We want all preschool children to start learning the alphabet. That’s not always easy when they come to preschool with different language backgrounds. It can be confusing for a Spanish speaker to see a picture of “una manzana” (Spanish word for apple) next to the letter A while the other kids are saying “aaah”. This multilingual alphabet tool provides example words that start with the same sound in 6 languages so B is for bathtub in English and bañera in Spanish. That’s a great way to get DLLs started! Here are some tips for using this resource in early childhood classrooms:
- When helping a bilingual child learn the first letter of their name, enhance the learning by showing them the example for that letter in both languages.
- Find the words from the multilingual Alphabet Card in your books, games and environmental print and add them to labels or stickie notes where needed.
- Draw children’s attention to the sounds of the letters in their home language and English by using the words in guessing games: “What goes in a nest or nido? What goes in a bathtub or bañera?” “Which of these things makes music/música? Violin/violin? Tower/torre? Xylophone/xilófono? Helicopter/helicóptero?”
- Bring one of multilingual Alphabet Posters out to the playground. Build language connections with fun gross motor play: “Who can show us some robot/robot moves? Who can show us some yoga/yoga moves?” “Let’s move like a lion/lion. Who can be an orangutan/orangutan?”
- And, send copies of the multilingual Alphabet Card home as conversation starters for families who are bilingual or who want to learn new languages.

