Linking parallel worldsDeveloping bilingual learning with complementary and mainstream

teachers

Mahera Ruby, Charmian Kenner and Eve Gregory

Goldsmiths, University of London

Parallel worlds: mainstream and complementary schools

• Tower Hamlets, East London• Bangladeshi and Somali communities• Children attend after-school classes in

mother tongue• A primary teacher’s comment:

‘what happens to the children outside mainstream school is very separate and we don’t really get to see that other part of the child’

Partnerships between primary and complementary school

teachers

(funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Tower Hamlets)• Collaborative action research on

bilingual learning• Teachers visit each other’s settings • Plan jointly around a topic, adapt to

own context• Deliver lessons and observe each other• Plan and deliver again• Supported by Goldsmiths and Tower

Hamlets Languages Service

Characteristics of complementary classes

• Multi-age, multi-level• Bilingual – children often stronger in

English, teacher in mother tongue• Teachers devise strategies to meet the

challenges• Zainab’s Somali class, visited by James,

primary school teacher: a learning community, everyone pools their resources

A two-way exchange

• Mainstream teachers recognise the value of complementary teachers’ strategies, as well as vice versa

• Example of James, primary teacher (music/drama) co-teaching at the primary school with Zainab (Somali class teacher)

• Children in class mainly British Bangladeshi, two Somali children, one child from Afghanistan

Somali songI am a studentI am a student, I am a

studentI am the flower of this

country!I am running, running toAttend my schoolSo I can establish who I

amAnd benefit my countryI have come to work hardMy God guide me throughMy God guide me throughAmen, Amen.

Complementary strategy

Mainstream strategy

recitation of keywords

correcting pronunciation

child as teacher

negotiating translation

children help with spelling

drama to practise meaning

expectations for behaviour

split into 2 groups, each learn half of song

fine-tune performance

child as leader with support

Recitation and pronunciation

• Zainab leads recitation, then James

• Practice, performance

• Confidence with new language

• Playing with language

• Adjusting pronunciation

Child as teacher

• Changes power relationships

• Multiple practice• Each child

highlights different aspects

• Fine-tuning learning• Synergy in teaching

and learning through exchange with peers (Gregory, 2001)

James on the child as teacher

‘It’s a more rounded use of resources, it develops the children in different ways – self-learning, self-monitoring… the understanding you get from having to teach something, to try to explain it, focusing in your head on what it should be’

Negotiating translation

• Collaborative negotiation of meaning and spelling in English – deepens understanding

• Child may have more expertise than teacher

Learning keywords through drama

Children choose keywords and build into English sentence, then act out – consolidate meaning, kinaesthetic learning

Expectations for behaviour

James (as Muna and Zainab come up to teach the song)

‘their students have a lot of respect for them…so I don’t want to have to tell you to stop talking when they’re talking’

Groupings for learning the song

• Tailoring task to new learners of Somali

• Chunks of language

• Building fluency• Muna and

Zainab take the lead

Fine-tune performance

James requires precision in words, tune, volume, tone

Complementary teachers also have high standards for children, expect all to perform

Child as leader with support

• Zainab asks for children to volunteer as leader

• She supports the leaders when they are unsure

• Vygotskyan approach: child’s capacities are extended with the help of scaffolding from adult, meanwhile child scaffolds others – ‘double scaffolding’

Children’s summary of the lesson aims

• To learn Somali language• To understand the words / know the

meaning of the words• To read it out – how to pronounce it

By the end of the lesson they were able to work out the meaning of the whole song with help from the Somali speakers

Equal status of teachers

• James introduced Zainab and Muna: ‘we’re teaching buddies’

• Co-teaching in the mainstream classroom was conducted seamlessly and with mutual understanding

• James’ comment on complementary strategies: ‘it isn’t what you do, and that’s why it’s good for you to see it’

Combining strategies

• Effective language learning, underpinned by working bilingually and switching teacher/student roles

• Demonstrates how it is possible to link children’s parallel worlds and stimulate new teaching approaches in the monolingual mainstream