Bilingual learning:
from the margins to the mainstream
…..bringing in the wider world
Charmian Kenner, Mahera Ruby
and Eve Gregory
Goldsmiths, University of London
Complex classroom contexts
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Smithy Street Primary School,
East London
Year 5 class, majority
second and third generation
British Bangladeshi children
Some children with other
languages: Arabic, Urdu
Dual heritage children:
Arabic/Somali, Urdu/Bengali
Newcomer child from
Bangladesh
Teaching assistants bilingual in
Sylheti/Bengali
Teacher bilingual in Swedish
Only English being used in
class
History of work with this school
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Previous project: value of bilingual
learning for second/third generation
children (Kenner, Ruby, Gregory and Al-
Azami, Language, Culture and Curriculum 21
(2), 2008)
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Children learning Bengali at
community-run after-school classes
but not confident to use Bengali in
mainstream class
Working bilingually in mainstream
developed conceptual understanding,
cultural knowledge, metalinguistic
skills, learner identities
School recognised community classes
as source of knowledge, chose
Bengali as ‘modern foreign language’
New project: partnerships between primary
and community teachers
(funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Tower Hamlets)
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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
Community school partner:
Stifford Centre Bengali classes
(thanks to www.stifford.org.uk for the image)
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2 blocks away from primary school
 3 year programme in Bengali and Arabic, 5 days a
week, 5-7 pm, 3 classes
 Headteacher and own curriculum
 Supported by Tower Hamlets Languages Service
Sulaman and Annika: poetry work
Kajla Didi: well-known Bengali poem about a girl
whose sister has mysteriously disappeared
What Happened to Lulu?: English poem by Charles
Causley with very similar subject matter
Kenner et al (2008) Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and
cultural dimensions of children’s learning. Literacy 42 (2)
Transliterated and translated versions
Kajla Didi by Jatindra Mohon Bagchi
Baash baganer mather upor chad uteche oi
Mago amaar solok bola Kajla didi koi?
Pukur dhare, nebur tole thokai thokai jonak jole
Phooler gondhe ghum ase na ekla jege roi
Maago amar koler kache Kajla didi koi?
The moon has appeared on the top of the bamboo garden
Mother, where is my quiz teller sister Kajla?
Near the pond and underneath the lemon plant
The flowers’ smell kept me awake and it’s only me who is awake
Mother, where is my very dear sister Kajla?
(Transliteration and translation by Shabita Shamsad)
Bilingual learning approaches
Use all three versions of Kajla Didi to
investigate meaning
 Involve parents and grandparents: ask
for poems in other languages
 Compare Kajla Didi and What
Happened to Lulu
 Write own poems about loss, using
Bengali / English / other languages
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Sulaman’s community class
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Switching between
Bengali script,
transliteration and
English
Sulaman talks of
learning ‘in between’:
‘once they do all
those, it will stay in
their mind’
Annika comments:
‘I wish I could teach
bilingually like you’
Annika’s mainstream class
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Write questions for
parents (support from
bilingual assistant):
take home overnight
Bring back answers
and more
poems:present to class
Compare answers in
groups: make posters
in different languages
Children’s responses
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Almost all children had discussed with parents or
grandparents – Annika: ‘very good, especially when
you only had one night to do it in…you even stepped
out of the house on a cold winter’s night to do it’
Children brought similar poems in Urdu and Arabic, a
short Bengali play, and one child translated the entire
poem into Spanish with his father’s help
Annika: ‘You’re all very talented children’
Children: ‘We’ve got talent!’
Annika: ‘Smithy Street’s got talent!’
Multiple aspects of learning
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Literary heritage: importance of poem, use of
poetry recitation and songs
Natural history: plants, birds, insects in other
countries
Social and cultural knowledge: village life, living
close to nature, gender relationships
Linguistic knowledge: word meanings, issues in
translation
Inclusion: voicing each other’s knowledge
Empathy: teacher shared Swedish lullaby
Support for home language writing
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Child new to English but expert writer in
Bengali – could interpret poem for others:
Sulaman commented ‘in the writing, he
expressed himself and he got confidence in
the class…he got something and he felt
proud of it’
 Sulaman’s presence encouraged writing in
Bengali script: children became gradually
more confident to show what they could do
 Community teacher is clear about their role:
bilingual assistants hesitant at first
Annika’s comments:a wider world of learning
‘It’s about the whole child really for me…just by having contact
with their community schools I feel I can understand a bit more
about their learning in a broader context – they’ve got skills we
don’t always use in class and doing the poetry work has given us
the chance to use some of those skills…it was lovely to see the
confidence of the children who were able to take on the task and
engage with it, using their mother tongue, it just felt very positive
to see them, and then opening up the doors to some other
children…if we hadn’t done the project I wouldn’t have known
that Ibraheem could translate a poem into Spanish with his dad’s
help or that Asya had learnt all these childhood rhymes and songs
and I didn’t know that she was able to recite and learn off by
heart, so I learned about her as a learner and I learnt a bit more
about the context that she comes from and the language
experience she has at home which is more complex than I knew…’
Annika’s comments:a wider world of learning
‘I think it was about their pride as well, that was a very
important part of the work, their pride and self-esteem,
it was about acknowledging who they are as individuals,
I think it’s a very important part of children’s
development, that they feel proud of who they are and
they can celebrate their skills, and that school is a place
where we acknowledge the broad skills that children
have….obviously English is what we’re being asked to
teach but what I think I learned from this is that children
who are actually being very successful in English seem
to also be children who are engaging with mother
tongue classes as well’
Where next?
Sulaman and Annika are one of 12
teacher partnerships at 2 primary
schools: Somali and Russian community
schools also involved
 Year 2: dissemination in Tower Hamlets
and nationally via resources/training
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Smithy Street and Stifford Centre:
working together
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Outstanding inspection report at Smithy
Street: areas to work on are partner/group
work to encourage independent learning for
pupils, further partnership with parents
concerning children’s learning – these are
areas the research can inform
 Stifford Centre has applied for funding to run
a language/culture club with Smithy Street
 ‘Think tank’ involving both organisations –
draw on children’s broader learning skills and
involve families as partners in education –
open up to the wider world of learning