AN IMPORTANT ESSENCE IN becoming bicultural and bilingual is for additional languages to be learnt early on. This article is based on an infant and toddler case study within my doctoral research to discover how practitioners with this age group incorporate the bicultural curriculum into their teaching. The methodology was action development which is a synthesis of appreciative inquiry and action research. The findings show that the early childhood practitioners had strategies to support and encourage the implementation of the bicultural curriculum with children less than two years of age. Working as team, modelling both te reo Māori and English, enabled the children to begin their bicultural journey. Practitioners using the appreciative approach built on their strengths to grow in confidence. This research is important for practitioners working with babies to ensure they have the possibilities to develop cognitively and linguistically through learning additional cultures and languages.
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