Developmentally appropriate early childhood programs provide children with joyful, play-based learning opportunities focused on the whole child (NAEYC 2022). Critical to this focus is the combination of practices responsive to children’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Multilingual learners, sometimes referred to as dual language learners or English learners, are children who live and study in two or more languages; for example, speaking Spanish at home and learning English in early learning programs and schools. However, many multilingual learners do not receive access to the evidence-based instruction necessary to acquire the skills and knowledge to thrive in educational settings, especially at the level of their non-multilingual peers (Langeloo et al. 2019). As a case in point, only 10 percent of Maryland multilingual learners met the state’s kindergarten readiness expectations in the fall of 2023 (MSDE 2024).

We (the authors) are teacher educators who study literacy, multilingual learners, and early childhood education. Through our work with preschool educators and project-based curricula, we have seen that interactive read alouds can be powerful, accessible avenues for fostering multilingual learners’ oral language, vocabulary, background knowledge, print awareness, and reading comprehension (see “An Integrated Approach to Children’s Learning” below). We have also found that preschool educators often want more concrete guidance on supporting multilingual learners, particularly when they do not share the children’s home languages.