Este estudo surge a partir da pergunta: Que sentidos têm a Roda para crianças e professores na escola de educação infantil? Esta pergunta me leva a significar a Roda como linguagem, como conteúdo, como conteúdo-linguagem, amparada em autores como C. S. Peirce e Junqueira Filho. Tal escolha teórica me leva a investigar quais são a estrutura e as regras de funcionamento das Rodas postas em funcionamento nos encontros em Roda entre crianças e professoras numa escola de educação infantil. Como instrumentos metodológicos foram utilizados a observação participante, o diário de campo, entrevistas semiestruturadas e conversas com as crianças. Os dados produzidos em campo possibilitaram tanto a identificação de alguns sentidos para a Roda quanto a identificação da estrutura e das regras de funcionamento das Rodas observadas durante as idas à escola de educação infantil. Quando falo Roda, me refiro à Roda de conversa, que se dá pelo encontro de professoras e crianças, significados como pares uns dos outros, em interlocução, a partir de linguagens verbais e não verbais. Quando digo Roda, me refiro a um conteúdo-linguagem a ser aprendido tanto pelos professores quanto pelas crianças, e ao ser aprendido, cada vez que a Roda é posta em funcionamento, gera conhecimentos e aprendizagens sobre a Roda, sobre seus participantes e sobre conversar. / This study arises from the question: What are the senses of the Circle for children and teachers at kindergarten school? This question leads me to mean the Circle as a language, such as content, as content-language, supported by authors such as C. S. Peirce and Junqueira Filho. This theoretical choice leads me to investigate what are the structure and operating rules put in place in the Circles on Circle meetings with children and teachers in a kindergarten school. Methodological tools were used as participant observation, field diary, semi-structured interviews and conversations with children. The data produced in the field have enabled both the identification of some directions for the Circle as the identification of the structure and operating rules for Circles observed during visits to the kindergarten education. When I say Circle, I mean the conversation Circle, which goes by the gathering of teachers and children, meanings of each other as peers in dialogue, from verbal and nonverbal languages. When I say circle, I refer to a content-language to be learned by teachers and children, and once it is learned, each time the circle is turned on, it generates knowledge and learning on the circle on its participants and on the action of talking.

Este estudo surge a partir da pergunta: Que sentidos têm a Roda para crianças e professores na escola de educação infantil? Esta pergunta me leva a significar a Roda como linguagem, como conteúdo, como conteúdo-linguagem, amparada em autores como C. S. Peirce e Junqueira Filho. Tal escolha teórica me leva a investigar quais são a estrutura e as regras de funcionamento das Rodas postas em funcionamento nos encontros em Roda entre crianças e professoras numa escola de educação infantil. Como instrumentos metodológicos foram utilizados a observação participante, o diário de campo, entrevistas semiestruturadas e conversas com as crianças. Os dados produzidos em campo possibilitaram tanto a identificação de alguns sentidos para a Roda quanto a identificação da estrutura e das regras de funcionamento das Rodas observadas durante as idas à escola de educação infantil. Quando falo Roda, me refiro à Roda de conversa, que se dá pelo encontro de professoras e crianças, significados como pares uns dos outros, em interlocução, a partir de linguagens verbais e não verbais. Quando digo Roda, me refiro a um conteúdo-linguagem a ser aprendido tanto pelos professores quanto pelas crianças, e ao ser aprendido, cada vez que a Roda é posta em funcionamento, gera conhecimentos e aprendizagens sobre a Roda, sobre seus participantes e sobre conversar. / This study arises from the question: What are the senses of the Circle for children and teachers at kindergarten school? This question leads me to mean the Circle as a language, such as content, as content-language, supported by authors such as C. S. Peirce and Junqueira Filho. This theoretical choice leads me to investigate what are the structure and operating rules put in place in the Circles on Circle meetings with children and teachers in a kindergarten school. Methodological tools were used as participant observation, field diary, semi-structured interviews and conversations with children. The data produced in the field have enabled both the identification of some directions for the Circle as the identification of the structure and operating rules for Circles observed during visits to the kindergarten education. When I say Circle, I mean the conversation Circle, which goes by the gathering of teachers and children, meanings of each other as peers in dialogue, from verbal and nonverbal languages. When I say circle, I refer to a content-language to be learned by teachers and children, and once it is learned, each time the circle is turned on, it generates knowledge and learning on the circle on its participants and on the action of talking.

Este estudo surge a partir da pergunta: Que sentidos têm a Roda para crianças e professores na escola de educação infantil? Esta pergunta me leva a significar a Roda como linguagem, como conteúdo, como conteúdo-linguagem, amparada em autores como C. S. Peirce e Junqueira Filho. Tal escolha teórica me leva a investigar quais são a estrutura e as regras de funcionamento das Rodas postas em funcionamento nos encontros em Roda entre crianças e professoras numa escola de educação infantil. Como instrumentos metodológicos foram utilizados a observação participante, o diário de campo, entrevistas semiestruturadas e conversas com as crianças. Os dados produzidos em campo possibilitaram tanto a identificação de alguns sentidos para a Roda quanto a identificação da estrutura e das regras de funcionamento das Rodas observadas durante as idas à escola de educação infantil. Quando falo Roda, me refiro à Roda de conversa, que se dá pelo encontro de professoras e crianças, significados como pares uns dos outros, em interlocução, a partir de linguagens verbais e não verbais. Quando digo Roda, me refiro a um conteúdo-linguagem a ser aprendido tanto pelos professores quanto pelas crianças, e ao ser aprendido, cada vez que a Roda é posta em funcionamento, gera conhecimentos e aprendizagens sobre a Roda, sobre seus participantes e sobre conversar. / This study arises from the question: What are the senses of the Circle for children and teachers at kindergarten school? This question leads me to mean the Circle as a language, such as content, as content-language, supported by authors such as C. S. Peirce and Junqueira Filho. This theoretical choice leads me to investigate what are the structure and operating rules put in place in the Circles on Circle meetings with children and teachers in a kindergarten school. Methodological tools were used as participant observation, field diary, semi-structured interviews and conversations with children. The data produced in the field have enabled both the identification of some directions for the Circle as the identification of the structure and operating rules for Circles observed during visits to the kindergarten education. When I say Circle, I mean the conversation Circle, which goes by the gathering of teachers and children, meanings of each other as peers in dialogue, from verbal and nonverbal languages. When I say circle, I refer to a content-language to be learned by teachers and children, and once it is learned, each time the circle is turned on, it generates knowledge and learning on the circle on its participants and on the action of talking.

