EYFS Best Practice - All about...multilingualism and critical thinking

More than a million five- to 18-year-olds in the UK use more than one language in their daily lives. Almost a fifth (18.1 per cent) of primary school children have a first language other than English (NALDIC, 2013), and there are increasing numbers of children whose first language is not English now entering early years settings.
While the majority of these children will be bilingual – using two languages in their daily lives – their backgrounds, family circumstances and cultural heritage will vary enormously. The diversity can be seen from the likes of Lorna, Noor and Annis, all of whom attend a north London primary school where 36 different languages are spoken (see below).
It is the role of the early years practitioner to meet the unique needs of the individual child; however, it is important to remember too that being bilingual is the most common way of being human – more than 70 per cent of the world’s population use two languages in their daily lives.
According to the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, early years practitioners must provide opportunities for children whose first language is not English to develop their home language in play and learning. Providers must also ‘ensure that children have sufficient opportunities to learn and reach a good standard in English during the EYFS’ (page 13).
While this guideline outlines staff qualifications, training, support and skills, there is no mention of how providers should develop training to support multilingual children or how to support children’s home languages, especially in a school like our north London case study.
So, how can early years practitioners create an enabling environment and develop positive relationships to nurture the learning and development of each bilingual or multilingual child? What does it mean to ‘ensure sufficient opportunities’ to develop a ‘good standard of
English’, and can this be done at the same time as children develop home languages in play?
Significant research has been conducted to ascertain how multilingualism might affect children’s development, particularly their linguistic and cognitive development  (‘multilingualism’ is defined here as using more than one language in one’s daily life).