18.08.2020

Beacon Coordinator participates in the launch of the book “Challenges and Practices in Bilingual Education”

Beacon’s English Language Coordinator, Maria Teresa de la Torre Aranda, participated in the “Live” of the official launch of the book “Challenges and Practices in Bilingual Education”. Among other renowned researchers, Terry collaborated as the author of one of the chapters in the second volume of the series that discusses bilingual education in the face of its expressive growth in Brazil.

The research aims to bring a critical view of the reality of bilingual schools, to minimize gaps in the literature available in Portuguese, supported by practice and anchored by research and deep theoretical knowledge. All authors who contributed to the book were present at the “Live” to talk about the topics discussed.

The book opens a movement to look at bilingual education based on research in the context of Brazilian schools. Usually, we import many practices and they are important to establish a dialogue between other experiences that generate learning. However, the publication of these two volumes makes it possible to value the work done in Brazilian schools. In addition, the fact that the book was written in Portuguese, enables access and understanding of the phenomena that occur in bilingual education by all interested in this subject.

The first volume, “Bilingual Education in Brazil”, starts from a more conceptual basis. The second book will approach concrete issues, bringing practices and challenges that educators face in their daily school life.

Antonieta Megale, in addition to being the author of one of the chapters, is also the organizer of the book. She writes about teacher development and training. Terry Aranda brings in her chapter the research on the process of implementing a bilingual education proposal, listing six guiding principles. It also addresses the integration of languages in the composition of a bilingual curriculum. Marcello Marcelino, on the other hand, talks about common and more frequent doubts of families regarding bilingual education.

Renata Condi presents the active methodologies and ways to give the student a real opportunity to be the protagonist of their learning. Luciana Brentano was invited to be part of the book, bringing scientific evidence and positive results from research that brings the development of the bilingual brain. Fernanda Liberali approaches the difference between protagonism and agency, while Camila Dias brings up the theme of a child who is inserted in a bilingual context and what are the impacts on the literacy process.

Ingrid Puche and Gladys Lopes were motivated to write their chapter out of a desire to see a bilingual school in which practices are not compartmentalized between the two languages. She wrote about interdisciplinary pedagogical projects and planning models in which all languages of the curriculum are used so that the central idea of the project can be investigated.

The books bring important experiences, provocations, research and reflections and are already being referenced in academic works.

To watch the full live, click here.

The digital version of the books is available for download, free of charge. Access volume 1 – “Bilingual Education in Brazil” here. To complement your studies, also find volume 2 here – “Challenges and Practices in Bilingual Education”, both published by Richmond, Santillana Foundation.