In Winter semester of 2005 the English Language Center (ELC) began plans to implement a content-based program for students at its highest proficiency level in order to provide them with more effective preparation for academic studies in English. Since that time, the program has undergone various changes to provide a more stable, cohesive, and responsive curriculum. There is a need, however, for greater teacher support and training. This paper outlines the process I underwent to create a handbook that would provide needed guidance and training for teachers in this program. This project involved an in-depth needs analysis of teachers and students in the program. Results from this analysis led to the selection of three basic principles that were used in the design and development of this project: (1) practicality, (2) instructiveness, and (3) sustainability. The resulting project is a binder organized into four tabs: (1) Program Overview, (2) The Basics of Content-based Instruction at the ELC, (3) Challenges and Strategies in CBI, and (4) Additional Resources. This resource was developed using Microsoft Word 2007 and includes a variety of graphics, text boxes and layouts to provide a professional and user-friendly product. An evaluation of the project based on the responses of three teachers who used the handbook during Winter semester 2009 revealed that it was a useful and needed resource for teaching content-based classes at the ELC. Further piloting is needed to verify these findings. It is recommended that in the future this resource be maintained by the ELC Coordinator assigned to oversee the content courses. As the ELC continues to refine the content curriculum, evaluation and revisions of this handbook should be carried out at regular intervals to ensure its continued relevance and accuracy over time.

Achieving equitable opportunities to learn has been recognized as an important issue in multilingual content classrooms. However, partially because mathematics is conceptualized as a language-free subject, there is limited research examining linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this research is to identify linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms in a Canadian multilingual urban elementary school, where English was the main instructional language. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory, this study focuses on two aspects of learning: externalization, which emphasizes learners’ creation of new cultural artifacts and new contexts to apply the given artifacts, and internalization, which emphasizes learners’ acquisition of preexisting cultural artifacts. In this ethnographic study, I examined the activity systems of participatory action research (PAR) with the activity system of regular mathematics lessons. Within these activity systems, I focused on newly-arrived English language learners’ (ELLs) participation. Specifically, I examined the range of opportunities to learn afforded to students in the two activity systems and identified how focal ELLs accessed these opportunities to learn. In the activity system of PAR, which emphasized externalization, students conducted research and presented their conclusions in order to implement changes in their school environment. All students, however, did not participate equally. Specifically, the focal ELLs were not able to access these opportunities to learn as a result of group dynamics, marginalized social identities, and other students’ perceptions of their linguistic ability. In the activity system of regular mathematics lessons, which emphasized internalization, the teacher organized lessons in ways that allowed focal ELLs to receive extra support and resources to reach the curriculum expectations. These mathematics lessons allowed focal ELLs to increase their participation through mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and explanations with a variety of resources including visual representations. A critical examination of the interactions revealed that focal ELLs’ opportunities to learn were expanded or limited depending upon classroom configurations. Furthermore, this research suggests that students’ social identities serve as both a medium and a product of learning. These results have valuable implications for developing inclusive classroom practices and curriculum in multilingual content classrooms.

Achieving equitable opportunities to learn has been recognized as an important issue in multilingual content classrooms. However, partially because mathematics is conceptualized as a language-free subject, there is limited research examining linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this research is to identify linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms in a Canadian multilingual urban elementary school, where English was the main instructional language. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory, this study focuses on two aspects of learning: externalization, which emphasizes learners’ creation of new cultural artifacts and new contexts to apply the given artifacts, and internalization, which emphasizes learners’ acquisition of preexisting cultural artifacts. In this ethnographic study, I examined the activity systems of participatory action research (PAR) with the activity system of regular mathematics lessons. Within these activity systems, I focused on newly-arrived English language learners’ (ELLs) participation. Specifically, I examined the range of opportunities to learn afforded to students in the two activity systems and identified how focal ELLs accessed these opportunities to learn. In the activity system of PAR, which emphasized externalization, students conducted research and presented their conclusions in order to implement changes in their school environment. All students, however, did not participate equally. Specifically, the focal ELLs were not able to access these opportunities to learn as a result of group dynamics, marginalized social identities, and other students’ perceptions of their linguistic ability. In the activity system of regular mathematics lessons, which emphasized internalization, the teacher organized lessons in ways that allowed focal ELLs to receive extra support and resources to reach the curriculum expectations. These mathematics lessons allowed focal ELLs to increase their participation through mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and explanations with a variety of resources including visual representations. A critical examination of the interactions revealed that focal ELLs’ opportunities to learn were expanded or limited depending upon classroom configurations. Furthermore, this research suggests that students’ social identities serve as both a medium and a product of learning. These results have valuable implications for developing inclusive classroom practices and curriculum in multilingual content classrooms.