Huh? I know. What happened to his tail? Wait till Mookie sees it. She'll be surprised. [Teacher makes clicking sound] See? He's watching. He's saying, "Thank you, thank you."

Andres: Ha! Teacher: He is. Isn't he pretty? Should we tell Gregori that he's here? Did you tell Gregori that Pilgrim's here? Oh! What? Where? What is it? Pilgrim? You can say Pilgrim. Yes, you can. You can say Pilgrim, and you can say... Andres: Peacock!

Teacher: Peacock! Right! Peacock. Andres: Peacock. Teacher: Peacock. What does a peacock say? Andres: Ya va! Teacher: Oh! Where's he going? [Video ends]

Dr. Castro: Well, definitely, this child had a lot of receptive, you know, ability because he was following instructions, you know, so that was very, very clear, I think, from that. And also, the teacher was doing a great job in providing a lot of language to the child, even though the child was not very verbal or just pointing, but they were communicating, and that was also very good, I think. I don't know if anyone else...

Ruth: Yeah, you could -- you could see Andres look to the teacher just a little and smile -- you could see a little bit of a smile. He was so delighted and engaged in that total interaction. Definitely a great job of modeling and narrating language by the teacher, and I think as you're taking -- as you're observing then, you'd want to write down that he went to get the bowl when -- when the teacher said, "Get the bowl," or,"Put it over here."

And when she said, "Not too far. Come back." You would write that he came back. So you'd want to record exactly what's happening and to say, "He said peacock at the end." So you'd want to record that so you'd have that information as an observation for that child's language.

Sharon: And then, you know, and then at the end, he says, "Ya va," you know, "Yeah, he's going now." Graciela: Goes right back to his... Sharon: Which is fine because he also has been engaged, you know, the entire time, and I just want to reiterate the teacher.

Again, the role of the teacher -- how calm -- you know, it just was very nice to watch that. Obviously, when -- this was an opportunity for there to be one on one, but to the extent possible in the -- in the classroom or what other setting you're in, you need to provide that opportunity to have that time with the child and allow the, you know, in this case, you know, it was more of the back and forth with the eyes and the gazing, that communication. We often are so rushed, you know, that time needs to -- you need to take that time because that's where the learning is happening.

Dr. Castro: And I -- I think this is also a good example of how these stages are not linear because this child was not talking, but -- but still using the home language when he needed, you know, to use the home language to communicate, but at the same time, was in this observation and listening stage. Dr. Espinosa: And producing some English.

Graciela: And producing some English. Dr. Castro: And producing some English at the same time. So it's just -- you'll see how this -- all stages are kind of... Graciela: So these are our examples of this observational and listening stage.

Can we sort of summarize what some examples of children's behaviors we might observe at this stage? Linda, do you want to help us with that?

Dr. Espinosa: Sure. Well, we have some examples of children's behavior that are based on the Desired Results Developmental Profile, or, as we call it, the DRDP, that was developed in the -- by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division, and this is a rating scale based upon teachers' observations of children's actual behavior as they're progressing in their English language development. So some of the examples might be: children attend to others speaking English, or attends for short periods of time.

We see that a lot. You know, children are watching. Imitates behaviors of others when directions are given in English, such as going to the carpet for circle time, serving herself at the lunch table, or cleaning up after others -- begin transition. We saw that with Jasmine. You'll see kids following along. Observes from a distance activities conducted in English, such as reading, singing, and conversations. We saw the two little girls on the couch observing from an outside distance.

They weren't out touching the book. And the activity was conducted in English. May participate non-verbally in the actions or movement of the story, song, or rhymes when presented in English. Again, we saw the little girls clapping when the music was presented. Occasionally followed -- follows directions in English, but may do so with support, such as body language and gestures. And all of our nonverbal cues to help children know what's expected of them helps them develop that English -- that comprehension ability.

Graciela: Great. Those are excellent behavior examples. And again, we just showed you three clips. We encourage you to observe your children and use this knowledge, and learn from each one of your children who are on this continuum of learning English. Let's move on to the next stage, the telegraphic and formulaic communication. What do we observe in children who are in this stage, Dina?

Dr. Castro: As we have been discussing so far, the first two stages that are more related to children's receptive language development. So receptive language lays the base, or the foundation, for development of expressive language skills or abilities. And then being able to communicate in the new language. So this third stage, the telegraphic and formulaic stage, highlights the development of children's expressive language.

