Early Child Development and Care

ISSN: 0300-4430 (Print) 1476-8275 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gecd20

Cultural alliance: opening spaces for Latino ethos

in early teaching

Sally Brown

To cite this article: Sally Brown (2011) Cultural alliance: opening spaces for Latino
ethos in early teaching, Early Child Development and Care, 181:9, 1215-1230, DOI:
10.1080/03004430.2010.521820

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2010.521820

Published online: 18 Nov 2010.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 169

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=gecd20
Early Child Development and Care
Vol. 181, No. 9, October 2011, 1215–1230

Cultural alliance: opening spaces for Latino ethos in early teaching

Sally Brown*

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading, Georgia Southern University,

Statesboro, USA
(Received 23 August 2010; final version received 3 September 2010)
Taylor and Francis
GECD_A_521820.sgm

Early
10.1080/03004430.2010.521820
0300-4430
Original
Taylor
02010
00
Dr
Brownsa7@gmail.com
000002010
SallyBrown
Childhood
&Article
Francis
(print)/1476-8275
Development(online)
and Care

Problems continue to pervade the educational experiences of many minority

students, especially Latinos. Through a sociocultural framework, this ethnographic
study closely examines the experiences of a Puerto Rican family at home and in
an English-dominant school. The study focuses on the school experiences of the
family’s kindergarten son. The analysis reveals ways this family can broaden
Eurocentric world views. Early educators will realise the extent to which they alter
a child’s cultural identity, thus empowering or disempowering them as an
individual. Implications for early childhood education include valuing funds of
knowledge, code-switching, and challenging assumptions.
Keywords: Latino; Puerto Rican; schooling; kindergarten; family; identity

Educating linguistically and culturally diverse students

Problems continue to pervade the educational experiences of many minority students
as they enter public schools as early as the age of four. The history of education in the
USA causes one to wonder why so many students fail and continue to fail. When it
comes to Latino children the persistent belief is that these students have low cognitive
functioning and lack the resources for learning (Mercado & Moll, 2000). The success
of Latino students is not usually tied to who they are and what they bring with them
to the classroom upon entrance to school. Instead, success or lack of success is
connected to the way society devalues the Latino race, ethnicity, and the Spanish
language (Valdés, 1996).
It is time to change the status quo, beginning with early education. We must begin
to appreciate that, ‘Each is unique in their walking of this earth, each an entire
universe, each somehow sacred’ (Ayers, 2004, p. 35). This article sheds light on the
cultural and schooling experiences of one Puerto Rican family and offers insights into
the ways early educators can embrace and build upon varied experiences as diverse
children enter school.

History of schooling for Puerto Ricans

According to historical data, the US schools have been and remain places that alienate
Puerto Rican students. The Pew Hispanic Center (2009) reports that there are more
than 4.1 million persons of Puerto Rican origin living on the US mainland and this

*Email: sallybrown@georgiasouthern.edu

ISSN 0300-4430 print/ISSN 1476-8275 online

© 2011 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2010.521820
http://www.informaworld.com
1216 S. Brown

number represents about 9% of the Latino population in the USA (US Census Bureau,
2000). Racism has and continues to influence the schooling experiences of Puerto
Ricans even though they are legal citizens by birth (Nieto, 2000).
The data on Puerto Ricans are usually embedded in statistics about Latinos in
general. According to the data that is available Puerto Ricans have the worst educational
outcomes when compared to other Latino groups, Whites, and African-Americans in
the USA (Nieto, 2000). Current assessment data (Fry, 2008) continue to document poor
literacy performance on standardised tests by English language learners (ELLs). As a
group Puerto Ricans attempt to maintain their identities by being both Puerto Rican
and American, speaking both English and Spanish (Torres-Guzman, 2004). Many
Puerto Rican families continue to maintain contacts with relatives on the island.
Families are able to travel back and forth to the island with relative ease because of
their citizenship status and low-cost airfare. As a result, Puerto Ricans have developed
a need for continuing the use of the Spanish language and culture (Mercado, 2005;
Nieto, 2000).
According to Torres-Guzman (2004) strengths in the education of Puerto Rican
children lie in community and family relationships. Research has identified the need
for schools to create a learning environment that values the bilingual and bicultural
backgrounds of children (Ballenger, 1999; Moll & Greenberg, 1990; Nieto, 2000).
This would allow students to view themselves as being Puerto Rican and a good
student. It is particularly essential that this process begin as young children enter
school. Early educators are vital in establishing and building school–community rela-
tionships that embrace each child’s culture and language.

Latino parents and schooling

One of the major challenges for Latino families is the educational needs of their
children (Collins & Ribeiro, 2004). Many Latino families view teachers as learning
experts and trust that the school system will meet the educational needs of their
children. For countless parents education is tied to the high hopes for their child’s
future. Latino families see themselves as responsible for influencing a child’s moral
development or respeto, sense of respect (Ada & Zubizarreta, 2001) and the school
as accountable for academics. Valdés’ (1996) research on the school success of
children from Mexican families found that most of the mothers wanted their children
to grow up respectfully, make a living, and settle close to their family. These findings
reveal differences in Latino and European-American middle-class parenting styles,
with each being equally effective. Parenting is a result of class, culture, and personal
experiences.
Different notions of parenting and schooling have the potential to cause confusion
and misunderstandings between teachers and families. This sometimes relates to a
collectivistic perspective as opposed to an individualistic one. For example, the
Mexican mothers in the Valdés (1996) study did not think they were responsible for
their child’s cognitive development. This was seen as the exclusive role of the teacher.
Instead of focusing on correcting immigrant parenting styles, efforts should be directed
towards exposing structural inequalities within the American schooling system.
Consejos or cultural narratives are one way that Latino families convey stories
about the role of schooling to their children. Expectations and inspiration for education
are captured in these narratives and transmitted to children throughout their lives as a
natural part of everyday life. Delgado-Gaitan (1994) found these empowering stories
 Early Child Development and Care 1217

told in Latino families were useful in helping students succeed in the classroom. The
stories included themes such as teacher as helper, do your best, solve your own prob-
lems, and be on your best behaviour in school. The consejos serve as a powerful strat-
egy for independent thinking in the classroom. These stories give students a cultural
and familial frame of reference for remedies to classroom problems, which in turn is
a resource that students bring with them to school. The intersection of families,
language, and schooling illustrates the cultural nature of learning.

