Young bilingual children learning to read with dual language books

This study explores the way in which bilingual children of primary school age who have become dominant in English are learning to be literate in the language of the home using dual language books provided by the school. It reports on how the mothers and their children used both texts to transfer skills from one language to another; to negotiate meaning in both languages; to compare reading strategies and how these vary depending on the language learned (Albanian, Turkish, French and Urdu). The study highlights the positive impact on children’s confidence, on their personal identity as bilinguals in a multicultural British society, on their achievement in English literacy as well as the involvement of their parents in their schools. The study identifies the crucial role of the teacher and the school in providing a positive ethos in the classroom, and support and resources for parents

Magda and Albana: Learning to Read with Dual Language Books

This paper explores the ways in which dual language books are used in England to support bilingual pupils in school. While pupils in many schools speak a wide range of languages at home, these hardly feature in the curriculum. In the context of a project in which an education authority provided dual language books to primary schools, the paper describes how two women used Albanian/English story books to teach their six-year-old daughters to read in Albanian. The study reports on how the mothers and their children used both texts to transfer skills from one language to another, to negotiate meaning in both languages and to compare reading strategies. At the end of the school year the girls were reading in English with the best in their class, were developing fluency in Albanian and using it more in the home. Their mothers had become closely involved in their daughters’ schooling and reported improvements in their own English literacy skills. The teacher’s role was crucial: by providing support and resources to parents she enabled them to help their children become additive bilinguals in a situation in which they were beginning to lose the active use of their first language

Language and Literacy: Children’s Experiences in Multilingual Environments

The present study investigates the language use and literacy practices of 36 children (aged three-and-a-half, seven and 11) from a Gujerati and Urdu-speaking Muslim community in north-east London. These experiences are explored in the children’s three-generation families, in the community and in school through interviews, recordings and observations. They are related to the children’s educational achievement and whether or not they make use of a local community cultural and religious centre. The findings suggest that children who have access to the culture and leisure facilities of a community centre maintain a higher level of linguistic vitality in Gujerati and are more creative story tellers in both Gujerati and English than children who do not have these opportunities. Support for Gujerati in the home is oral rather than literacy-based and does not have a significant directimpact on children’s achievement in literacy. Support for literacy in English is related to books, and does have a positive impact. Overall, by age 11, children are performing above the norms for monolingual English-speaking children of a similar background, are fluent speakers of a dialect of Gujerati and are becoming literate in Urdu for religious purposes

Learning in Three Languages in Home and Community

In this chapter the author gives an overview of her study of 36 children aged three and a half to eleven from a Gujerati Muslim community in north east London who live their daily lives in three languages. Through interviews, observations, recordings and questionnaires, their experiences of learning literacy in Gujerati, Urdu and English were explored in school, in the home and in community classes. The children’s use of their three languages was tracked through the three generations of their families and in many different areas of their daily lives in the community. The chapter concludes by recommending a closer collaboration between mainstream schools, complementary schools and families to support the children in building on their language skills, their metalinguistic knowledge, their ability to respond to different learning situations and styles and encourage their development as additive bilinguals

Hope, Literacy and Dancing

The following article describes a partnership between the Albanian charity and an East London primary school and explores some of the benefits this has brought to the many ethnic Albanian children who attend it

The Raja’s Big Ears: The Journey of a Story across Cultures

The story of The Raja’s Big Ears, as we encountered it,has been on a long journey. In the course of a wider study of the language use and literacy practices of Gujerati-speaking Muslim children in a North London community, children were recorded retelling the tale both in English and Gujerati. The present study explores how the story travelled: from Gujerat, in India, where it is a well-known folk tale, via a skilled story-teller, to London, where it was transformed through contact with the multicultural world of London school children. The study is situated within the theoretical framework of language shift, social networks and the Cummins’ concept of the Common Underlying Proficiency. As the children in the study retold the tale, we looked more closely at how they – third generation Londoners and speakers of a dialect of Gujerati – came to terms with the very formal and unfamiliar standard Gujerati of the story, and how they made it their own

Multicultural London English / Multicultural Paris French.

Le projet Multicultural London English /Multicultural Paris French (http://www.mle-mpf.bbk.ac.uk) fut lancé en 2010 à Birkbeck, University of London. Les données ont été recueillies auprès de jeunes dans divers lieux des banlieues parisiennes, puis comparées à celles réunies lors d’un projet antérieur sur l’anglais multiculturel de Londres. MLE/MPF est la première comparaison à grande échelle du langage informel employé par des jeunes dans deux contextes significatifs de l’Europe occidentale. Cet article décrit les principales conclusions de la recherche par rapport aux marqueurs pragmatiques, traits syntactiques, éléments de vocabulaire et de phonologie. Il inclut les ressources développées par le projet afin de servir dans la salle de classe pour aider les élèves dans leur recherche, leurs enquêtes inter-linguistiques et la créativité langagière.Il progetto Multicultural London English /Multicultural Paris French (http://www.mle-mpf.bbk.ac.uk) è stato lanciato nel 2010 a Birkbeck, University of London. I dati sono stati raccolti presso giovani in vari luoghi delle periferie parigine e, in seguito, paragonati a quelli raccolti nel corso di un precedente progetto sull'inglese multiticulturale di Londra. MLE / MPF rappresenta il primo confronto su larga scala del linguaggio informale, utilizzato da giovani in due contesti significativi dell'Europa occidentale. Questo articolo descrive le principali conclusioni della ricerca in relazione a marcatori pragmatici, a caratteristiche sintattiche, a elementi di vocabolario e fonologia. Il testo presenta le risorse, sviluppate dal progetto, da utilizzare in classe per aiutare gli studenti nella loro ricerca, nelle loro indagini inter-linguistiche e nella creatività linguistica

Young bilingual children learning to read with dual language books

This paper is made available online in accordance with publisher policies. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item and our policy information available from the repository home page for further information. To see the final version of this paper please visit the publisher’s website. Access to the published version may require a subscription. Author(s): Sneddon, Raymonde. Article Title: Young bilingual children learning to read with dual language book