Guided Play Supporting Immigrant Children’s Participation and Bilingual Development in Preschools.

The study focuses on how to use play-based activities in kindergarten to support the language development of children with an immigrant background. The study investigates how kindergarten teachers can facilitate active and participatory learning environments that promote bilingualism and integration. The aim of the study is to identify and design teacher-led activities that can enrich children’s linguistic environment and improve their ability to actively participate and engage in reading- and writing-based resources, as well as other cultural resources.

The study shows that teacher-led play can be used educationally to support children’s agency and curiosity-driven learning, while also promoting democratic citizenship. Kindergarten teachers use multimodal semiotics, including language, gestures, mimicry and cultural artefacts, to create engaging play environments that promote children’s learning and participation. The researchers emphasise that children’s participation in play develops gradually. They need more support in the beginning, but as they become more familiar with the story and play, they become more independent and take more initiative.

The study used video and audio recordings of teacher-led play activities. The sample consisted of children aged 1 to 5 years from several ordinary kindergartens in Sweden. These had children with different mother tongues, including Tigrinja, Arabic dialects, Somali, Kurdish dialects, Romani, Serbian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. The researchers worked with the teachers to develop, implement, observe and analyse play activities over a period of several months. The study does not specify the number of schools or children who participated.

Cekaite, A., & Simonsson, M. (2023). Guided Play Supporting Immigrant Children’s Participation and Bilingual Development in Preschools. International Journal of Early Childhood, 55(3), 403–420.