English as an additional language
Being bilingual or multi-lingual has many advantages. A child's home language is part of their identity; it is a connection to their family, community and culture.
The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework (1:14) states that:
'For children whose home language is not English, providers may take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning, supporting their language development at home'.
See the relevant resources below or our Pinterest board for more information or go to our training programme for details of courses we have on offer.
Relevant resources
- All about me: home language profile - PDF, 279KB (Essex County Council)
- EAL: stages of learning a new language - PDF, 142KB (Essex County Council)
- The importance of home language - PDF, 782KB (Essex County Council).
The importance of home language leaflet is also available in the following languages:
- Arabic - PDF, 1.6MB
- Bengali - PDF, 1.58MB
- Bulgarian - PDF, 1.3MB
- Dari - PDF, 239KB
- French - PDF, 1.32MB
- Gujerati - PDF, 1.73MB
- Hungarian - PDF, 804KB
- Italian - PDF, 782KB
- Latvian - PDF, 844KB
- Lithuanian - PDF, 1.29MB
- Malayman - PDF, 1.75MB
- Mandarin - PDF, 902KB
- Pashto - PDF, 249KB
- Polish - PDF, 810KB
- Portugese - PDF, 1.35MB
- Punjabi - PDF, 1.77MB
- Romanian - PDF, 814KB
- Russian- PDF, 796KB
- Spanish - PDF, 205KB
- Thai- PDF, 1.82MB
- Turkish - PDF, 803KB
- Ukrainian - PDF, 211KB
- Urdu - PDF, 1.65MB