ABSTRACT
This article provides an introduction to aspects of emergent literacy and bilingualism that will orient readers to the importance of innovative and varied classroom activities with young children, so that teachers can promote competence and enjoyment of language learning, particularly for those young children learning English as a second language. This article also introduces a set of researches in this Special Issue on how teachers and principals respond to legislative requirements in some Asian countries, that is, laws that impact on how and when teachers can introduce bilingual and even trilingual efforts in Asian classrooms. Some of the research papers reveal how urgent the need for teacher training is when adults (responsible for the care of very young children) have not been required or helped to understand the importance of providing early positive responses and effective interactions to promote rich language development from infancy onward. Other researches in this Special Issue provide specific details of creative teacher efforts to encourage emergent literacy, storytelling, and bilingual proficiency in classrooms for young children in four Asian countries.
