After a brief overview of translanguaging research carried out in the past, this chapter introduces how Hungarian-English emergent bilingual children used translanguaging practices during play time in a Hungarian-English early childhood education classroom in the AraNY János Hungarian School in New York City (USA). The authors developed the concept of student-led translanguaging and observed it separately from teacher-led translanguaging practices. This chapter presents the data collected through classroom observations over a period of 6 months. The overarching aim of this research is to reveal how translanguaging is used by the students and by the teachers in a superdiverse community of Hungarian descendants living around New York City.

The term ‘translanguaging' has been widespread in the field of Applied Linguistics in a short period of time, and just as quickly, it infiltrated in the field of Multilingual Education. Translanguaging is mostly seen as an opportunity to build on multilingual speakers' full language repertoire in the classroom in order to make sense of the world around them. At the same time, translanguaging might be seen as a threat for heritage language survival because heritage languages are forced to immerse in the mainstream language(s). The authors observed pedagogical translanguaging practices in the AraNY János Hungarian Kindergarten and School (USA) to understand how English was used in teaching the heritage language and to discover how bridging existing language gaps between speakers worked in the practices of bilingual pedagogues. The overarching aim of this study was to reveal some of the pedagogical translanguaging strategies used to deal with occurring language gaps.

Language and culture are inseparable entities forming an interdependent relationship within the multilingual classroom, which is both a melting pot of languages as well as a myriad of cultural backgrounds. In learning a common language, known as “lingua franca,” in the multilingual classroom, culture plays a critical role since the lingua franca makes communication possible between language teachers and multilingual students. Cultural connections and effective communication enables these students to engage in social and interactive activities and allows them to become active participants of the multilingual classroom. This chapter addresses some of the major intercultural challenges that both teachers and students of multilingual classrooms currently face within the “cultural jungle” of New York City. These multilingual students are simultaneously learning English as the lingua franca and participating in an intercultural educational experience in order to become linguistically and interculturally competent global citizens.

The term ‘translanguaging' not only has appeared in the field of Applied Linguistics, but also it entered in the field of Multilingual/Multicultural Education in early childhood classrooms. Translanguaging is mostly seen as an opportunity to build on emergent bilingual speakers' full language repertoires in order to scaffold language learning; however, it also provides an opportunity for young learners to gain cross-cultural knowledge. The authors observed translanguaging practices during play time in the AraNY János Hungarian Kindergarten and School in New York City (USA) to understand how different languages and cultures presented in the early childhood classes might contribute to shaping an anti-biased mindset towards social and cultural diversity. The overarching aim of this study was to reveal some of the translanguaging practices both students and teachers used in a diverse ethnic community of Hungarian descendants living in New York City.

Language and culture are inseparable entities forming an interdependent relationship within the multilingual classroom, which is both a melting pot of languages as well as a myriad of cultural backgrounds. In learning a common language, known as “lingua franca,” in the multilingual classroom, culture plays a critical role since the lingua franca makes communication possible between language teachers and multilingual students. Cultural connections and effective communication enables these students to engage in social and interactive activities and allows them to become active participants of the multilingual classroom. This chapter addresses some of the major intercultural challenges that both teachers and students of multilingual classrooms currently face within the “cultural jungle” of New York City. These multilingual students are simultaneously learning English as the lingua franca and participating in an intercultural educational experience in order to become linguistically and interculturally competent global citizens.