So it's the beginning of the expressive language process, although children also can continue to use receptive language strategies like observing and listening along the way. So during the telegraphic and formulaic stage, children begin to use what -- what has been called telegraphic speech. Now, that means they're using, like, one word or two words to communicate.

And then these are usually content words that help them express an -- an entire idea. So, much of this revolves around the identification and naming of objects in English, and often in response to the question, "What's this?"

Graciela: Great. Thank you for describing that stage for us. And again, we're going to look at Andres one more time as he moves through his progression. And -- and in this case, again, an interaction with his two little friends and the teacher. Let's watch.

[Video begins] Teacher: There's -- there's the hole. Andres: Her cheek. Teacher: Her cheek, yeah. She did have an "owie" on her cheek. Andres: [Inaudible] Teacher: What? Andres: Ouchy, Ouchy.

Teacher: On your cheek? Oh... Teacher: Oh, on your elbow, yeah. Aw. How did it happen? Hmm? [Video ends] Graciela: So, how -- what -- what did we see in Andres there in that interaction?

Dr. Espinosa: Well, what we saw was that Andres knew the word "ouchy." And it meant, "I have an ouchy." It might be not on his cheek, but an ouchy on his elbow. But the -- but the way he said it, I think, led the teacher to believe that it was on his cheek, when actually, he was using that word "ouchy," which often young children will say "I have a boo boo" or "I have an ouchy," and then they'll point it out to you.

Graciela: But he was able to point it out. I mean, that word was packed. Sharon: Yes, yes. Graciela: It was packed communication, wasn't it?

Ruth: It was, and he linked it to the book. I mean, he was pointing to the little girl in the book who had the ouchy on her cheek, so he was relating what he was seeing in the book to his life, to -- to what was happening with him.

Dr. Espinosa: And children, of course, love to talk about their "owies." Sharon: That's an extremely important thing to document, you know, in terms of -- of conceptual knowledge, as well as the -- the -- the progress. Graciela: And what would we document there? Thank you, Sharon, for bringing that up.

Sharon: Well, I mean, I would document that, you know, Andres made the connection between his own "ouchy" and the book reading. That would be one thing. Ruth: So that was that's an early literacy skill. Sharon: An early literacy skill.

Dr. Espinosa: Yeah, relating content to your own life. Ruth: To text. Sharon: To using English to do so. Dr. Espinosa: Mm hmm. Dr. Castro: So he had both receptive and expressive.

Sharon: Yeah. And I think we'll talk about that later, but it -- it -- we are talking about separating out the English language development, not, you know -- but that's not the nature of how teachers, you know, work with children. But we're -- for the purposes of today, we really are trying to focus on the English language, but there are so many opportunities to be, you know, supporting and documenting that, you know, the overall learning, as well.

Graciela: Great. Thank you. So let's watch some older children now at this telegraphic stage and see what they're doing.

[Video begins] Child 1: Um, apples. Um, grapes. Yummy, grapes. Child 2: Banana. Apple. [Indistinct] Child 3: This one. Pizza. Child 1: Two pair of pizza, right? Same thing.

Child 4: I'm going to put it in cubby. Teacher 1: Yes. That was very nice of her, wasn't it, Rachel? [Indistinct]

...pictures. Teacher 2: Okay, friends, it's time to clean up. Children: Time to clean up. [Video ends] Graciela: So, Ruth, you know these children. Can you tell us about this?

Ruth: Yes. This -- these children, first of all, there's three, and one child, obviously, has more language than the other two. The other two are definitely in that telegraphic formulaic stage of development. These three children are all dual language learners, but they don't share a home language, a common home language. And so English, in their classroom, is kind of that -- the language of mediation in that setting.

There are over 22 languages spoken in this particular pre-school setting. So what we see in this particular video -- it was so wonderful how the children are just labeling the food as they move it to another area. The little girl says one word, "Banana." She's pretty quiet throughout the day.

That's like a whole word for her to practice. So it's really a nice example of using those one words. Except for the little boy at the end who definitely has more productive language, and says, "Two pairs of pizza, right?" And he, it should be noted, is -- actually, English is his third language. He was a simultaneous learner from Brazil who learned in Portuguese first. Then Spanish was his second language, and English is now his third.

Graciela: Great, Ruth. And so what would you document in this situation?

Ruth: Well, I would document how the children are playing and the exact words they are using, and what they're doing as they're -- they're saying that word. That is, within context of this free play. you know, they're doing this great, little shared activity. And then the little boy's sentence, "Two pairs of pizza, right?" I would write that down so that we knew we could go back and look at where their language -- how it's developing.