Sociocultural theory
Sociocultural theory highlights the complexities of cultural influences on learning,
which extends to diverse contexts, experiences, and artefacts used to mediate
exchanges. Culture is inseparable from cognition and the school success of young
children (Gregory, Long, & Volk, 2004). Thought and speech are deeply intertwined.
An infant begins learning by interacting with the environment at birth through the use
of language. Social interactions set learning in motion and later the cognitive concepts
or ideas learned move to an internal plane and become more embedded in a child’s
schema or internalised (Vygotsky, 1978).
The education of minority children must embrace and build upon cultural connec-
tions in early learning environments. It is essential to make links between who people
are and how they interact in the world around them (Pérez, 2004). The social nature
of learning (Vygotsky, 1978) calls attention to the importance of community member
interactions as children construct and co-construct meaning in everyday life. There-
fore, relationships among community members have the possibility to support or
hinder learning.
The learning process can also be seen as an apprenticeship in which companions
support and broaden a child’s understanding of his or her culture in both formal and
informal settings (Rogoff, 1990). Sometimes learning does not require intentional
instruction such as when the learner is situated as a legitimate peripheral participant
(Lave & Wenger, 1991). At other times children are actively involved in interactions
as they co-construct solutions to problems with the input of others (Rogoff, 1990,
2003). Peer collaboration (Gumperz & Field, 1995) is seen as a resource for cognitive
growth in children. Participation in social practices changes depending on the commu-
nity and needs of the learner.

Funds of knowledge
Moll and Greenberg’s (1990) work studying Hispanic households found that families
share important bodies of cultural knowledge and these often remain invisible to
educators. It is by uncovering such funds that early educators can build on this hidden
knowledge and incorporate it into the school curriculum. The social nature of learning
allows children to situate themselves as more expert than others as they teach their
peers on the basis of their funds of knowledge. This type of approach to teaching
happens when teachers get to know the schools and communities where they teach
while developing home–school collaboration (Mercado, 2005). Mercado and Moll
(2000) state, ‘Within the poverty, there can be an abundance of riches’ (p. 302). The
work of early educators is to discover these riches and provide opportunities to work
within the funds of knowledge realm.
1218 S. Brown

Building on the known

Building upon a child’s first language and culture is central for the success of children
learning new languages (Tse, 2001). Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s (1963) work with Maori
children in New Zealand identified the significance of meeting the needs of Maori-
speaking children. Through organic teaching she was able to reach the Maori children
by bridging from the known to the unknown. She described gathering knowledge as
‘reach[ing] a hand into the mind of the child, bring[ing] out a handful of the stuff I
find there, and us[ing] that as our first working material’ (Ashton-Warner, 1963,
p. 34). As a result the children successfully developed a new language. Many educa-
tors assume that bilingual children lack literacy experience when they enter the
classroom (Parke, Drury, Kenner, & Robertson, 2002). Instead, these children are
actively constructing reading and writing events in multiple languages.

Ethnographic case studies informing the field

Numerous ethnographic studies (Ballenger, 1999; Fassler, 2003; Long, 2004; Taylor
& Dorsey-Gaines, 1988; Volk & Acosta, 2003) conducted in the USA examine the
literacy practices of minority children. Each of these cases provides insight into the
everyday lives of diverse families and children using reading and writing in a variety
of contexts. The findings revealed the magnitude of cultural and linguistic back-
grounds on learning in early schooling. Children who drew upon their home resources
and used this knowledge to make sense of school activities experienced higher degrees
of success when educators provided support for this type of learning.
These studies also illustrate the benefits children receive from social interactions
with their peers in learning communities at school. This research exemplifies the impor-
tance of building curriculum from what children know, value, and bring from their
home communities and cultures. Literacy can no longer be defined exclusively as the
ability to read and write (Gee, 1996). Instead, literacy is a set of social practices that
involve an individual’s life experiences (Vasquez, Egawa, Harste, & Thompson, 2004).
American schools continue to be an unconstructive place for culturally and
linguistically diverse students. A multi-year study (Valdés, 2001) showed that Latinos
not learning English was a form of resistance to dominant structures in society. Part
of this resistance came from the fact that a myriad of students learning English were
placed in the ‘ESL ghetto’ (Valdés, 2001, p. 145) where they are isolated from mean-
ingful interactions with their English-speaking peers. As a result, these Latino students
had limited access to English during the school day and were unsuccessful in regular
classrooms. This case study illustrates the school mirroring the social and political
realities of the community. Anti-immigrant sentiments were apparent in the attitudes
of the teachers, the students, and the neighbourhood. At points the Latino students had
internalised the views and perceptions of mainstream America. They saw themselves
as inferior and unable to achieve academic success.

