How to support bilingual children’s language development? Speech therapy in the process of teaching polish as a foreign language

Abstract

The author describes the most important aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism by presenting the specifics of the work of Niepubliczne Dwujęzyczne Przedszkole KIDS & Co. which offers bilingual education. The main objective of this way of teaching is to achieve a functional bilingualism among children and to prepare them for further learning processes conducted in the second language. The author characterizes both, multilingual children’s language difficulties, which may hinder communication with others, and the psychological aspects of a sense of alienation and disability to be a community member. Using her work experieince, the author presents the methods of working with multilingual children, from a speech therapist’s, and a Polish language as L2 teacher’s, point of view. The author emphasizes the importance of supporting the children’s speech with a formal way of teaching Polish, and points out the need to assist them in their multilingual growth.