Teacher Education / Professional Development Research Paper (25 mins)
How Monolingual Teachers Can Run a Bilingual/Bicultural Story Time
This study presents how multi-language and culture-focused story time would support English learners develop their dual languages in early childhood education (ECE) settings. Monolingual teachers who are native English speakers at ECE are only using English and American Culture for English learners in their classrooms. Two monolingual teachers and two bilingual teachers participated in conducting a bilingual and bicultural story time while co-selecting books and collaborating with the researcher. In the bilingual story time observation and practices, teachers showed the possibilities to well incorporate home language (e.g. Arabic, Spanish, Korean) with English and how to expose English learners to diverse cultures, which can be seen in their communities. Especially, how young children have been empowered listening and speaking their home languages and cultures at school. This research made teacher raise their awareness of the importance of language-focused education for young children and contribute to teacher education at ECE in Korea.