Engaging with emergent bilinguals and their families in the pre-primary classroom to foster well-being, learning and inclusion

• Published in: Language and intercultural communication Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 455 - 473
• Main Authors: Mary, Latisha, Young, Andrea S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02.10.2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Children; Classrooms; Code Switching (Language); Cultural Awareness; Culturally Relevant Education; Educational Policy; Ethnography; Families & family life; Foreign Countries; France; Immigrants; intercultural; interculturel; Interviews; Language of Instruction; languages; langues; Learning; Literacy; Literacy Education; Longitudinal studies; MOTSCLÉS école maternelle; multilingual; Multilingualism; Parent Teacher Cooperation; plurilinguisme; Preschool; Preschool Children; Preschool Education; Preschool Teachers; Student Adjustment; Teacher Competencies; Teaching Methods; translanguaging; Video Technology; Well Being; France
• ISSN: 1470-8477; 1747-759X
• DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2017.1368147

This article presents data from a longitudinal study undertaken in a pre-primary classroom of 3-4-year-old emergent bi/plurilingual children during their first year of formal schooling in France. It focuses on how the teacher's intercultural competence facilitated the emergent bilingual children's transition from home to school and fostered positive relationships with these parents and included them in the classroom. The data also suggest that the establishment of trusting relationships and safe spaces for these children and their families favoured the emergence of co-educational practices, namely in the area of literacy and fostered their well-being, learning and inclusion.