Transforming identities
A transformative pedagogy requires educators to foster classroom interactions that
relate the content of the individual lives of children to school events (Cummins, 2000).
This involves assisting in the co-construction of a positive literate identity to counter
stereotypes perpetuated in the media and societal discourse. Although there are many
studies on the subject of bilingualism, Toohey’s (2000) Canadian study documents the
 Early Child Development and Care 1219

identity development of young bilingual children. She argues that identity is dynamic,
socially constructed, and dependent on power relations. These power relations include
how children are positioned by their peers, teachers, and others as they come into contact
with them at school. For Latino families, socialising a child into cultural traditions is
highly burdened with existing ideologies and stereotypes. Latina mothers try to grasp
the ‘symbolic capital of good English as compared to the impoverished status of Spanish
in the USA’ (Pastor, 2005, p. 155). Identity is woven into ethnicity, language, and skin
colour (Anzaldúa, 1999) and cannot be separated from learning. Early educators are
the venue for negotiating positive identities for Latino children as they engage in
moment-to-moment interactions in classrooms. Over time, children and teachers can
construct identities that reflect academic competence and cultural and linguistic pride.

Ethnographic study
Participants
The Lopez family consists of a father, a mother, and two young children. The father,
Luis, was born and educated in Puerto Rico. He is a native speaker of Spanish and
learned English by working on an American military base in Puerto Rico while he was
in high school. Luis attended college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science.
The family relocated to the south-eastern USA about a year ago due to a base closure.
Maria, the mother, was born in Georgia to Puerto Rican parents. Her father was in
the US army and therefore the family lived in many different states. When Maria was
five years old, her family moved to Puerto Rico where she grew up. Her first language
is English but Spanish was always spoken at home. She remembers, ‘When we moved
to Puerto Rico my parents helped us keep the language, keep practising and watching
programmes in English and music.’ Maria uses both English and Spanish in her every-
day communication with others.
Their youngest child, Jorge, is six years old and attends kindergarten at an English-
dominant primary school in the USA. This is his first formal schooling experience.
Nine-year-old Linda, the older child, attends the same school. She is in third grade and
receives English as a second language (ESL) services three times a week. Linda began
her formal schooling experiences in kindergarten at a Catholic school in Puerto Rico
where she began learning to speak, read, and write in Spanish. Jorge is the focal child
for this article.

Setting
The primary setting was the participants’ home, which was an apartment in a south-
eastern suburb of the USA. This family lived in a three-bedroom apartment that
included a kitchen, a dining area, and a separate living room. Each of the children had
their own bedrooms, which were neatly kept and included space and materials for
writing and drawing. There were books in all rooms of the house. Both children had
books written in English and Spanish in their bedrooms.
The secondary setting was the local primary school that Jorge and Linda attended.
The school was located in a suburban middle-class neighbourhood and served about
900 students preschool through third grade. The English-dominant school did not
offer any services in Spanish, nor did any faculty member speak Spanish. More than
90% of the students attending this school were European-American. Very few
students received ESL services.
1220 S. Brown

Methodology
This qualitative study addresses the lack of research examining the home–school
connections and contexts of learning (Hull & Schultz, 2002) and identity experiences
of young Latinos (Hawkins, 2004). An ethnographic framework was used to investi-
gate the following research questions: (1) What are the experiences, beliefs, and atti-
tudes of this Puerto Rican family about language and schooling in an English-dominant
era, and (2) How do the schooling experiences of Jorge and his family educate us about
the ways to improve the schooling experiences of young bilingual children in English-
dominant schools?

Data collection
The ethnographic data were collected over one academic school year and included
over 50 hours of observation and interviewing. The data included interviews, audio
recordings, field notes, and artefact collection. I served as a participant-observer
(Spradley, 1980) in the Lopez home and Jorge’s classrooms.
Over the course of the study I visited the Lopez home for a total of eight visits.
Each of these visits began with an unstructured interview conducted in English. Spanish
was used at times when English could not be used to make a point. A Spanish translator
helped with these events. Generally, the interviews were held at the dinner table as
Señora Lopez started the conversations by talking about school. Later, I followed up
with other questions about life at home and Puerto Rican culture. The children, Linda
and Jorge, routinely came to the table and added comments. Following the interviews
I informally interacted with the family for approximately another hour. During this time
I participated in the family games, colouring, storytelling, television watching, and
dinner preparation. Señora Lopez shared family photos and the children regularly drew
pictures and wrote letters to me. These documents became artefacts for the study.
During the school year I also visited Jorge’s classroom on a monthly basis for
about an hour per observation. The visits were rotated during different times of the
day, so I could observe Jorge interacting across the curriculum with different people
in multiple contexts. In the classrooms my role was more that of an observer and I was
able to carefully document the school experiences of Jorge. The field notes were
complimented by teacher interviews. I interviewed Jorge’s teachers twice during the
study. The teacher supplemented the interviews with samples of Jorge’s class work. I
also interviewed the guidance counsellor who taught character lessons to Jorge.
Field notes were used to create ‘thick descriptions’ of the family’s experiences
(Geertz, 1973) during these home and school visits. All of the home events and class-
room activities were also recorded and over 20 hours of these recordings were tran-
scribed with the assistance of the computer software program, Transana. For clarity,
a Spanish translator transcribed events documented in Spanish.

Analysis and findings

To complement the ethnographic description of the study, a modification of grounded
theory, ‘the discovery of theory from data’ (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 1), was
incorporated into the research design to closely examine the field notes and audio tran-
scripts. Comparative analyses were employed on the data in order to generate theory
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The transcripts and field notes were coded first by writing
general patterns in the margins. Through repeated readings, conceptual categories
 Early Child Development and Care 1221

were generated and used to illustrate concepts. Each of the categories was subdivided
into small sections and a record of examples was placed into these subcategories.
Events were selected for a more detailed microanalysis based on their uniqueness or
representative value of reoccurring interactions.
To extend the ethnographic data, critical discourse analysis (CDA) was applied to
selected excerpts of transcripts ‘to illuminate how people make sense of their reality
and understand their social position’ (Rogers, 2003, p. 30). CDA provided a framework
for examining the selected family’s ways of being in the world using Gee’s (1999) six
building tasks. Multiple perspectives came from the teachers, Linda, Jorge, and the
parents. Interviews and member checking provided triangulation (Mathison, 1988).

