ERIC Number: EJ1367325
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Mar
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2043-6106
"Brazil Is My Cousin, the U.S. Has Parks": Children's Construction of Brazil and the United States in a Bilingual Education Program
Lima Becker, Mariana; Oliveira, Gabrielle; Alex, Virginia
Global Studies of Childhood, v13 n1 p16-33 Mar 2023
Drawing from a 3-year ethnographic project in one elementary school in the United States, this article examines how a group of 43 first graders perceived and constructed Brazil and the U.S. during a drawing and writing activity in their bilingual (Portuguese-English) classroom. The majority of the participating children (81.4%) either migrated from Brazil to the U.S. or were born in the U.S. of Brazilian parents. Data analysis reveals that Brazil was frequently portrayed as an idyllic landscape that included several relatives and friends and a range of activities with loved ones, while the U.S. involved immediate family members, material goods, and places for leisure. Grounded in a relational understanding of place and placemaking, we argue that the children engaged in a range of place-based moves to construct Brazil and the United States during the activity. These acts of placemaking included evocations of transnational memories, ongoing activities and aspirations, social relationships, and local institutional expectations, particularly the school curriculum and teachers' discourse about Brazil. The findings suggest that immigrant children's construction of place is multifaceted, dynamic, and situated.
Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Foreign Countries, Bilingual Students, Student Attitudes, Freehand Drawing, Elementary School Students, Place Based Education, Ethnography, Memory, Aspiration, Expectation, Immigrants, Grade 1
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 1; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Brazil; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A