Graciela: Great. These are great examples of telegraphic language. Dina, as we move on to formulaic speech, would you explain to us what that is? Dr. Castro: Of course. Formulaic speech refers to young children using memorized chunks of language or formulaic phrases. This means that, you know, they will use these phrases in situations in which others have been observed using them. So they will use them when it's appropriate for that communication moment.

So these formulas often help children get into play situations and get ideas across with a minimum of language. For example, they can say, "Let's go out," or "You want to play," or "Me first." "I don't know." "Be careful." So those -- all these are chunks of language that children memorize, but they use it appropriately when -- to communicate.

So at this stage, it's very important to be observant, particularly because children may look proficient when they are, you know, they're comfortable in communicating socially, so teachers can get confused and think that the child is proficient already. And that's when we hear all these comments about, "Oh, these children are like little sponges. They learn so quickly," when they actually are just using these memorized phrases and they're not still being able to create their own sentences.

Graciela: Great. Ruth: That's also a time when -- when children will sometimes be reprimanded for, "Oh, they know that. They understand," and they really don't understand what's happening in that classroom.

Dr. Espinosa: One other thing about children as -- as they're starting to use formulaic language, oftentimes they -- what they will do is memorize certain sounds that go together, like -- like, "You want to go," "I love a -- I love a -- I love a..." And they will apply that phrase in multiple situations. Most of the time, they're -- they're appropriate and they will satisfy their needs, but sometimes, they apply them in situations where they don't work.

And that's where teachers can see that they really don't understand the meaning of the sounds. They are simply using them as a convention of speech. Graciela: They're practicing the new language. Let's watch these two little girls playing and using formulaic language.

[Video begins] Child 1: I think I'm [Inaudible]. Child 2: Look at that! Children: Oh! Child 1: Get out here. Child 2: Stop! Stop. [Video ends]

Graciela: So, it was short, but what did you see? Dr. Castro: What the little girl was saying, "Get out." Dr. Espinosa: Mm hmm. Dr. Castro: Right? At some point. And that worked very well in the -- in that setting. You know? Sharon: There wasn't any room.

Dr. Castro: Exactly. So that -- I think that was -- that was very clear that she was using this formula, if we can call it that, to communicate.

Sharon: I think that -- I think it also really illustrates, again, we're seeing these clips very briefly. You know, we're trying to contextualize them. You know, if we're looking at it from another vantage point, you know, you really have to know the child. Because it could be, you know, honestly, that she knows, you know?

"Get out!" That sounds -- that looked like a very typical, you know, playground activity. But really having to know the child and know where they are really helps you, you know, be able to observe and document, in -- in the case for -- for the English language.

Graciela: I kind of thought that she was getting a -- a cue from the other girl. And that's what leads me to believe that she's still kind of following, like Jasmine, but, you know, just kind of being around English-speaking children and watching -- watching their mouth very careful to see how they -- they produce sounds and repeating.

Dr. Espinosa: And that's why you would need to see her in other contexts, that she uses that phrase appropriately in another context to achieve a different purpose, so, yeah.

Sharon: And then, I know we'll talk about this a little later, but I think it's also why it's important that -- that, you know, if teachers, teacher assistants, parents, others can help with your observations, you know, in terms of how we look at, you know, especially when we talk a little bit later about making that decision about where that child is on that continuum and how we support their -- their further learning. That doesn't have to be just one person.

Graciela: Right, exactly. Dr. Castro: Or one setting. Sharon: Or one setting. Absolutely. Ruth: Because one person will not possibly catch all of that child's language.

Sharon: Mm hmm. Graciela: Great. So, we -- we've been observing children in the telegraphic and formulaic stages, and so, Linda, would you kind of summarize for us the types of behaviors that we might see in children who are in this stage?

Dr. Espinosa: Yes. And these examples, again, come from the DRDP of -- of children when they're in this telegraphic/formulaic stage of English language progression. So, some of the things we might see are: they communicate in English. For instance, they know social conventions like "Bye bye", "No more," "Like it," "Love it," whatever, when appropriate.

They might ask for things in English by name, particularly when they're nouns such as "cup," "doll," "pencil," "paper," "glue," "juice," things that they want. They might repeat or whisper to self an English word or sound just heard. We saw that.

We saw that repeatedly from children repeating the language as they're practicing it. They might communicate in English. "You wannit? You wannit? My turn," things like that when offering another child the paintbrush after finishing in the art area. They also might use English words for basic personal information. If you -- they know their name, they probably know their age. They might know who's in their family and -- and be able to tell you all of that in English.

