Background

Welcome the Children began as the Nuestra Familia (which means "Our Family" in Spanish) Project. UAMS Partners for Inclusive Communities (formerly the University Affiliated Program) was awarded a contract from the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (DCCECE) for the Nuestra Familia project in 1999. Nuestra Familia was a training project for child care workers who served preschool children whose primary language was Spanish. The goal of Nuestra Familia was to assist child care providers and early childhood educators to learn strategies to support the second language learner in an early childhood setting. This goal was to be accomplished through the development and presentation of three training modules: (1) cultural diversity, (2) the first and second language acquisition process, and (3) assessing children for language delays.

There were some initial delays in getting the project "up and running." As appropriate training materials could not be located from an available source, Partners' staff member, Veronica Valdez, drafted the first module on cultural diversity, titled "Reaching Out and Welcoming Second Language Learners and Their Families," which covered recognition and acceptance of cultural and linguistic diversity. Partners contracted with Dr. Anita Mendez-Perez from the University of Texas at Houston to write the second and third training modules. The second module, titled "Learning to Talk in Two Languages," covered the first language and second language acquisition process for young children and strategies for working with families to reinforce classroom activities. The third module, titled "Supporting Language Development for Second Language Learners," covered how to assess children for language difference (Spanish/English) vs. language delay.

In April 2001, Partners' staff member, Brenda Reynolds, assumed the role of Project Coordinator. The Advisory Committee was pulled back together, new members were added and the members reviewed each training module as it was received from Dr. Mendez-Perez. Based. On their suggestions, the sessions were to be initially piloted in the Little Rock area. Also, a separate program evaluation to be conducted by UALR was recommended and approved.

Piloting of Nuestra Familia Training Modules

The first module was piloted on September 15, 2001. Based on review of the participant evaluations and suggestions from Advisory Committee members, it was decided to revise the first module to put a greater emphasis on Latin American culture and combine the second and third modules into one. The trainers, Meredith Wells and Shay Lastra from "nsite language services" took on the task of revamping and combining the modules into two full-day sessions.  Each training session lasts approximately seven hours. The new modules were piloted in Little Rock (November 2 and December 14, 2001), Ft. Smith (June 1 and June 15, 2002) Little Rock (August 13 - 14, 2002) and Monticello (February 12 - 13, 2003). Following the December 2001 session, Darlene Kurtz of UALR and Tanya Miller of UAMS ECCO Head Start assumed the roles of trainers. There were a total of 104 participants, primarily day care teachers, trained during the pilot phase, with nearly all attending both sessions.  (Both Tanya and Darlene currently work with the Welcome the Children project.)

The modules have since been fully developed and revised several times to include additional materials relevant to child care professionals serving children of Latin American families.  The following modules form the core of the Welcome the Children training program:

Module 1: "Cultural Diversity - Early Child Care Providers Working with Latin American Families," covers recognition and acceptance of cultural and linguistic diversity.

Module 2: "Second Language Development and Working with Families," covers the language and second language acquisition process for young children, language difference vs. language delay, working with interpreters, classroom modifications, and strategies for working with families to reinforce classroom activities.