‘My language … I don’t know how to talk about it’: children’s views on language diversity in primary schools in France and England

This article investigates the ways in which children from immigrant backgrounds view the place of ‘other’ languages in primary schools in France and England. This article draws on findings from a cross-national ethnographic study, which investigated the experiences of 10- and 11-year-old children of immigrants in two primary schools, one in France and one in England. It shows how, in both schools, children had to negotiate the symbolic domination of a single legitimate language and viewed their other languages as inferior, undesirable or illicit. Building on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, findings in this paper contribute insights into the complex debates around language diversity, multilingualism and intercultural communication in schools in France and England

Step-IN: science teaching for promoting inclusion

Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA., 13-17 April 2009

Identification of membrane calcium channels essential for cytoplasmic and nuclear calcium elevations induced by vascular endothelial growth factor in human endothelial cells.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is mitogenic for endothelial cells and has been shown to induce angiogenesis and endothelial cell migration through stimulation of endothelial tyrosine-kinase receptors. Here, using confocal microscopy and the patch-clamp technique on endothelial cells, membrane permeability to calcium as well as cytoplasmic and nuclear free calcium levels have been investigated in the first stages of tyrosine-kinase receptor activation by VEGF. VEGF (0.5nM) as well as inositol trisphosphate (IP3) induced an activation of membrane calcium-permeable channels exhibiting a similar low conductance in the range of 10 pS. The VEGF-triggered activation of these calcium channels, mediated by IP3 and involving the intracellular calcium stores, results in an increase in both cytoplasmic and nuclear calcium levels in endothelial cells, potentially modulating gene expression. Finally, the effect of Ni2+, a calcium channel blocker, on endothelial cell proliferation has been studied. The results show that inhibition of extracellular calcium influx significantly inhibits VEGF-induced cell proliferation. In the process of cell stimulation by VEGF, and possibly by other growth factors, activation of calcium channels could then be a key step in calcium-regulated gene expression and cell activation. These results suggest that the use of calcium channel blockers could be a novel way of prevention or reversion of VEGF-induced tumoral angiogenesis