Playing in English: The emerging voices of pre-primary children in a foreign language context

Potential provision for early language learning should be integrated into early childhood pedagogy and should not be formalized or designed to ‘fast track’ youngsters out of their childhood experiences” (European Commission, 2011, p. 13). This quote comes from a European policy handbook that outlines what should be happening in preprimary language learning contexts. Reports are emerging that suggest English is taught at the preprimary level in most countries using stand-alone lessons, with formal explicit language instruction focusing on developing discrete language skills and ignoring the importance of integration and age-appropriate pedagogies (Mourão & Lourenço, 2015; Murphy & Evangelo, 2016). This chapter describes a way in which English is successfully integrated into early childhood pedagogy through a balanced approach of teacher-led activity and child-initiated play in English in a preprimary school in Portugal.