2 .Encourage parents and carers who speak a language other than English to use their home language in your setting - for example, to tell a story or teach the children a song.
3 .Take part in international events and conferences (details of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association Conference are given below).
4 .Ask if any of the families you work with can put you in touch with a nursery or school in another country.
5 .Contact the British Council to be put in touch with other schools and nurseries that are looking for exchanges with a British setting.
6 .Show excerpts from different types of videos to children. A familiar Disney film in Italian, or scenes from Indian films, can be particularly popular.
7 .Read about international developments and perspectives in journals such as Early Childhood Practice (details are given below).
8 .Ask families to help you prepare different types of food from around the world as part of your regular menu.
9 .Use different language settings on computer programmes. For example, the popular painting programme 'KidPix' can be used in Spanish. Living Book CD-Roms often have French and German texts as well as the English.
10 .Ensure that different languages are included in signs around your setting and encourage the children to find out about and use them. One of the recent findings of brain research is that young children are especially receptive to language learning.
* The Institute of Education hosts the tenth annual European Early Childhood Education Research Association Conference in London from 29 August to 1 September. For details, contact Cathy Bird on 020 7612 6017)
* To subscribe to Early Childhood Practice, send a cheque for 35 and an SAE to Early Childhood Practice, 54 Mall Road, London W6 9DG. Cheques should be made payable to 'Early Childhood Practice'. A subscription covers two issues.
