Language Use in the Two-Way Classroom: Lessons from a Spanish-English Bilingual Kindergarten (76) (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism (76))

Based on an extended ethnographic study of a dual language (Spanish-English) Kindergarten, this book takes a critical look at children's linguistic (and non-linguistic) interactions and the ways that teaching design can help or hinder language development. With a focus on official “Spanish time”, it explores the particular challenges of supporting the minority language use as well as the teacher's strategies for doing so. In bilingual classrooms, teachers' goals include bilingualism as well as academic achievement for all. The children may share these interests, but have their own agendas as well. This book explores the linguistic and social interactions that may help, or hinder, these multiple and sometimes conflicting agendas. How can teachers design educational practice that takes into consideration broader forces of language hegemony as well as children's immediate interests?

Renée DePalma is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of A Coruña, Spain. She coordinates the ECIGAL research group on global citizenship education and her research examines the social construction of marginalization within and beyond schools and the design of counter-hegemonic classroom practices.