Abstract
Drawing on the work of Celia Genishi, this article discusses data from an ethnographic case study of young Latina/o children, starting in their four-year-olds classroom in a Head Start Program through their first grade year in a dual-language program in a public school. The children attended a bilingual Head Start program that followed a play-based curriculum and focused on the socio-emotional development of the children. The flexibility of the curriculum in this setting allowed time and space for the children to play and develop at their own pace, positioning them as knowers and learners. The children then moved into a public school setting with a narrow ‘literacy focused’ curriculum, with strict boundaries established between languages and a narrower definition of what ‘counts' as literacy. In spite of this, these children continued to draw on their linguistic resources, making space for play and developing their identities as multilingual children in ways that are often not captured by the curriculum, but are visible to those who seek to listen to the children and see their strengths and growth over time.
‘Remember, remember when I was in prekinder and I drew a flower in your notebook’ says Javier to me. ‘Yes, I remember’, I say, and flip back through my field notebook to show him his drawing. ‘Yo también dibujé una flor’ says Luna, and we flip back until we find it. ‘She [pointing to me] was in my mines preschool’ says Javier to the other children who have gathered around my table in this first grade classroom. ‘Yeah, yeah, she was in mine too’ says a boy who has joined us. ‘No, no you wasn't!’ says Javier, ‘he wasn't, right Ysaaca?’ I nod and agree, ‘Yeah, Javier is right, you weren't in the preschool with me, but I remember you from last year in kindergarten when I used to come visit’. ‘Oh yeah’ says the boy. Javier says: ‘Yeah, in preschool it was … [looks around his first grade classroom] me and Luna and Estrella and Flor and who else Ysaaca? Can we look at your notebook to see who was there?’