As the children are developing in this stage, we'll see them start to communicate in English using short phrases and incomplete sentences, or -- or what Dina described as the telegraphic speech. And they might mix English with the home language, which is -- which is totally normal and not a reason for concern. So they might -- the child might do some of the following: communicate "Wash hands" or "Eat lunch..."

...in English to ask whether it's time to wash hands or eat lunch or eat a snack. They also might use telegraphic speech in their own language, "Aqui, aqui," when they want the -- the teacher to come there. You know, which -- which is -- again, these are normal parts of adding a second language to a home language.

Graciela: That's right. Thank you very much, Linda. And now, we move on to the next stage in developmental sequence, which is the productive language. What kinds of behaviors do we observe in children who are in this stage? Dina, will you help us with this?

Dr. Castro: Well, the productive language use stage is when children begin the process of producing their own language. You know, this is original language. So they begin to build their own sentences, not just continuing repeating formulaic phrases or names for people and things. So at this point, children have to analyze the language in use, you know, in use around them, and make guesses about how the language is constructed. So, I want to point out that this process involves all aspects of language development.

And this is not only about -- the children will be learning more vocabulary, some more words. They will be also learning the -- the grammatical features of the new language. Ruth: Word order and...

Dr. Castro: And they have to also learn the sounds of the new language, and how to use the language. So what we call pragmatic. So how do you use language in a social situation? When to use it, when -- and when it's appropriate. So it is a very complex process. It's not only about learning a few more words in English. So this is very important for teachers to understand. And there is a progression within each of these aspects of language development that is going to happen simultaneously along the way. So this is just to give you an idea. And we are going to be describing this process more later.

Graciela: And as Linda said yesterday -- earlier, it -- it really takes time. Dr. Espinosa: Takes years, yeah. Graciela: This takes years. So let's watch Diego. He's in the process of doing this, and doing math.

[Video begins] Teacher: What are you doing, hmm? Diego: I'm doing some numbers and I'm putting... [Indistinct]. Teacher: You're putting those pegs with the numbers? Diego: Mm hmm. Teacher: How do you know -- how do you know how many pegs to put in?

Diego: There's -- there's -- there are holes that go in how many much. Teacher: There are holes to put the pegs in? Diego: Yeah. Teacher: Oh. So how many pegs are you putting in -- in this one? Diego: Just one.

Teacher: Just one? Diego: No, this two. This is one. Teacher: Oh, this one is one? Diego: And this one is two -- two ones. I made two ones like these ones. Teacher: Two and two?

Diego: One, two. Teacher: Oh. There are two. So -- so can you count those for me? Can you count them? Diego: Sure. 1, 2, 3, 4. Teacher: You're very good at counting, aren't you? Diego: And the other ones, too.

Teacher: And you can count the others, too? Diego: Sure. 1, 2, 3 -- 1, 2, 8, 9. 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16. Teacher: Whoa. Big numbers. Which one -- which one has more, this one or this one? Diego: This one. Teacher: Oh, yeah, this one has more, huh?

Diego: Yeah. Teacher: There are lots. Diego: There are lots. [Video ends]

Graciela: So what did you think about Diego in this interaction with his teacher in math? Dr. Castro: It is amazing how much knowledge he has, conceptual knowledge he has. Even though he -- he -- even though he was using a phrase at the beginning that was not, maybe, grammatically correct, he was responding to the question that the teacher was asking.

Graciela: And what phrase was that? Dr. Castro: He said... Dr. Espinosa: "There is holes that say how many much." Graciela: In response to her, "How many..." Dr. Espinosa: Very -- yes.

Graciela: "How do you know how many pegs to put in?"

Ruth: Which is math vocabulary. "How many" and "much." "How many much." So it might show a little confusion of how that's constructed, but his knowledge, as Dina said, is pretty, pretty advanced. When he put two fingers up and put them together, that -- not only does he know the concept of two, but two and two will give you, you know, this many points. He's adding.

And I think, sometimes, as children's language in English might not be as -- as developed or as clear, that we forget how much they might know, and this child clearly knows a lot about math, and loves it. Dr. Espinosa: Right.

Sharon: And I think that, you know -- we spent a whole webcast talking about how important it is for us to be able to access what children know and can do, regardless of the language, so in this case, it would have been completely appropriate, you know, for a teacher to be speaking his home language. And we may have had a -- an even more in depth conversation with him, and we may have accessed even more about what he knows.

