The ‘insider/outsider’ dilemma of ethnography: Working with young children and their families in cross-cultural contexts

In this article we unravel the difficulty of being researchers in the homes and classrooms of children and their families whose origins are, for one of us, very different and, for the other, very similar to our own. We first situate our work within theories of early socialization and literacy teaching which underpin our understanding of how young children in cross-cultural contexts learn. We then turn to the question of working with the families and teachers of these children which poses dilemmas not explained by the theories presented. We illustrate these through a series of vignettes typifying both the ‘Outsider’ and the ‘Insider’ role. The stories highlight paradigmatic moments of complexity, clashes or collusion which we unpick in terms of their generalizability for others working in the field. Finally, we extend theories of dialogue in our search for a methodology for collaborative work in future cross-cultural ethnographic studies

Teacher partnerships between mainstream and complementary schools: from parallel worlds to connected curricula

This article describes how partnerships were set up between primary schools and complementary (community language) schools in East London. Teachers visited each other's settings and exchanged ideas on teaching and learning strategies. They planned topic-based lessons together, adapted to each context. In this way, mainstream teachers gained understanding of their pupils' linguistic and cultural competences and their lives outside school. The partnership work began to build a creative and inclusive curriculum in both settings

Home to School and School to Home: Syncretised Literacies in Linguistic Minority Communities

This paper argues for the need to move beyond the paradigm of parental involvement in children's early literacy through story-reading practice, which presently informs home/school reading programmes, to consider a wider framework for family and community involvement. The first part of the paper examines the literature informing the current model showing the marked absence of studies on the different literacy practices in which children from new immigrant/minority ethnic families engage and which may be different from those of their teachers. This prevailing mainstream paradigm is illustrated through the experiences of two young children reading with their mother and sister. The second part of the paper draws upon findings from research projects investigating the home, school and community reading practices of new immigrant families in east London and compares them with families that do conform to the prevailing paradigm for successful involvement. Finally, it suggests principles for inclusive education for minority families

How Faith Settings Contribute to Children's Learning

When families migrate to a new country, faith communities offer a source of support and a way of maintaining social, cultural and linguistic connections. The church, temple or mosque may be one of the few places where children speak their community language with a sizeable group of people. Faith classes also provide a rare opportunity to learn to read and write in the community language or liturgical language. Yet these important sites of language and literacy learning have been little studied. It is for this reason that a major research project was set up by the Centre for Language, Culture and Learning at Goldsmiths to investigate children’s learning in four recently arrived communities in London: Tamil Hindu, Bangladeshi Muslim, Ghanaian Pentecostal and Polish Catholic. The study took place over three and a half years, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and was conducted by a team of 11 people, including researchers from each linguistic background who also had personal experience or knowledge of the faith group with whom they worked

Developing bilingual learning strategies in mainstream and community contexts

This study set out to enhance theoretical understanding of bilingual learning and devise ways in which it can be built into classroom practice, through action research with children, mainstream teachers and bilingual assistants participating in the Primary National Strategy Pilot for EAL (English as an Additional Language) in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Teachers from the children’s Bengali after-school classes were involved via partnership with Tower Hamlets Community Languages Service, since community classes are sites where children already use both mother tongue and English for language and literacy learning (Robertson, 2002; Martin et al, 2004). Previous studies on bilingual learning have mostly been conducted with first generation children and/or in countries where there is mainstream bilingual education. A unique aspect of this study is that the children involved were second or third generation British Bangladeshi, mostly more fluent in English than in their mother tongue, who would not otherwise have had the opportunity to use their full language repertoire within the mainstream curriculum. Our research examined whether and how the cognitive and cultural benefits of bilingual learning found in other contexts might apply in this particular setting

Intergenerational learning between children and grandparents in East London

The study set out to investigate learning events taking place between young children and grandparents in London's East End, both in activities where older people have traditionally provided support (such as storytelling) and in the newer areas of information and communication technology where children have competences which their grandparents would like to access. This area of family learning is growing in significance as grandparents are increasingly taking on a childcare role in different extended family structures. Grandparents’ own learning needs must also be taken into account in the government’s lifelong learning agenda

In conversation with Catherine Compton-Lilly and Eve Gregory

This column features two prominent literacy scholars, Catherine Compton-Lilly and Eve Gregory. They discuss their recent research studies in various contexts and describe the reciprocal relationships between school, home, and community literacy practices

Identification of neural progenitor cells and their progeny reveals long distance migration in the developing octopus brain

Cephalopods have evolved nervous systems that parallel the complexity of mammalian brains in terms of neuronal numbers and richness in behavioral output. How the cephalopod brain develops has only been described at the morphological level, and it remains unclear where the progenitor cells are located and what molecular factors drive neurogenesis. Using histological techniques, we located dividing cells, neural progenitors and postmitotic neurons in Octopus vulgaris embryos. Our results indicate that an important pool of progenitors, expressing the conserved bHLH transcription factors achaete-scute or neurogenin, is located outside the central brain cords in the lateral lips adjacent to the eyes, suggesting that newly formed neurons migrate into the cords. Lineage-tracing experiments then showed that progenitors, depending on their location in the lateral lips, generate neurons for the different lobes, similar to the squid Doryteuthis pealeii. The finding that octopus newborn neurons migrate over long distances is reminiscent of vertebrate neurogenesis and suggests it might be a fundamental strategy for large brain development

Intergenerational Learning Events Around the Computer: A Site for Linguistic and Cultural Exchange

The computer is widely recognised as a cultural tool with the potential to enhance learning, and children are considered to develop ICT skills with particular facility. However, young children still require assistance in order to gain the maximum educational benefit. This study investigates how such assistance was given to 3–6 year olds by their grandparents in Sylheti/Bengali-speaking families and monolingual Englishspeaking families living in East London. A multimodal analysis of video-recorded computer activities reveals the reciprocity of teaching and learning taking place between the generations. In each case, grandparents and grandchildren combined their resources in order to negotiate the activity, with adults usually providing knowledge of literacy and numeracy whilst children helpedwith computer skills. The intergenerational exchange was especially evident in Sylheti/Bengali-speaking families, where grandparents were less familiarwith English orwith the computer and operated bilingually with their grandchildren to co-construct learning. However, the support offered by grandparents was found to have common elements in all families, as they helped children to structure the learning event, maintain concentration and accomplish tasks relying on linguistic and cultural knowledge

Lithologies Making Up CM Carbonaceous Chondrites and Their Link to Space Exposure Ages

Chondrite parent bodies are among the first large bodies to have formed in the early Solar System, and have since remained almost chemically unchanged having not grown large enough or quickly enough to undergo differentiation. Their major nonvolatile elements bear a close resemblance to the solar photosphere. Previous work has concluded that CM chondrites fall into at least four distinct space exposure age groups (0.1 megaannus, 0.2 megaannus, 0.6 megaannus and 2.0 megaannus), but the meaning of these groupings is unclear. It is possible that these meteorites came from different parent bodies which broke up at different times, or instead came from the same parent body which underwent multiple break-up events, or a combination of these scenarios