People from non-English speaking backgrounds face many challenges when it comes to communication and access to information from the media.
At Gowrie NSW Illawarra Crèche we care for children whose first language is a language other than English, making it vital for us to provide support and recommendations for appropriate media for children.
Given this, our Coordinator at Gowrie NSW Illawarra Crèche, Gabrielle Howard, said the theme celebrated throughout this year’s Children’s Week has been an important one to highlight to all children and families.
“We value all types of media and respect families’ use of, and access to media for children,” Ms Howard, said.
“This topic of ‘Children have the right to Reliable Information from the Media’ has been an important issue to reinforce in the early years, especially for us here at Gowrie NSW Illawarra Crèche, as our families are CALD and are all ESL families.”
The languages that the children attending Gowrie NSW Illawarra Crèche speak include Armenian, Arabic, Polish, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Russian and Kurdish etc.
“As educators we can help in to ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn how to select and use media to their advantage,” Ms Howard said.
To support this, Ms Howard said the educators created a list of suitable apps for children aged 2-6 to assist families in accessing appropriate apps to support literacy and numeracy for their children.
During group time, educators also spent time sharing a wide variety of cultural stories that supported the theme of Children’s Week.
“We believe is it important to acknowledge that the media, especially in conjunction with technology, plays a large role in children’s lives,” Ms Howard said.