But, you know, in this case, I think -- what I also liked was the teacher, when she was trying to ascertain if he knew the concepts "more" or "less," she didn't -- it didn't bother her that he, you know, he didn't follow her lead. Clearly, he went for the one with the most, which was very smart, and the one with less. But he also used other conventions. "Sure."

Dr. Castro: Yes. I loved that. "Sure." Sharon: Yeah. I mean, he is so precious. I mean, I could hardly, you know... Dr. Espinosa: You just wanted to take him home. Ruth: Yes. Dr. Espinosa: Well, and he was confident.

Sharon: Yes. Ruth: Yes. Dr. Espinosa: He was confident in his mathematical ability and he could show that off in very appropriate ways. Graciela: What would you document from all of this? There's a lot to document here.

Sharon: Well, I mean, depending on -- on where he -- where he was -- I mean, I would document "Sure," for sure. You know, because he's -- he's responding to, you know, what she asked. I would document, you know, his counting in English, because he's counting. Dr. Espinosa: And he responded to a complicated question.

"How do you know how many?" He understood that question and responded with the correct answer, grammatically not perfect, but still, very, very accurate response. Dr. Castro: And I think we also can document his vocabulary.

Sharon: Mm hmm, mm hmm. Dr. Castro: Because he had this vocabulary, the math vocabulary that he was using. Sharon: Mm hmm. Graciela: Great, great. Okay.

So let's -- continuing with the same stage of -- of, you know, productive language use, let's look at these girls that are sort of playing and trying to figure out what their role is going to be.

[Video begins] Child 1: I'm the mama. I'm the mama. Child 2: You can be the big sister, and I can be the little sister. Child 1: And I can be the mama. Child 3: I'm the big sister.

Child 2: And I'm the older sister. Children: [Indistinct] Child 2: We're going to the zoo! Child 1: Yeah, you go to the zoo. Child 3: I can hold both of them. I can hold both of them.

Child 2: And I'm going to -- and here's the camera. [Video ends] Graciela: Ruth, you know these little girls. Would you tell us about this situation?

Ruth: Sure. Well, first is I -- if people can see, it starts with boys playing together on the puzzle, which is where I was originally trying to -- to videotape, because I thought a lot of language was going to be happening, and it wasn't. It was happening to my side. And I -- I heard that, and so I switched the camera. But after "I'm the mama," and another little girl was saying, "You can be the big sister and I can be the little sister," this is a wealth of language going on. They're all dual language learners, all three of those little girls.

And it's showing, again, a -- a very -- one of the later stages of English language development going on. But they, obviously, have a lot of grammatical structures down. "Can be," "I'm," "We're going to the zoo," "I can hold both." So it's just showing more along the continuum. And you'd want to document what each child is saying verbatim so that you would have examples of their language.

Dr. Espinosa: You know, another point that struck me in watching that is that, just as with monolingual English speakers, dual language learners tend to produce much more complex language in these dramatic play situations, that you create and structure those dramatic play situations with a -- a grouping -- with different groupings so that children have these opportunities to conjugate those verbs.

"I am the oldest." You know, she knew -- she knew an ordinal number there. That's -- that's a -- that's a fairly well developed sense of -- of the -- of how to use the language. So -- so as teachers, then we see that they're at that stage, we create those situations, and encourage -- have all the props there, and -- and support that kind of -- of imaginative play.

Sharon: Exactly. I mean, that's such a great tie to help -- help teachers know to understand how important play is in learning overall, and then -- and in -- and in learning English. I think the other thing that I just wanted to pick up on, Ruth, is that you talked about -- you thought that the puzzle was going to be the opportune moment to video, you know, but then you heard something else. I think it's the same thing. As teachers, you know, you may be set today that you're going to observe Diego doing 'x' because you need that.

You know, we really have to be open to those opportunities to observe. And I know we're going to talk a little bit about it later in terms of the different contexts that we do observe, but you have to train yourself to be able to be thinking about observing, in this case, for the English language development, you know, at all times.

Ruth: And just to -- to pick up on that, I think play is such an important time to be observing children's language development. And we sometimes tend, because of all the rich context and the -- they feel more comfortable, and so they're speaking with their peers.

Sometimes, we really look so much, or focus on circle time or story-time when children are in big groups, and might be more reticent to be speaking, actually, and so we're not getting a real accurate picture of where their language is. And these three girls, also, just to -- again, they all -- they have different home languages, so English is their language of mediation, and they've been in a -- in a setting where this has been spoken over a few years.

