Multilingual Language Program: Sustaining home languages of newcomer families

By Andrea A.N. MacLeod, Multilingual Families Lab, University of Alberta

Quick Facts

Population of interest:
Immigrant and refugee parents and children 3-6 years old. Newcomer parents who speak their home language often experience challenges in transmitting their language(s) to their children resulting in children losing their home language. We use the term “home language” to refer to languages that are not used in mainstream contexts such as schools and health services. In Canada and outside of Québec, home languages encompass languages other than English.

Location:
Edmonton, Alberta

The need:
Language is deeply connected to how we enact our culture, raise our children and maintain ties to our family and our community. Children who share a home language with their parents build strong intergenerational connections, experience higher self-esteem, and can navigate resources within their family and community in addition to mainstream settings. We know that newcomer parents value their language(s), but often experience challenges transmitting and maintaining their home language. Parents often hear advice that their child should focus on learning English and can find mainstream programs that support English language learning. However, few programs exist to support children’s home languages thus suggesting that their home language knowledge is not valuable.

What's promising?
We have partnered with early education settings and community organizations to implement the program. These partners have shared that they value the home languages spoken by children and their families, but that they are often uncertain of practices that would support these languages. Through our partnership they learn to implement practices that help children and parents feel that their languages are valued and important.

Key takeaway:
By helping children become aware that their languages are a superpower, they can feel proud and confident. By providing programming to support home languages outside the home, parents and educators can see the value and importance of these languages.

About the organization
The Multilingual Families Lab is a research team from the University of Alberta, located on Treaty 6 and Métis Nation of Alberta-Region 4, in Edmonton Alberta. Our multilingual team focuses on community-based participatory research in partnership with organizations across Edmonton. Our research is informed by social justice and we aim to foster and support linguistically and culturally sustaining practices.

About the Intervention
The Multilingual Language Program is developed to support parents, communities, and early years educators in transmitting and celebrating children’s home languages. The program typically takes place over eight weeks in 60-90 minute sessions. The program focuses on young children aged 3 to 6 years old who are exposed to a home language at home. We use an inclusive approach and adapt the program to welcome neurodivergent children. By focusing on young children, we can provide support to parents early in their child’s development. During these years, children also experience the transition from home to a mainstream preschool or school context where the majority language dominates.

Throughout the program, the language(s) spoken by the children are integrated in the activities, books and materials. Our multilingual team models bilingual and plurilingual practices so that children can see these competencies in action. And, whenever possible, we include speakers of the language(s) to lead the program.

The program is developed around linguistically and culturally relevant themes such as Food, Family, and Emotions. These themes build on children’s world knowledge and help them to feel confident. They also provide a shared context for children’s learning and can create a bridge between the majority and home languages. Paired with these themes are multilingual books and interactive storytelling. We also include crafts and imaginary play that tie in the themes.

Feedback
Since 2020, we have implemented 17 programs in Edmonton which have taken place in person, online and in hybrid modalities. These implementations have all taken place with community-based partners. The languages known by children in the program include Amharic, Arabic, Cantonese, French, German, Hindi, Jamaican Creole, Kurdish, Malayalam, Mandarin, Pashto, Punjabi, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamazight, Tamil, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Yoruba.

Community partners have shared:

• “I think this is such a good program. It is very culturally related… celebrating themes, celebrating with foods.”
• “Thank you for giving us the opportunity to learn and connect. We had a great time.” 
• “Wish we could extend it - what we did with multilingual lab - families benefited and gave hope to parents.”

And parents have shared:

• “ …that’s why I’m with you guys. Because I need someone to help me, like um have an idea about how to support my kids development language…I got some strategies from you”
• “The child likes our Mandarin Chinese better and is very confident.”
• “Through singing activities with me, my children learned a lot of new words. For example, they learned to say words such as hands, belly, nose, etc. through clapping songs with their little hands. They also met good friends.”