Socialising with family and friends

The most pervasive theme that ran through the data was the importance of family and
friends in the lives of this Puerto Rican family. Even though the Lopez family does
not have immediate family in close proximity, they still occupy a large part of their
daily life through phone conversations and frequent airline visits. The Lopez family
considers the local Hispanic community as a part of their own family, especially the
church congregation. The family attends events hosted by friends and attempts to get
to know their community.

The language of family communication

During the time of the study Jorge had his sixth birthday. On the day of my visit Jorge
sat next to me on the couch and shared his birthday picture album. Jorge received
walkie talkies from grandparents in Puerto Rico. Jorge’s mother voiced concern that
when they called to speak to him, Jorge would not speak Spanish over the telephone.
Jorge remarked, ‘I don’t like talking like that.’ Maria went on to say, ‘This little man
doesn’t want to talk in Spanish anymore.’ Jorge interrupted the conversation and
added, ‘I don’t want to. I hate it.’ Maria retorted with, ‘It’s your first language. You
shouldn’t say that.’ Luis and Maria both valued the Spanish language and embraced
biliteracy. Jorge had already internalised some of the negative stereotypes and images
and this affected his view of the Spanish language and resistance towards it (Worthy
& Rodríguez-Galindo, 2006). According to Jorge, ‘The peoples in my class. They do
not talk in Spanish. English is good.’
Jorge’s feelings and attitudes towards his first language provide insight into under-
standing diverse young children as they enter school. There is potential to build a posi-
tive self-image from the very beginning of a child’s schooling experience instead of
perpetuating negative stereotypes.
Unfortunately in the classroom Jorge’s teacher did not have any Spanish books on
the shelves or at the book centre. Since she was monolingual, the teacher did not read
any stories in Spanish or even ones that code switched. There was an underlying
message being sent at school that English was more valued than Spanish.

Code-switching
For this family the language spoken at home is usually Spanish. Frequently, Señora
Lopez code-switched in the middle of her sentences from Spanish to English. She
referred to this as being very natural:
1222 S. Brown

It’s something that you don’t that I don’t really plan. It’s just something that comes with
daily living. I mean it’s something I don’t plan. I don’t like to have a role. I try to make
it a game. You know it goes like practising but they don’t know it’s practising.

Maria painted a portrait of the naturalness of code-switching (Berzins & López,

2001) for language learners. She intentionally used it as a strategy to develop bilin-
gualism in her children. Based on her thoughts, it seems easy to conclude that educators
must support this process with young children learning a new language. Code-switching
is a bridge between the first and the second language, the new and the familiar, and
the known and the unknown. It is the mixing of culture and cognition (Vygotsky, 1978).

Feeling different at Wal-Mart

Luis and his wife Maria shared their experiences about intolerance and discrimination
and the impact of these on the family’s identity as Spanish speakers. The family
remembered a simple grocery shopping experience that went to the essence of their
feelings. This initial encounter with English-speaking people left an everlasting
impression on Maria that she holds onto today:
Maria: We’ve been treated differently.
Luis: We came here. Every time we go every place and someone hear us speaking
Spanish they just, you know, look at us. Just like staring at us.
Maria: What I feel is that they do treat the Hispanics differently. And sometimes, they,
just once we start speaking Spanish they go like what the heck are they speaking
Spanish. I remember once at Wal-Mart cuz we buy all our groceries from Wal-
Mart. And we were buying plantains.
Maria: But that is the first time I think something like that. I can’t forget. It seems like
a simple thing. But it was something that immediately that I understood that we
were different. And I feel how they treated them. Not so much like us like Puerto
Ricans but how they treat the Mexicans. But it’s something with the way they
act. It’s the Hispanics. They feel like they are less.
This vignette provides us with an example of the ways language impacts identity.
Maria clearly remembers this incident as a time when she began to be treated differ-
ently because of the language she spoke. She talks about Hispanics feeling like they
were less worthy than their White counterparts. Throughout the conversation, Luis
mentions several times that he did not like people staring at him when he spoke
Spanish. He goes on to say:
Some Americans are kinda surprised to see Hispanic people for some reason. I don’t
know. They just start staring at you and I feel bad. I don’t think you are going to feel
well if people are staring at you. You are going to feel uncomfortable.

Luis’ and Maria’s experiences illustrate how the identity of being minority, or
other (Gee, 1999) has the possibility to affect how one views oneself and culture.
These same experiences follow Jorge and Linda into their primary classrooms. Each
child struggles to succeed in school as they are perceived as different because of their
race, culture, and language.

Jorge’s schooling experiences

Schooling is taken seriously by the Lopez family. Both Señor and Señora Lopez have
college degrees and attribute their success in life to their educational experiences.
Each evening Señora Lopez works with Jorge at the kitchen table. Maria begins,
 Early Child Development and Care 1223

‘When we work on homework it is English. Everything about school. All the books
we are buying and that we are getting we try to make them in English and we some-
times have books in Spanish.’ Maria remains concerned that both of her children do
not speak up in the classroom to ask for help when they need it. Jorge struggles to
form a positive school identity for himself (Flores-González, 2002). He explains this
to his mother at the kitchen table:
Maria: And when your teacher asks you questions, do you know always what she
means?
Jorge: Not really.
Maria: But sometimes?
Jorge: Yeah.
Maria: And when everybody raises their hand because they know, do you know too?
Jorge: Everybody’s smarter than me.
Maria: Don’t say that.
Jorge: I’m almost smart.

