ABSTRACT
Teachers have a professional responsibility to develop their pedagogical knowledge of bilingual pupils' needs in line with the statutory inclusion principles outlined in the National Curriculum and the Race Relations Act. This chapter aims to locate the teaching of bilingual children within a brief historical context and to provide teachers with some pedagogic principles. Bilingual learners are those children who have access to more than one language at home or at school. Offering bilingual children opportunity to draw on their first language skills, alongside English, can support their overall development. Bilingual pupils are faced with complex learning demands to ensure academic success. They are learning the grammatical structures, functions and nuances of English, alongside curriculum content and skills. All classrooms should reflect a variety of cultures in terms of pictures, posters, books, resources and artefacts. The most important thing about helping children to acquire a new language is to create a 'safe' environment where they feel confident in taking risks.
