The Experience of Co-Teaching for Emergent Arabic-English Literacy

Abstract

In this paper we explore teachers’ experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/ English) model in public Kindergarten schools in the United Arab Emirates. The main objective was to understand teachers’ experiences with intercultural teaching for biliteracy in this context. We interviewed six pairs of co-teachers. These co-teachers represent six of the nationalities of teachers working in public Kindergartens in Abu Dhabi, thereby representing a cross-section of the cultural context of teaching in the reformed public schools. The data highlight teachers’ varied co-teaching practices and point to aspects such as classroom management and translanguaging as aspects of classroom practice which are enhanced by co-teaching. Teachers’ experience of co-teaching and well-formed co-teaching relationships can contribute to the development of sound pedagogical practices while a lack of administrative support can create conditions which are not conducive to co-teaching. The data also show that supportive bilingual scaffolding and flexible translanguaging are seen as effective components of co-teaching to support emergent biliteracy.

Bilingual teachers’ translanguaging practices and ideologies in online classrooms in Saudi Arabia

“…Research on translanguaging is scarce in the Arab world, particularly in higher education. Dillon [31] looked at experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/English) model in public kindergartens in the United Arab Emirates and noted that few studies had looked at Arabic-English biliteracy [32,33]. Dillon and Gallagher [31] interviewed six pairs of kindergarten co-teachers in Abu Dhabi.…”

“…Dillon [31] looked at experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/English) model in public kindergartens in the United Arab Emirates and noted that few studies had looked at Arabic-English biliteracy [32,33]. Dillon and Gallagher [31] interviewed six pairs of kindergarten co-teachers in Abu Dhabi. They found that different classroom practices, such as translanguaging and class management, were enhanced by co-teaching, while flexible translanguaging, in turn, supported co-teaching and biliteracy outcomes.…”

Desafios da formulação de uma política pública municipal de educação: um estudo de caso em uma cidade de pequeno porte do interior paulista

“…Em todas as formas de se estruturar a etapa de formulação de políticas públicas, sempre haverá a exigência das ações por parte de algum agente, sendo ele os Governos ou dos agentes externos, ou entidades do terceiro setor envolvidos (BAPTISTA, 2019;DILLON;GALLAGHER, 2019;PERONI;SUSIN;MONTANO, 2021). O planejamento também precisa considerar a garantia dos objetivos, prioridades e atividades para formulação da política pública (DOUGLAS et al, 2016;FRANCO, 2022).…”

“…O gestor e sua equipe devem estar preparados para elaborar a política pública com compromisso, competência teórica, técnica e política. Os agentes da equipe formuladora precisam compreender a realidade da sociedade em sua complexidade, levando em consideração as partes que influenciam no processo de decisão e análise da política pública local (BESIC et al, 2017;BULLOUGH, 2015;DILLON;GALLAGHER, 2019;MACHIDA;WALSH, 2015;MARINZECK-SANTOS, 2021;SANT'ANNA, 2020;STROGILOS;TRAGOULIA, 2013).…”

“…O processo de capacitação de agentes públicos e privados em uma política pública, além de tornar eficiente o gasto do orçamento, também pode refletir os resultados a serem alcançados. Os processos para se realizar os treinamentos e capacitações dos colaboradores mostra-se ser algo contemporâneo e considerado uma boa prática neste segmento de políticas públicas e também na área da educação (COUTO; GONÇALVES, 2016;DILLON;GALLAGHER, 2019).…”