Based on this transcript and observations of Jorge at school, it is not only the percep-
tions of his teachers that form his identity but also how he perceives himself in compar-
ison to his peers. His teacher’s low expectations influence the way he is perceived in
the classroom. The teacher comments, ‘He’s okay considering his language. He’s not
as high as my other kids. But that’s what you would expect for him.’ It appears that
her expectations are not the same for native English speakers and ELLs.

Consejo – asking for help

Jorge told me his mother tells him stories over and over about school. This usually
happens during dinner time when everyone is seated at the table. Sometimes the
stories are in English and at other times they are in Spanish. Jorge remembers stories
about being good in school and making friends with other children, but there was one
story his mother kept telling both him and Linda. According to Jorge, the consejo went
like this:
‘I know you do not understand everything the teacher say. It is okay, mi hijo.’ That what
she calls me (smiles). Listen carefully. Ask questions. She always says, ‘Do you know
how to ask your teacher a question?’ I say ‘yes’ but then she tells more. ‘You raise your
hand, mi hijo. You wait for the teacher to call on you. Then you ask your question. You
keep asking till you understand. You say thank you when she done. You have to ask
questions.’ My mom says this all the time. I don’t know why. I know how to ask ques-
tions but she keeps telling me.

Señora Lopez was committed to giving Jorge access to cultural capital (Bourdieu,
1986) by telling cultural narratives that reinforced expectations for asking questions
in American classrooms. This capital, anything other than ability that leads to a
person’s success, was meant to give Jorge access to the teacher’s expertise. Señora
Lopez felt this was important for Jorge’s success as a student. These nightly events
were an intersection of school, home, and cultural experiences (Compton-Lilly, 2007)
and were critical for success at school.

Jorge’s kindergarten classroom

In the classroom Jorge actively participates in activities such as calendar, morning
meetings, and group discussions. Frequently, he speaks out of turn and it seems this
1224 S. Brown

is his way of proving himself to his peers. The answers that Jorge calls out are usually
correct and he ends up smiling with a confirmation of his knowledge. Unfortunately,
the teacher does not share in this cultural way of sharing knowledge. Instead, she
disciplines Jorge and reports, ‘Jorge has a smart mouth and needs to be reminded that
we don’t speak to the teacher like that.’
It appears that an inter-ethnic conflict (Delgado-Gaitan & Trueba, 1991) exists
between the teacher’s communication expectations at school and Jorge’s interactions
at home. This counteracts Jorge’s attempts to build a positive school identity that is
rooted in the social nature of his culture. The teacher misses the opportunity to build
upon Jorge’s knowledge and instead creates a situation in which Jorge feels badly
about himself as a learner. In these types of instances Jorge does not have access to
the cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) that his classmates do. Jorge is not aware that
calling out answers is not the way to behave at school. The teacher expects her
students to raise their hands, wait to be called on by name, and then to respond.
When I discussed these findings with Señora Lopez, she was not surprised. She
said, ‘Well, at home Jorge talks a lot. We just let him say whatever he wants.’ She
encourages talking and attributes this to the social nature of their Puerto Rican roots.
However, Señora Lopez was taken back by the teacher’s reaction to Jorge’s expres-
sion of knowledge. She responds, ‘She didn’t like that? He knew the answer. Is this a
problem for him, Ms. Brown?’ I talked to Jorge’s mother about the teacher’s class-
room behavioural expectations and she appeared confused. She wondered why this
had not been communicated to her at the parent–teacher conference. According to
Señora Lopez, ‘The teacher said he was doing good for learning English. He had good
grades on the report card. I think everything was okay.’ Señora Lopez was under the
impression that Jorge was experiencing success in kindergarten and he was academi-
cally strong but, the teacher perceived him as having behavioural problems. For Maria
school success included both good grades and good behaviour. Jorge’s mother was
very concerned and used more consejos to teach Jorge about responding to a teacher’s
question in the right way.

Peer relationships
Señora Lopez attributes some of Jorge’s success in kindergarten to his peer relation-
ships. Many of the children, especially a bilingual student named Mandy, work with
Jorge to help him understand the teacher. Mandy is a form of social capital (Bourdieu,
1986) or a relationship that Jorge draws upon to create a space for success in kinder-
garten. According to the teacher, ‘I am not sure what to do with Jorge since Spanish
is his first language, so I let him talk to Mandy in Spanish. I guess this helps him but
I really don’t know what they talk about.’ The teacher is unsure about the benefits of
a bilingual peer partner for academic success and social support but is willing to use
it as a strategy since her knowledge about bilinguals is limited.
While I am speaking to Maria at the dinner table about Mandy, Jorge interrupts the
conversation when he hears me asking if anyone in his class also speaks Spanish.
Jorge indicates that there is one girl in his class who speaks Spanish. Her name is
Mandy and she is from Chile. Maria continues the story.

Maria: Mandy was his buddy at the beginning of the school. Remember Mrs. Miller told
Mandy to help you.
Jorge: Oh, yeah I remember.
 Early Child Development and Care 1225

Maria: What happened at the beginning of school when it was starting?

Jorge: I began to go to a different school.
Maria: Uh-huh and what was Mandy doing with you?
Jorge: Her was hugging me because I was crying. I didn’t want you to go and you did.
Maria: I had to go.
Jorge: But I didn’t want you to.
Maria: And right it was true that Mandy helped you understand everything?
Jorge: Oh, yeah. A lot.
Maria: She was there for you.

Although the teacher is aware of Jorge’s attempts to learn English, the only
support she provides for the process is a Spanish-speaking peer. The teacher allows
Jorge and Mandy to speak in Spanish in the classroom. In an interview with Mandy
and Jorge, Mandy states, ‘I like to help Jorge. He needs me to speak to him in Spanish
so he understands. The teacher lets me.’ Throughout the day Mandy and Jorge interact
and speak Spanish to one another. This provides a bridge for Jorge to learn English
and allows him to understand some of the teacher’s routines and expectations. Inter-
actional competence is scaffolded through relationships with teachers, peers, and
siblings (Piedra & Romo, 2003). This teacher misses the opportunity to utilise other
resources that would support Jorge as a young bilingual learner, because she has no
training for teaching English learners. Most regular classroom teachers lack profes-
sional development in this area even though the English learner population is rapidly
expanding (Nieto, 2004).

