SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING INTEGRATION INTO EARLY BILINGUAL EDUCATION OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

The article examines current tendencies in preschool education in the EU countries. Namely social and emotional learning and bilingual education, which are successfully integrated and have common teaching methods and technologies. Neuroscience research undoubtedly proves the need for early social and emotional learning of pre-schoolers in order to form their social and emotional literacy, developing prosocial behaviour in future, and develop the skills to show empathy and tolerance. Children’s acquisition of these competencies has a long-lasting impact and ensures emotional well-being and mental health lifelong. At the same time with the introduction of social and emotional learning, there is an urgent need for bilingual education of preschool children, where they simultaneously learn their native and foreign languages. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) of foreign language is actively promoted into early education of preschool children in EU countries. Scientists have proved that pre-schoolers’ formation of social and emotional competencies during the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning is quite effective due to joint methods: the use of game technologies and visual materials, dialogic learning, team interaction, emotional support and motivation. An effective tool for social and emotional and content and language integrated learning is the pre-schoolers’ motor activities (physical education classes, dances, dramatizations), which contribute to the development of children’s strong- willed character traits, their team interaction, and improvement of internalization, i.e. the process of adopting the values of the children’s group. European integration processes in Ukraine indicate the need to introduce bilingual education in combination with social and emotional learning into the educational process of preschool educational institutions. Further scientific research will concern the creation and implementation of an effective model for the formation of social and emotional literacy of senior preschool age children in bilingual groups of preschool educational institutions of Ukraine.