Language Use in the Two-Way Classroom ─ Lessons from a Spanish-English Bilingual Kindergarten

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?

"The numerous rich examples of the effectiveness of different strategies and practices within a variety of instructional contexts make this book essential reading for educators, parents, students and researchers interested in second language education. DePalma's findings will have important implications for program design, interventions, curriculum and instructional practices in second language learning programs." Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, San Jose State University, USA

Renee DePalma received her PhD in 2003 from the University of Delaware (USA), where she helped to establish La Red Magica, a community-university collaborative project which aims to promote intercultural relationships between university students and minority children in a nearby urban community center. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Vigo, Spain. She is mainly interested in the social construction of marginalization within and beyond schools, ways in which success and failure are co-constructed in institutional settings, and the design of counter-hegemonic institutional contexts and classroom practices.