Discussion and implications

The first compelling plan of action for educators is to alter the deficit perspective that
permeates schools with diverse populations (Diaz & Flores, 2001). Educators must
challenge their own assumptions about diverse cultural groups and work towards
creating an unlabelled, unbiased system for children (Compton-Lilly, 2004). Teachers
need to treat students as cultural beings and begin the process of eradicating age-old
stereotypes.
The Lopez family taught us what it was like to shop at Wal-Mart as people of
colour who spoke Spanish. Intolerance for diversity became evident to the family
as they interacted with English-dominant people and this affected their thoughts
about themselves as Hispanic people. This experience was so powerful for Luis
that he actually blames Hispanics for being the cause of the problem instead of
considering the discourses about Latinos from the community and media. Develop-
ing an awareness of public stereotypes of Latinos can help teachers cultivate class-
room spaces where these discourses are not allowed and all students are valued and
appreciated.
This case study counters the Latino stereotypes found in the society, the commu-
nity, and in the schools. The Lopezes are highly educated people who place a high
value on education. They spend time engaging their children in educational experi-
ences and assist with homework on a nightly basis. Their home is saturated with print
in both languages and other learning resources. The family is committed to learning
English while maintaining their Spanish language and Puerto Rican heritage. Agency
was employed by the family to remain actively involved in homework and the school-
ing process in general in order to ensure the children’s success at school (Reese &
Goldenberg, 2008).
1226 S. Brown

The school and teacher can set success in motion by developing a responsive
curriculum that draws from the funds of knowledge young children bring with them
as they enter the school. As early childhood teachers begin to embrace and celebrate
diversity, children will follow. The teacher must be a role model for valuing the Latino
culture and the Spanish language. This begins by getting to know the out-of-school
lives of students (Hull & Schultz, 2002). Teachers can do this by listening to students,
sharing stories about their lives, and taking the time to gather information from family
members. Some teachers may even learn some Spanish phrases to share with the class
and create a space in the everyday curriculum for the Spanish language and Latino
culture. Plus, teachers can include an ongoing study of Latino authors or encourage
children to write about their home and family experiences during writers’ workshop.
Developing familial and school partnerships is also an important part of the funds
of knowledge approach. Educators can enter the homes of students as learners rather
than teachers. As teachers assume this position they can foster a positive relationship
and use what students are doing in their homes as the basis for curriculum (Mercado,
2005). This prevents teachers from overgeneralising or perpetuating stereotypes. The
goal is to gain access to what students know and find better ways to meet their instruc-
tional needs.
In addition to the changes in the curriculum, there also have to be changes in
attitude. To consider what it means to be a Latino, a Spanish-speaking child in an
English-dominant classroom, may bring about changes in teachers’ attitudes towards
children like Jorge. There should be an opportunity and safe space for children to
speak their native languages or code-switch between two languages. Code-switching
allows children to participate in conversations as they build competence in more than
one language. Students need opportunities to practise their second language and take
risks in meaningful contexts with support from others (Berzins & López, 2001).
Current research supports native-language literacy and finds that Spanish-speaking
children, who initially learn to read and write in Spanish, later transfer that knowledge
to English and it results in higher achievement in both Spanish and English (Reyes &
Halcón, 2001). Moll (2001) clearly articulates, ‘The primary advantage of biliteracy,
then, is the intellectual breadth it can facilitate, the expanded possibilities found in
developing new social and literate relationships to mediate children’s academic learn-
ing’ (p. 20). Biliteracy is clearly an advantage for all students, not just for Spanish
speakers (Souto-Manning, 2006).
Therefore, it would be appropriate to create some types of biliteracy programmes
as a way to offer choices in schooling experiences. At the very least teachers should
integrate biliteracy experiences into the classroom. For example, teachers can make
bilingual or code-switching literature available to children and their families. Jorge
would benefit by being able to read a text in Spanish first and then transfer this knowl-
edge to English (Goldenberg, 2008). This would increase his level of academic success.
By providing bilingual books for reading at home, parents can continue the devel-
opment of Spanish while learning English. Teachers can also embrace talking and
writing in Spanish as children construct knowledge and move towards competence in
English and Spanish. The experiences of the Lopez family illustrate the complexities
involved in becoming or remaining bilingual. Even though learning English was a
priority for this family, they were dealing with the social pressures related to the main-
tenance of Spanish (Worthy & Rodríguez-Galindo, 2006).
Not only are families and teachers an integral part of the learning process but,
peers also play an important role in the development of new languages. Peers can offer
 Early Child Development and Care 1227

support, encouragement, and act as a scaffold. Time for peer interactions and joint
activities need to be integrated into a teacher’s daily schedule as means for children to
practise a new language in an authentic way. As Spanish-dominant children interact
meaningfully with their English-dominant peers cognitive growth results (Gumperz &
Field, 1995).
Creating a classroom community where students work collaboratively assists
English learners in gaining access to activities with native English speakers (Hawkins,
2005). There must be opportunities for the English learners to practise their English
in a meaningful context and be socially accepted by their peers (Gillanders, 2007).
The building of positive relationships among students facilitates the development of
English proficiency. Since Jorge was learning English, it might be helpful for him to
participate in literature circles where he would have time to talk about books with his
peers (Martínez-Roldan & López Robertson, 2000). Literature circles can be an
effective forum for building comprehension while developing English vocabulary
skills. The oral development of English vocabulary is a critical element of second
language acquisition (August & Shanahan, 2006).
To supplement the supportive nature of peer interactions, teachers must also
expand the repertoires of talk they value in the classroom (Heath, 1983). Every child
enters school with a primary discourse or home language and must learn to master the
discourse of schooling (Gee, 1996). For linguistic minority children this can be a
challenge. These children are not only learning a new language, English, but are also
trying to master the ways of speaking and interacting in an English-dominant school.
Many teachers, like Jorge’s, utilise the common initiation, response, evaluation
discourse model (Cazden, 2001). Jorge’s classroom interactions showed that this was
not the way he communicated. Instead, Jorge tended to initiate interactions with his
teacher and this caused him to be perceived as disruptive instead of knowledgeable.
Consequently, valuing multiple ways of being in the classroom is imperative for the
success of all students.

