Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and cultural dimensions of children's learning

Abstract

Stories and poetry have long been considered a resource for the language and literacy development of bilingual children, particularly if they can work with texts in both mother tongue and English. This paper demonstrates that bilingual learning is also beneficial for second and third generation children whose English is often stronger than their mother tongue. Presenting data from an action research project in East London primary schools, we show how children investigated metaphor and cultural content in a Bengali lullaby, clarifying concepts through dialogue with their parents.Comparison with a lullaby in English from North America generated additional ideas concerning different cultural values. The learning process enabled children to use their bilingual skills and draw on different aspects of their bicultural identities. Finally, we explain how bilingual poetry can be used to stimulate learning in a multilingual classroom context, through the example of a whole-class lesson based around Bengali and English lullabies.Keywords: bilingualism, biculturalism, poetry, metaphor, Bengali, learner identities Introduction We introduce this paper by considering key ideas emerging from research on bilingual approaches to stories and poetry in primary school. This discussion highlights the contribution that bilingual work can make to cognitive development and cultural understanding, and we focus on the potential (often unrealised) for enhancing the learning of second and third generation children in particular. We then describe how a group of ten-and eleven-year-old British Bangladeshi children in a London primary school, studying a Bengali lullaby in transliteration and translation alongside the original version, were able to explore the content with additional support from their parents. This process deepened their understanding of metaphor and consolidated their knowledge of Bangladeshi culture -a cultural background to which they were strongly attached but which was partly unfamiliar to them due to growing up in the UK. Comparing the poem with a lullaby in English from North America, known to them through school and through popular culture, sharpened their understanding of different cultural values. To fully investigate the meanings in the Bengali poem, children used both languages in their discussion, making use of bilingual skills that are at risk of being lost unless they are valued in mainstream education. By operating bilingually and drawing on their complete range of linguistic and cultural knowledge, children also broadened their learner identities. We conclude by examining how the children's classmates, including those who did not speak Bengali, benefited from a whole-class lesson developed around the Bengali and English lullabies.

Teachers’ views on recognising and using home languages in predominantly monolingual primary schools

“…Research to date (Kenner, Gregory, et al, 2008;Kenner, 2009;McGilp, 2014) has focused on the potential advantages to home language pedagogies within multilingual contexts. However, as noted earlier, there are also strong rationales for providing wider linguistic and cultural education in traditionally monolingual areas.…”

“…Kenner et al, 2008). Indeed, Mehmedbegovic (2011Mehmedbegovic ( , 2008 found some practitioners demonstrated a reluctance towards home language use in the classroom.…”

“…They argued that by comparing a Bengali and a North American lullaby, second and third generation children were able to explore their cultural heritage and bicultural identities, noting that many children may never be given the opportunity to do this in the absence of parental support or community education projects. Allowing this bicultural discussion, Kenner et al (2008) argued, led to a deeper understanding of the lullabies as the children accessed metaphorical content more easily. While this is only one example from one educational context, it suggests potentially important benefits to using home languages that may be replicable in other educational contexts.…”

“…Home language pedagogies have previously been trialled within individual classrooms, for example, Kenner, Al-Azami, Gregory and Ruby's (2008) bilingual poetry project in an East London classroom. They argued that by comparing a Bengali and a North American lullaby, second and third generation children were able to explore their cultural heritage and bicultural identities, noting that many children may never be given the opportunity to do this in the absence of parental support or community education projects.…”

“…Conteh, 2007;Kenner et al, 2008;McGilp, 2014), see Appendix A. An open category was also included to avoid missing valuable observations that did not fit into a pre-defined category.…”