Description
Through different approaches like toys and play, children explore and know the rules and symbols of their communities and recreate roles and situations that reflect their sociocultural and 21st century plurilingual world. As a result, they learn how to subordinate desires to social rules, cooperate with others willingly, and engage in socially appropriate behavior. When they are evaluated together psychologically, there is a current need for action to increase the amount and quality of play provided to children. Since discrepancies are observed between urban and rural areas, as well as among different cultures, there is also a need for a research initiative where cultures can learn and take advantage of the experiences of each other.
International Perspectives on Modern Developments in Early Childhood Education is an essential scholarly publication that identifies ways of intertwining key areas of early childhood education, including international approaches, intercultural education, bilingual/plurilingual education, and the role of play and toys as means for meaningful intercultural and multilingual learning. By incorporating a view of different cultures, societies, languages, and educational experiences in early childhood education, this volume provides data for international and intercultural exchange for the benefit of children. Highlighting a range of topics such as educational systems, play therapy, and games, this book is ideal for early childhood teachers, educators, academicians, researchers, professionals, psychologists, sociologists, and students.
Author's/Editor's Biography
Cristina A. Huertas-Abril (Ed.)
Cristina A. Huertas-Abril
belongs to the Department of English and German Philologies of the University of Córdoba (Spain). She is the co-founder of the Ibero-American Network of Bilingual and Intercultural Education (IBIE) and a member of the Research Group HUM-1006 ‘Research in Bilingual and Intercultural Education’ (EBeI). Her research focuses on the teaching of English as a foreign language, bilingual education and educational technologies.
María Gómez-Parra (Ed.)
María Elena Gómez-Parra, Ph.D. graduated from the University of Granada as an English Philologist and then from the University of Córdoba as a PhD. She holds a Master in Distant Education. Currently, she is an interdisciplinary researcher working mainly within Intercultural Education, Bilingual Education, and English as a Foreign Language. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Córdoba, Spain. Her key research areas include: interculture, bilingual education, early second language acquisition. Dr. Gómez Parra is the director of the Research Group HUM-1006 (Research in Bilingual and Intercultural Education); she is a full member of ATINER, the President of IBIE (Ibero-American Bilingual and Intercultural Education) Network since its foundation, the Director of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) entitled Play, Education, Toys and Languages (PETaL), the IP of the Research Project ‘LinguApp: LinguApp: asegurando el acceso al aprendizaje universal e inclusivo de segundas lenguas’ (Ref. no. PRY208/17, funded by Centro de Estudios Andaluces, July 2017-July 2019), and the IP of the Research Spanish National Project entitled ‘Facing Bilinguals: Study of Bilingual Education Programmes' Results through Social Data Analysis’ (2018-2021).