Closing thoughts
As early educators get to know their students outside of the classroom a rich world
opens and can be drawn upon for curriculum and valuing students as human beings.
This cultural knowledge has the potential to broaden the worlds of all children.
Compassion begins as educators try to understand multiple perspectives. Using
students’ home experiences and language as part of the school curriculum allows
students to retain their cultural roots. It is important to build upon the strong familial
and community ties that families have to offer. ‘Spanish language is not just a means
of communication; it also represents their identification as Latinos and their difference
from the majority culture’ (Torres-Guzman, 2004, p. 123). It is essential for young
children to maintain their sense of cultural identity while they navigate English
academics.
The portrait of this Puerto Rican family gives a glimpse into their life experiences
and provides a new lens for viewing the world with a more culturally responsive eye.
The Lopez family shares the social nature of their culture and their deep desire to
support the English schooling of their children. This case study demonstrates the need
to move the argument beyond English or Spanish towards a more inclusive view that
embraces multiple languages. English proficiency alone does not guarantee the
success of Puerto Rican students. The answer to this debate is not to impose more
1228 S. Brown

English only legislation but to tackle bigger issues like institutional structures, educa-
tional equity (Zentella, 1997), and the professional development of teachers (August
& Shanahan, 2006).

Notes on contributor
Sally Brown, PhD, is an assistant professor of reading at Georgia Southern University. Her
research interests include examining education from a critical perspective, teaching literacy to
young English learners, sociocultural foundations of language and literacy development, and
discourse analysis. She has published in journals such as Early Childhood Education Journal
and Journal of Classroom Interaction.

References
Ada, A., & Zubizarreta, R. (2001). Parent narratives: The cultural bridge between Latino
parents and their children. In M. Reyes & J. Halcón (Eds.), The best for our children:
Critical perspectives on literacy for Latino students (pp. 229–244). New York: Teachers
College Press.
Anzaldúa, G. (1999). Borderlands la frontera: The new mestiza (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Aunt Lute Books.
Ashton-Warner, S. (1963). Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster.
August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners:
Report of the national literacy panel on language-minority children and youth. Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Ayers, W. (2004). Teaching toward freedom: Moral communication and ethical action in the
classroom. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Ballenger, C. (1999). Teaching other people’s children: Literacy and learning in a bilingual
classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Berzins, M., & López, A. (2001). Starting off right: Planting the seeds for biliteracy. In
M. Reyes & J. Halcón (Eds.), The best for our children: Critical perspectives on
literacy for Latino students (pp. 81–95). New York: Teachers College Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and
research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning (2nd ed.).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Collins, R., & Ribeiro, R. (2004). Toward an early care and education agenda for Hispanic
children. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 6, 4. Retrieved from http://
ecrp.uiuc.edu/v6n2/collins.html
Compton-Lilly, C. (2004). Confronting racism, poverty and power: Classroom strategies to
change the world. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Compton-Lilly, C. (2007). The complexities of reading capital in two Puerto Rican families.
Reading Research Quarterly, 42(1), 72–98.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire.
Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1994). Consejos: The power of cultural narratives. Anthropology and
Education Quarterly, 25(3), 298–316.
Delgado-Gaitan, C., & Trueba, H. (1991). Crossing cultural borders: Education for immi-
grant families in America. New York: Falmer Press.
Diaz, E., & Flores, B. (2001). Teacher as sociocultural, sociohistorical mediator: Teaching to
the potential. In M. Reyes & J. Halcón (Eds.), The best for our children: Critical perspec-
tives on literacy for Latino students (pp. 29–47). New York: Teachers College Press.
Fassler, R. (2003). Room for talk: Teaching and learning in a multilingual kindergarten. New
York: Teachers College Press.
Flores-González, N. (2002). School kids/street kids: Identity development in Latino students.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Fry, R. (2008). The role of schools in the English language learner achievement gap.
Retrieved from http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=89
 Early Child Development and Care 1229

