Abstract:

The following article presents the experience of testing of an early bilingual education program integrated in the educational environment of a kindergarten. It focuses on investigation of the pedagogical potential of early bilingual education in multicultural breeding formation of a preschooler as an integral quality of global citizens.

The guiding idea of the program is senior preschoolers’ introduction to the culture of Great Britain in the process of early bilingual education declares “Culture is an objective, language is a means”. Teaching a foreign language (English) is correlated with British culture as a common heritage of mankind. The content of the program includes two integrative modules: "Hi, Britain!" (curriculum of preschoolers’ introduction to national culture of the UK) and "English and a Pre-school Child" (the program of English learning).

Target dominant of the program is aimed to children’s promotion of a better understanding of different cultures, giving them a tool for integration into the ever-changing linguistic and cultural palette of the global society, contributing to a young citizen’s understanding how to live without conflicts in a global community since early childhood.

The objectives of the program are:
1) to expand the world picture of a senior preschooler with information about British culture;
2) to form elementary knowledge of English for use in real elementary communications in simple daily situations;
3) to teach children to understand representatives of the other cultures and take part in positive intercultural communication.

The program is realized according to the guiding principles of global education. These basic statements are: pedantry, continuity; activation of cognitive activity; integrity; credibility; coherence; integration of basic educational areas in preschool educational organizations; communicative, socio-cultural and activity-based approaches; general didactic principles of early bilingual education (personal approach; the use of native language, methodical principles of early bilingual education, etc.).

Comparison of experimental measurements of the parameters of multicultural breeding of senior preschoolers as a result of the implementation of the program proves that early bilingual education intensifies the process of formation and development of multicultural breeding of senior preschool children develops their abilities to select moral values in a global society, based on humanistic ideals to avoid national and ethnic shocks in the "global village".

Keywords:

Multicultural education, multicultural breeding, early bilingual education.