The translanguaging school

Abstract

Translanguaging supports emergent bilingual students to draw on languages they bring to the classroom to learn, even as they develop English. This practice also supports schools to develop stronger partnerships with students’ communities. Mina Hernandez Garcia, Mary J. Schleppegrell, Hasna Sobh, and Chauncey Monte-Sano report on a researcher-teacher collaboration that studied translanguaging and how it enabled students to demonstrate their knowledge while engaging in inquiry in social studies. Interviews with the teacher and students and episodes of classroom interaction exemplify how students participated and shared their perspectives. They suggest how schools, teachers, and community members can create a translanguaging school that supports students’ learning and futures as bilingual citizens.