Dr. Espinosa: You know, another good place to observe language development is on the playground. Ruth: Yes. Dr. Espinosa: Watch how they're playing with their peers on the playground, because you can see all kinds of behavior and language that you might not see in the classroom.

Ruth: Another great time is snack or mealtime, or those social language times, where children don't have that pressure to be -- to -- to be answering a question. Dr. Castro: Yeah.

I just want to point out, also, that -- coming back to a previous comment, that teachers may get confused and think that children are fully proficient. These three girls, of course, look very proficient. And, Ruth, you were just mentioning that they have been in an English, you know, environment, in the classroom, for a few years. So that's important information.

So -- so we need to know how long the children have been exposed to the language, and also be observing them in different settings, and make sure, all the time, if they are -- they have enough of the -- what we call the academic English, as well as the colloquial or more conversational one.

Graciela: Thank you, Dina. And so, as our last example of this productive stage, let's look at some children playing and using both -- two languages quite fluently.

[Video begins] Child 1: [Inaudible] Oh, let me get the doctor things. Child 2: I already got the doctor thing. Child 1: Oh, yeah. Child 2 : It was already -- it was -- it was in the shelf here. Then I saw it. Child 1: [Speaking in Spanish] A poner en el doctor. Esta muy enfermo.

Child 3: [Speaking in Spanish] No, de quien es el doctor? Graciela: So, here we have a group of children playing in two languages. What did you see?

Dr. Castro: Well, the first thing is the ability of this girl to switch from one language to the other. She was communicating with the boy, responding in English, communicating in English. Then the teacher -- we hear the teacher speaking in Spanish, and then she turns -- in Spanish with the other girl. And then this other girl turns and begins talking in Spanish to the other, you know, this -- this girl in the -- so there is this moving back and forth and communicating with the two languages.

Graciela: And knowing when to do it with whom and expanding. She expands in Spanish. "El esta muy enfermo." She says, "He's very sick." Dr. Castro: So she was continuing -- actually, it was the same -- the same line of thought -- the conversation. So she was doing some in English and some in Spanish.

Dr. Espinosa: Very sophisticated use... Dr. Castro: Yes. Dr. Espinosa: ...of each of the languages in appropriate -- in appropriate context. Dr. Castro: And also, I think this is a good example to help us talk a little bit about children's ability to -- what we call mixing languages. And that is perfectly appropriate -- is -- in children who are learning two languages.

Ruth: And also, just to -- in terms of the -- of "the doctor thing," I love that. It's also an opportunity, as -- as a teacher, to see, "Oh, maybe I -- I want to let -- let these children know that that's called a case." And so, another way to extend their language and teach more technical language to children, which would take them up even more levels.

Graciela: Great. Thank you very much. We've seen some excellent examples of children along the continuum of this productive stage. Now, Linda, would you help us summarize some of the key behaviors that we might observe in children who are going through this stage?

Dr. Espinosa: Yes. And so we have these examples, again, of children who are in the productive stage, and they're starting to communicate in English with mostly complete sentences about a variety of different topics and sometimes abstract ideas, as well. So they may take some grammar -- they may make some grammatical errors in English, and they may occasionally mix English with the home language, which we saw in that last video clip.

The children might do some of the following: they increasingly are using common words to complete sentences. They're using nouns, like "John" and "cat." They're using verbs. They might be conjugating verbs, as well. Adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions, so they're starting to flesh out their sentences to make their meanings known. They're beginning to ask "when" or "how" questions in English. We also saw in these clips that they can sustain conversations in English.

They have that conversational back and forth. Again, not always grammatically correct, but they can carry on a conversation so that they are understood. They may not be able to place all parts of speech in the correct order with -- within a sentence of English. And again, this is important to know -- what are the features of their home language and how much is that contributing to some of the -- these grammatical errors that they might be making in English? And they can make up or tell a story in English with a beginning, middle, and an end.

Graciela: Wonderful. Thank you very much.

Ruth: And just in terms of children with disabilities, to remember that they can be still learning in both languages, that -- but the rate of learning might be -- look very different, depending on the severity and nature of that disability, whether it be a cognitive disability, speech language disability. But again, to just know that they still follow these kind of sequences but just at different rates and may need additional support.

Dr. Castro: And children use all their linguistic repertoire. They will use everything that they know to communicate. Sometimes, they -- they have this -- this -- I say this little backpack of their linguistic resources, so they will use their home language and their -- their new language they're learning, you know, to communicate their ideas and -- and feelings.

