I'm here to draw on your experiences of looking after a child whose home language isn't English.

The child has just turned 2 and has been coming here for a few months now. At home her parents speak to her in their language and here I obviously speak to her in English. Her communication skills are good. I use a lot of non verbal communication with her - facial expression, hand gestures, tone of voice etc, and she understands a lot of what I'm try to convey. She takes my hand to take me to something she wants and points at things she can't reach. She interacts well without needing me to understand what she's saying.

Her speech is very clear although I don't understand the words if she says something in her home language. The letter sounds are all very clear though and parents tell me she uses lots of word at home. She has started to use some English words here, which is great. So overall I have no worries about her S&L development.

What I do wonder about are the resources I should be providing for her. I know at one time childminders would get books in the home language, put up posters, picture cards etc, but I've always been a bit sceptical about that. If the child can't read and if I can't read books in that language, I've never seen the benefit. If the child spoke a language I could read and pronounce then I'd have no problem doing it, but I don't see the point of me attempting to read a book in a language that I can't pronounce.
How do you promote the home language? Do you use books and posters? Do you do anything else or do you just concentrate on speaking English?