Twenty early childhood student educators were surveyed on their teaching practices when working with children learning English as a second language in early childhood centres in New Zealand. The bilingual and trilingual participants stated that their practices were based on their own language learning experiences, theories learned in class and practices modelled by experienced educators. Monolingual participants, with no second language learning experiences, stated that their practices were based on theories and observations of other teachers. This seems to highlight the importance of experiences in the field for all student educators, but especially for those with no personal experience of second-language learning. The field-based mode of study is identified as a successful way of providing this experience, as it requires students to work at a centre during their training. This provides them with ongoing opportunities to apply and consolidate knowledge gained in the classroom, and to observe and critically analyse their own practice and that of others.