Dr. Espinosa: So, in some ways, we could think of them as talented. They have extra talents. Ruth: Exactly. Dr. Espinosa: That not every child has. And they can pull them out and use them when -- when they need to. Ruth: Mm hmm.

Graciela: Great. Well, you've done an excellent job discussing this -- this development -- developmental sequence. And now we've come to the end of our Segment II. And I want to just read the very important concepts that we've discussed. Researchers have developed a developmental sequence to describe the four stages that children who are learning in two languages typically go through.

These are the use of the home language in the second language setting; observational and listening stage; telegraphic and formulaic communications; and productive language use. The first of these two stages refer to receptive language, and the last two refer to expressive language. These stages overlap and are not discrete. Children progress through the stages at different rates, and it is not a linear progression.

It is very important for teachers to know and understand these stages so that they understand what they are seeing when they observe children and document their progress. So, this concludes our Segment II. And stay tuned. We're coming back from -- for Segment III, where we are going to be Using Observational Information to Document Children's Progress in English Language Development. [Music]

Welcome to Segment III: Using Observational Information to Document Children's English Language Development. In this segment, we'll discuss how to -- to use the information gathered in your observations and talk about several tools that are available to help you document children's progress in learning English. Now that we have discussed observing children at different stages of English language development and you've heard us give examples of each, where do you go with these observations? What do you do? Dina?

Dr. Castro: First of all, I think we need to talk about how and when to observe. Graciela: Okay.

Dr. Castro: As -- the observation should be an ongoing process and an intentional process, so teachers need to prepare that. As -- as we have been seeing in all the videos so far, there are -- there will be many opportunities throughout the day in the classroom that teachers can use to gather information about children's progress in English language development.

Maybe a center time. It could be observing peer interactions. It could be observing children's interactions with adults in the classroom, or when children are in the playground, or, you know, in small group settings. So, and this indicates that you need to observe children in different situations along the way. Graciela: Great. So how does documenting children's progress towards English fit in with the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework and your curriculum?

Sharon: Well, Graciela, I think, you know, based on what Dina has shared, as well as you, it's -- it's pretty logical. I think two of the indicators in the Child Outcomes Framework, as we know, are focused on progress towards English language development, the listening to and understanding and speaking English. You know, and as we talked about in a previous webcast, and just thinking about the Child Outcomes Framework in general, we're looking at all areas of development and learning.

We want to know what children know and can do. And in this case, we're focusing on what they know and can do in English language. And I think that, in terms of the Child Outcomes Framework, that needs to be able to be mapped on, if you will, to your curriculum in terms of the goals and objectives. The Child Outcomes Framework has to be represented and aligned with your curriculum.

Dr. Castro: Yes. And, I mean, some examples of how to use this information will be -- it's actually how teachers will make enhancements to instruction to meet the needs of children -- individual children, depending on where they are in the process of learning English.

For example, one way to -- one enhancement could be if a child is at early stages in learning, let's say the child is using a home language and is not verbal in English yet, the teacher can be using more of gestures and visual props to help child develop understanding and comprehension of what is going on. So this is an example.

Same thing when the teacher is conducting a read aloud activity. For example, using not only the pictures of the book or -- but also props, maybe, to help children develop understanding and comprehension. So this is very important that the child can really understand what is going on. And the teachers make the enhancements to accommodate individual children's needs.

Graciela: Great. And we are now going to discuss some of the resources that Head Start programs can use, or may already be using, to document children's progress in English language development. Right, Sharon?

Sharon: Yes, Graciela. I think it's important to know that the Head Start programs use many different commercially available curricula, as well as others that provide some useful tools to help us. You know, each curriculum -- you should have goals and objectives.

And it's important to always tie your assessment to the goals and objectives, and it's the same for looking at progress towards English. We -- we want to be clear about what we want to know from the assessment. In this case we're looking at, listening to, understanding, and speaking English. You know, I would just mention, both High Scope and the Creative Curriculum, which are two of the most widely used curriculum in Head Start, have resources that support children who are -- all children, you know, and then to -- to an extent, children who are dual language learners.

You know, and as I was thinking about that, you know, those curriculum also guide you on how you do observations. We were very brief today in terms of that -- that process. We were really trying to get you to understand English language development. But all curricula will help guide you in terms of the observation, particularly as it relates to their goals and objectives.

