Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) - Mercator ...

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and cultural organisations. TES functions for all three streams: public, catholic and Diwan. It publishes some 5-6 text books every year as well as some audio-visual materials in collaboration with the Universities. For children up to 3 years old a variety of material is available: two vocabulary books in Breton, five music CDs and a few books, most of them are translated from French into Breton. TES produces an anthology of nursery rhymes for the pre-school level, called ‘Enora,’ which has known a great deal of success and it continues producing new material. 44
2.6 Summary of best practices in the four regions In the MELT project four partners (Fryslân, Finland, Wales, and Brittany) learned from each other’s experience in the different pre-school settings. Similarities and differences became evident during the project. The information in the previous sections shows that most children under four attend the preschool provisions in the four regions on a voluntary basis. Figure 2.1 (p. 18) presented an overview structuring the age for starting pre-school as well as the age for starting compulsory primary school in the different countries. (of ages of starting pre-school and the ages of starting compulsory primary school). Those ages depends on the local authorities, municipality and parents. The MELT partners know that the kind of compulsory primary schooling differs in the four countries. In Wales and Fryslân children start primary school at the age of 4. However, education is only compulsory from the age of 5. In Brittany children start primary school starts at the age of 6, and in Finland at the age of 7. Therefore, the MELT project focuses on the common preschool years: 0-4 years. During the two-year project there was every opportunity to use each other's expertise and best practices in the field of pre-school immersion and mother tongue education before primary school. However, the four MELT partners had to determine the definition of preschool education and had to agree on the best pedagogical approaches and materials. The products had to be developed to everyone's satisfaction, so that they are appropriate for each region in Europe. In chapter 2.1 the definition of pre-school, as used in the MELT project has been presented. Chapter 3.3 will present a definition of Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT). The previous sections show that most states developed a national curriculum for pre-school education for children aged 2-7. In the four regions most pre-school institutions adjust the national curriculum to their regional situation and in some settings the minority language is included in the daily programme. One of the similarities is that most participating pre-schools in the four regions work in a thematic and project type manner. Some even have developed their own materials in the minority language. Unfortunately, some pre-schools have no explicit conscious language policy. Noted that a conscious language policy within the pre-school setting is an important aspect when it concerns multilingualism in the daily life of young children. However, putting an conscious language policy into practice requires practitioners to have the providing skills to offer young children a rich language environment, including enough input in the minority language. In the four regions some pre-school provisions changed the national curriculum and applied it to their own regional situation and sometimes provisions use extra or new materials and approaches in the minority language only. In Wales and Fryslân there are pre-schools that use a character (“Dewin” in Wales and “Tomke” in Fryslân) to stimulate and promote the minority language; the characters speaks and understands Welsh (Dewin) and Frisian (Tomke). Such a ‘character approach’ is an easily accessible and recognisable way for parents, practitioners and children to speak the minority language. Dewin and Tomke 45
Page 1 and 2: Multilingual Early Language Transmi
Page 3 and 4: The MELT project is carried out in
Page 5 and 6: in chapter 4, have demonstrated tha
Page 7 and 8: 4.2 Early immersion approach in pre
Page 9 and 10: The MELT project aims: - to identif
Page 11 and 12: The tasks, deliverables and respons
Page 13 and 14: 1.2.1 Guide for pre-school practiti
Page 15 and 16: 1.2.4 Expert seminars and conferenc
Page 17 and 18: 2. Information on best practices in
Page 19 and 20: However, the European Commission an
Page 21 and 22: 2.2 Fryslân in the Netherlands 2.2
Page 23 and 24: those of single parents, attend the
Page 25 and 26: The Foundation SFBO was founded in
Page 27 and 28: speaking children; the idea is that
Page 29 and 30: Child-staff ratios and maximum grou
Page 31 and 32: 2.4 Wales in UK 2.4.1 Background in
Page 33 and 34: of the nursery and playgroups. In W
Page 35 and 36: It combines what currently was call
Page 37 and 38: 2.5 Brittany in France 2.5.1 Backgr
Page 39 and 40: Collaboration between pre-school pr
Page 41 and 42: Parents in Brittany are mostly also
Page 43: 2.5.3 Training of practitioners The
Page 47 and 48: 3. Multilingual Early Language Tran
Page 49 and 50: ecognised as a language or not; in
Page 51 and 52: ‘starting age’, ‘social and g
Page 53 and 54: 3.3 Definition of Multilingual Earl
Page 55 and 56: This general division in years is f
Page 57 and 58: should adopt strategies to reinforc
Page 59 and 60: children was not good for their int
Page 61 and 62: 4. Multilingual Early Language Tran
Page 63 and 64: status even if the grounds are some
Page 65 and 66: The “language-time” strategy is
Page 67 and 68: multilingual person it is important
Page 69 and 70: 5.1.1. Quality of language input Th
Page 71 and 72: answers with a physical response su
Page 73 and 74: acquisition. Some pre-school staff
Page 75 and 76: Most participating settings are now
Page 77 and 78: has to be able to understand the ne
Page 79 and 80: 6. Recommendations and challenges L
Page 81 and 82: 6.3 Multilingual Early Language Tra
Page 83 and 84: 6.5 Challenges for the future At mi
Page 85 and 86: References Alvarez, L., Mac Swan, J
Page 87 and 88: Duquette, G. (1992). The home cultu
Page 89 and 90: McGrath, E., Repetti, R. L. (2000).
Page 91 and 92: 7. “Early Bilingual Development:
Page 93 and 94: Needless to say, if parents themsel
Page 95 and 96:
Let's compare Pelle's case with the
Page 97 and 98:
languages they are learning. Also,
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equires a heightened attention on t
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8. “Immersion Preschooling in Ire
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Curriculum and Training for Irish M
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using the language every day...with
Page 107 and 108:
This is supported by research showi
Page 109 and 110:
References Baker, C. (1997). Langua
Page 111 and 112:
Ó Laoire, M. (2006). Language educ
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Those of us working for this progra
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of 180 study points whereof 20 are
Page 117 and 118:
exclude the increasing social class
Page 119 and 120:
References Advisory Board for Early
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Appendix A: Partnership of the MELT
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Appendix B: MELT Project flyer Engl
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Dutch version: Frisian version: 125
Page 127 and 128:
Appendix C: MELT Awareness-raising
Page 129:
This project has been funded with s
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