ABSTRACT
This reflective case study stems from a three-year ethnographic study (Bligh, 2011) which examined the emergent stage of learning English as an additional language – the silent period, as experienced by young bilingual learners. The silent period, in this reflection, refers to the initial stage in emergent acquisition of English as an additional language, when, on entering an early years setting in England, the language of discourse and instruction (English) is not understood. Not every young bilingual learner encounters a silent period like Adyta, because not every child invests many of their hours, days, weeks and years in an environment where their mother tongue is disregarded (Bligh, 2011).