You know, I think in terms of High Scope, the -- the core has two items, the -- assess receptive and expressive language development. And the Creative Curriculum which is -- they're just coming out with something new called "The Gold Assessment." I believe that also has a receptive and expressive, you know, indicators or measures or objectives that provide that method to document progress towards English. So those are two, I think, just to touch on,

Graciela.

Graciela: Right. And -- and we want to reiterate here that the knowledge the teacher has of what we've gone over today is important in order to use these -- these tools. So what are some states doing in the area of assessing English progress?

Sharon: I think -- I mean, I think it's really important to -- to help our programs think about the context of where they find themselves, whether they're childcare or Head Start. And the field is moving very quickly. It's exciting. I think it's an exciting time. I know that there are viewers listening, or -- or those that are listening will want it to be moving quicker than it is. But we are much farther along than we were a few years ago.

And we're right at the edge of having other resources and tools available to us that will really benefit programs, regardless of -- of -- of the state where -- where you live. And I know in Wisconsin, Ruth -- could you tell a little bit about what's happening there?

Ruth: Yeah. And I think we are, kind of, as a state, really looking at now -- is -- is the numbers of dual language learners is rapidly increasing in Wisconsin, both in urban and rural communities, about how we're assessing those children, and -- and a lot of that is still in flux, but there is some exciting events happening.

We're meeting a lot of the state stakeholders, from birth through age five, are meeting from Head Start, the early care programs, pre-schools, to look at professional development for working with dual language learners, finding common terminology, understanding the -- the basics of -- of -- of what needs to happen, and having the same message. And also, looking at the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards and how those align for dual language learners and how we might look at that.

Graciela: Great.

Dr. Espinosa: And in the state of California, where in some of our counties the majority of children entering kindergarten have English as their second language, their added language. So -- so in the state of California there -- there's been a lot of work in the last five years or so. And the Desired Results Developmental Profile, which we saw some examples from, is the assessment tool that was developed to align to the -- what they call the Early Learning Foundations, which are the early learning standards in the state of California.

And they -- and they do consider the developmental progress of children who are dual language learners in its own domain. So there -- so we have its own -- the domain of English language development. We have a curriculum framework, which helps teachers understand how to apply that. And then we have the DRDP, which helps give -- provide guidance for teachers as they're assessing progress toward English language proficiency.

Sharon: You know, I think -- and I think one of the other things that's important to state is California is the only state at this point that has specific standards that relate to English language development, and subsequently, the -- the assessment. Is that correct?

Dr. Espinosa: That's correct. And -- and these assessment items -- what we saw on the screen today in the Full Desired Results Developmental Profile, with the English Language Development Measures -- the four measures will be available this fall. So people can actually go onto the California Department of Education, Child Development Division website. And I think you'll have it linked onto your website.

Sharon: Yeah, we'll make sure to have it linked so that people, you know, whether you're from California or not. And I think the other thing, if we're going to mention that, which it's important, because it's a -- it's a really great tool for the learning of what we're looking for, but not something that you would do without getting training.

Dr. Espinosa: Right. And -- and there are supporting materials and training that's available. And I do encourage everyone who wants to think about applying this tool to -- to get some training on how to use it.

Sharon: Yeah. So I think what's important is, you know, California is -- is leading the way, I would say, on this -- on this effort in terms of looking at, you know, you call them the pre-school foundations, the standards that specifically relate to the -- our dual language learners. But I think we really need to encourage our Head Start and our child care, you know, other partners, to be at the table in your state. You know, just as Ruth was sharing, in terms of what's happening, have questions about your standards as they relate to children who are dual language learners.

We encourage you to -- to actually consult with your -- your state department and see what -- what they've done so far. You may find that there is something that you weren't aware of that has been worked on that could really aid you in your work. Dr. Espinosa: Or you can make a contribution to that work. That's the other thing.

Sharon: Absolutely. Yeah. That -- that goes without saying, but yes, bring your knowledge that you have to share so that you can help further -- if your state isn't as far along as others, you know, you can help further that, as well.

Thanks.

Graciela: Thank you. This concludes Segment III in our webinar for today. As usual, I want to go over the key points we just made. Observations are used to document children's progress and for making curriculum decisions. Make use of available resources to help you document children's progress towards learning English. Your knowledge and understanding of how children learn in two languages are essential. Thank you very much for tuning in to our webinar today.

And we have enjoyed, as always, our conversation about children who are learning in two languages, and thank you to the panelists for a wonderful discussion. Please remember that we will have another webcast coming up on Diversity and Multicultural Integration, Part One, at the end of May. We'll see you then. Thank you again, and good bye.

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