Gee, J. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (2nd ed.). Philadelphia,
PA: RoutledgeFalmer.
Gee, J. (1999). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. New York:
Routledge.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Gillanders, C. (2007). An English-speaking prekindergarten teacher for young Latino children:
Implications of the teacher–child relationship on second language learning. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 35(1), 47–54.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative
research. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine De Gruyter.
Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What research does and does not
say. American Educator, 32(2), 8–44.
Gregory, E., Long, S., & Volk, D. (2004). A sociocultural approach to learning. In E.
Gregory, S. Long, & D. Volk (Eds.), Many pathways to literacy: Young children learning
with siblings, grandparents, peers and communities (pp. 6–20). New York: Routledge-
Falmer.
Gumperz, J., & Field, M. (1995). Children’s discourse and inferential practices in cooperative
learning. Discourse Processes, 19, 133–147.
Hawkins, M. (2004). Researching English language and literacy development in schools.
Educational Researcher, 33(14), 14–25.
Hawkins, M. (2005). Becoming a student: Identity, work and academic literacies in early
schooling. TESOL Quarterly, 39(1), 59–82.
Heath, S. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms.
Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Hull, G., & Schultz, K. (2002). Connecting schools with out-of-school worlds: Insights from
recent research in literacy in non-school settings. In G. Hull & K. Schultz (Eds.), School’s
out: Bridging out-of-school literacies with classroom practice (pp. 32–60). New York:
Teachers College Press.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Long, S. (2004). Making a place for peer interaction: Mexican American kindergarteners
learning language and literacy. In E. Gregory, S. Long, & D. Volk (Eds.), Many pathways
to literacy: Young children learning with siblings, grandparents, peers and communities
(pp. 93–104). New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Martínez-Roldan, C., & López Robertson, J. (2000). Initiating literature circle in a first-grade
bilingual classroom. Reading Teacher, 53(4), 270–281.
Mathison, S. (1988). Why triangulate? Educational Researcher, 17(2), 13–17.
Mercado, C. (2005). Seeing what’s there: Language and literacy funds of knowledge in New
York Puerto Rican homes. In A. Zentella (Ed.), Building on strength: Language and
literacy in Latino families and communities (pp. 134–147). New York: Teachers College
Press.
Mercado, C., & Moll, L. (2000). Student agency through collaborative research in Puerto Rican
communities. In S. Nieto (Ed.), Puerto Rican students in U.S. schools (pp. 297–329).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Moll, L. (2001). The diversity of schooling: A cultural-historical approach. In M. Reyes & J.
Halcón (Eds.), The best for our children: Critical perspectives on literacy for Latino
students (pp. 13–28). New York: Teachers College Press.
Moll, L., & Greenberg, J. (1990). Creating zones of possibilities: Combining social contexts
for instruction. In L. Moll (Ed.), Vygotsky and education: Instructional implications and
applications of sociohistorical psychology (pp. 319–348). New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Nieto, S. (2000). Puerto Rican students in U.S. schools: A brief history. In S. Nieto (Ed.),
Puerto Rican students in U.S. schools (pp. 5–38). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Nieto, S. (2004). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education
(4th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.
Parke, T., Drury, R., Kenner, C., & Robertson, L. (2002). Revealing invisible worlds:
Connecting mainstream with bilingual children’s home and community learning. Journal
of Early Childhood Literacy, 2(2), 195–220.
1230 S. Brown

Pastor, A. (2005). The language socialization experiences of Latina mothers in southern

California. In A. Zentella (Ed.), Building on strengths: Language and literacy in Latino
families and communities (pp. 148–161). New York: Teachers College Press.
Pérez, B. (2004). Literacy, diversity, and programmatic responses. In B. Pérez (Ed.), Socio-
cultural contexts of language and literacy (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Pew Hispanic Center. (2009). Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin in the United States, 2007
(Fact sheet). Retrieved from http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/48.pdf
Piedra, M., & Romo, H. (2003). Collaborative literacy in a Mexican immigrant household: The
role of sibling mediators in the socialization of pre-school learners. In R. Bayley & S.
Schecter (Eds.), Language socialization in bilingual and multilingual societies (pp. 44–61).
Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Reese, L., & Goldenberg, C. (2008). Community literacy resources and home literacy prac-
tices among immigrant Latino families. Marriage and Family Review, 43(1–2), 109–139.
Reyes, M., & Halcón, J. (2001). Introduction. In M. Reyes & J. Halcón (Eds.), The best for
our children: Critical perspectives on literacy for Latino students (pp. 1–9). New York:
Teachers College Press.
Rogers, R. (2003). A critical discourse analysis of family literacy practices. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Souto-Manning, M. (2006). A critical look at bilingualism discourse in public schools: Auto-
ethnographic reflections of a vulnerable observer. Bilingual Research Journal, 30(2),
559–577.
Spradley, J. (1980). Participant observation. New York: Harcourt Brace College.
Taylor, D., & Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up literate: Learning from inner-city families.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Toohey, K. (2000). Learning English at school: Identity, social relations and classroom
practice. Tonowanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.
Torres-Guzman, M. (2004). Language, culture, and literacy in Puerto Rican communities. In
B. Perez (Ed.), Sociocultural contexts of language and literacy (pp. 111–136). Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tse, L. (2001). Why don’t they learn English: Separating fact from fallacy in the U.S.
language debate. New York: Teachers College Press.
US Census Bureau. (2000). Census 2000 demographic profile highlights. Retrieved from
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFIteratedFacts?_event=&geo_id=01000US&_geo
Context=01000US&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=
on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_2&ds_na
me=DEC_2000_SAFF&_ci_nbr=402&qr_name=DEC_2000_SAFF_R1010&reg=DEC_2
000_SAFF_R1010%3A402&_keyword=&_industry=
Valdés, G. (1996). Con respeto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families
and schools: An ethnographic portrait. New York: Teachers College Press.
Valdés, G. (2001). Learning and not learning English: Latino students in American schools.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Vasquez, V., Egawa, K., Harste, J.C., Thompson, R. (2004). Introduction. In V. Vasquez, K.
Egawa, J. Harste, & R. Thompson (Eds.), Literacy as social practice: Relocating your
reading and language arts curriculum (pp. xi–xxvi). Urbana, IL: National Council of
Teachers of English.
Volk, D., & de Acosta, M. (2003). Reinventing texts and contexts: Syncretic literacy events in
young Puerto Rican children’s homes. Research in the Teaching of English, 38(1), 8–48.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development if higher psychological processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Worthy, J., & Rodríguez-Galindo, A. (2006). ‘Mi hija dos personas’: Latino immigrant
parents’ perspectives about their children’s bilingualism. Bilingual Research Journal,
30(2), 579–601.
Zentella, A. (1997). Growing up bilingual. Malden, MA: Blackwell.