Contents | 
| Introduction | 4 | 
| About this book | 6 | 
| The national picture | 6 | 
| What does this mean for your work with young children? | 8 | 
| Settings used for case studies | 10 | 
| Brief outline of each chapter | 11 | 
| Chapter one: EAL essentials | 13 | 
| What does EAL mean? | 13 | 
| Groups of EAL learners | 14 | 
| What is bilingualism? | 15 | 
| Key EAL matters | 16 | 
| Chapter two: How children learn languages | 22 | 
| First language acquisition | 23 | 
| Learning two languages simultaneously | 25 | 
| How do children learn an additional language? | 26 | 
| Stages of additional language acquisition | 27 | 
| Factors that impact on additional language learning | 29 | 
| Differences between languages | 30 | 
| Chapter three: Helping children to settle in | 33 | 
| Before the child starts | 33 | 
| The child’s first day | 37 | 
| The child’s first few weeks | 40 | 
| Chapter four: Creating a suitable environment | 43 | 
| Communication-friendly spaces | 43 | 
| Making the environment suitable for EAL learners | 44 | 
| Chapter five: Adult–child interaction | 54 | 
| Key principles for quality adult–child interaction | 55 | 
| Interacting with simultaneous learners (under 3 years) | 57 | 
| Interacting with children who are new to English | 57 | 
| Interacting with a child during the “silent period” | 61 | 
| Providing opportunities for children to use their home language | 62 | 
| The importance of play | 64 | 
| Cultural differences in play | 65 | 
| EAL language programs | 65 | 
| Chapter six: Building positive relationships with families and carers | 66 | 
| Developing partnership working with families | 67 | 
| What does a good relationship between a family and an educator look like? | 67 | 
| General advice to promote good relationship building | 67 | 
| Potential challenges to partnership working | 69 | 
| Overcoming potential challenges | 69 | 
| Key messages to give to families | 72 | 
| Working with interpreters | 74 | 
| Chapter seven: Observation, assessment and planning | 75 | 
| Involving families in the observation, assessment and planning cycle | 78 | 
| Assessment before transition to school | 80 | 
| Chapter eight: Working with children with communication difficulties | 84 | 
| Understanding language, speech and communication needs | 85 | 
| Identifying communication difficulties in EAL learners | 90 | 
| Supporting EAL learners with language, speech and communication needs | 94 | 
| Resources | 99 | 
| Home activity sheets | 99 | 
| Checklist for pre-start family meeting | 106 | 
| Checklist for determining a child’s skills in their home language | 110 | 
| References | 111 | 
| Acknowledgements | 114 |