Class with high % of no English

[Schooldinners1]

I mean haven’t learn English yet or minimal knowledge. Does this affect friendships and socialising for EYFS or do kids get along pretty well playing and the language will come quick?

As long as my child is happy and Making friends all is good. I’ve heard language develops super fast at this age!

My child was actually in the minority in Reception class as his 1st language was English. It was not a barrier to friendships at all, I remember his teacher saying “smiles and hugs work in any language” and that’s very true with kids.
Also the children who spoke little or no English in September were mostly fluent by Christmas!

Yes Dd also in the minority in her year with English as a first language. Been absolutely no problems at all. The kids pick up language so quickly at that age and there was no problems with friendships. Ie the English speaking kids didn’t all group together. They all just played together.

I don't think it hinders socialisation, I've seen young kids with different languages play happily on holiday for example, they just get on with it, so much of their play is non verbal anyway. My concern would be more about the English speakers learning nothing whilst the ESL kids learn English but perhaps schools manage it better these days than compared to my past experiences.

Same, my 2 year old is one of the only white British kids in nursery and the majority have another language before English as their first language. Lots of recent immigrants in my area, and temporary foreign workers eg diplomats, who presumably speak their own language at home.

I think it depends on age. A friend’s stepdaughter went to boarding school and there was an influx of Chinese students in sixth form. Presumably they spoke good English to be at the school, but she said that they didn’t speak much if at all in class and only socialised with each other, with the language as a factor that isolated them / with which they isolated themselves.

For early years it maybe means parents with the same language may find each other and arrange more play dates, meaning the kids with the same language level and background socialise more together? But it doesn’t seem to make much difference when it’s just ten toddlers together.

Aww this is amazing. I thought so too. Just nice to hear it from others.

That’s so true. Kids don’t ask what languages each other speaks on holiday! They play happily for hours together.

I suppose they might so small break out sessions for example for kids who are learning English. I do know in our current school they do a lot of smaller group activities between teachers so it might be the same.

I think the only time it can be an issue is if the families at a school with English as a second language all share the same first language and then it can be hard to make friends (or at least out of school friends).

Young children pick up languages unbelievably fast, so it won’t be a problem. But also, it is worth considering that even children classed as having English as a second language might speak English well. E.g. I was classed as such, simply because both my parents were born abroad. But I was born in England and my parents actually went to English speaking schools in their country of origin - so we mostly spoke English at home. My mum even had a masters degree in English literature! None of that was taken into account when classifying me in the category of speaking English as a second language when I started school (although I suppose that might have changed now.)

I think it depends on age - in Reception, no issue, they’ll learn quickly enough and their pace of language should not hold others back.
KS2 - if too many non English speakers then this would have an impact on learning, so I would be more concerned.
however, my main concern would be whether the parents speak English. Because if they don’t then it will be very difficult to foster friendships by arranging play dates etc (and I say this as someone whose children are a minority in class - one class - parents speak great English, no issues; other class, a number of parents don’t, and this is do much harder, a lot stick together in groups and only speak their language).

To echo the others, kids play together and make friends no matter what language they speak.

It‘s amazing how quickly young children pick up a new language. Especially if the school language is exclusively English.

My DC go to a bilingual school (not English ) and their mother tongue is English. They‘ve had no problems making friends and have a better social life than me! At first they had no language in common with friends but spoke English to them anyway 😆 By the end of the first year of Kindergarten they were both fluent in the school‘s main language, and getting good at the second one.

This is so true also. I came to the UK during primary school and I was placed in this group for extra language support and my English was already really good! I think some parents volunteer to read with us and they were surprised I could and after than I continued learning with all the others in class 😄 Thanks.

My dsis and I came into a primary school class with very little English at ages 7 and 10. We were both bilingual by Christmas and still are 45 years later.

The point about parents is a valid one though; ours spoke good English already.

Hopefully we will have some parents that will be up for going to the park during holidays etc! I can understand how language could make this harder. By the time the kids are old enough they can make their own requests for play dates! 😄

I agree it can be trickier with the parents rather than with the kids. One of my child’s friends spoke only Polish so we used Google translate with some amusing results!!

The issue I could see would be if one other language dominated, and then children might revert to that in the playground etc.
If instead there is a whole mix of languages I think it would be easier.