This path-breaking book provides a convincing argument for the importance of children's home languages and the benefits of dual- and multi-language learning. A new classroom practice known as Linguistically Appropriate Practice (LAP) offers guidance for those working with young children who arrive in childcare centres and schools with little or no proficiency in the classroom language. Linguistically Appropriate Practice details over fifty classroom activities that can be adapted to match both the developmental level of the children and the classroom curriculum.

Intended for childcare staff, health care providers, settlement workers, speech and language pathologists, kindergarten and primary grade teachers, family resource workers, and literacy specialists, this book is an essential resource for preparing young children for the complex communication and literacy demands of the twenty-first century.

Roma Chumak-Horbatsch is Associate Professor in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.

Roma Chumak-Horbatsch's profile page

Chumak-Horbatsch acknowledges the challenges facing teachers to find developmentally and linguistically appropriate drills as well as the need for classroom practices that expand beyond simple support. The exercises in the book dovetail closely with the dynamic bilingualism theory of helping children actively learn to use more than one language successfully. The classroom activities contain brief, well-written practical information. Linguistically Appropriate Practice is a good resource that teachers could use repeatedly.

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This skilfully crafted book is a treasure trove for early childhood administrators and teachers. It is of value to anyone wanting to introduce inclusive pedagogies for children with plurilingual repertoires from diverse cultures. It is highly recommended as a resource and a manual of what is linguistically good practice for 21st-century early childhood programmes.

<em>International School Journal</em>