Help need help settling in polish child

I agree that the child needs to feel settled and belong to the group, by using some of their first language it can help , parents also feel that you are caring for the child as a person and individual, and hence meeting their needs. But also that we have not found books a helpful way to do this.

All our parents of children with EAL are happy to help us with any language and cultural needs their child may have, and also many will help other parents of children in the setting.. we have several who will come in and translate or help new parents for us, and often now recommend us in thier local community.

The fact that we use sign language along side modelling good English the majority of the time is the best way we have found to encourage communication , as children may understand before willing to vocalise in English and using signs allows them to do this without any pressure.

In Addition the fact that we are willing to use thier first language, whatever it is (we have 4 at present which is less than usual) and mispronounce or have problems with it actually can help the children to understand that we all make mistakes, it really does not matter if they do when speaking to us in English and encourages them to try to vocalise, even if it is to repeat us, or correct our really bad command of thier language.

we also have to remember that when assessing and observing these children that we have to also use thier first language , as while we may not think they can count to 10 or whatever, allow them to do it in first language and they have no problem. This is important in assessing the children and their individual needs.

can i also add that it is also important to speak to parents about childs speech in their first language, how good is it, are they vocalising, speaking in sentences etc.. we have a child with EAL who has poor skills in his first language and is in need of help, had we not asked the correct questions this could easily have been missed.

We do find parents are a big part in all of this, and the best resource we can ever have.

( did not mean to go on so long :sorry:)