Asas da Florestania: languages and cultures at play in the forest-based citizenship literacy program in Brazil

Silvia Ramos Sollai

doi:10.15448/2178-3640.2017.2.28170

Abstract

This methodological article applies the Continua of Biliteracy (Hornberger, 1989; Hornberger & Skilton-Sylvester, 2000) onto the curriculum and human resources of Asas da Florestania Infantil, namely Asinhas, a preschool initiative with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognition for its startling approach to the Acre an multilingual setting in northwestern Brazil. Overseen, forest-dependent, Acre’s identity is a traditional and hybridculture melting pot with sustainable rubber tapping advocates, indigenous land claimers and Haitian refugees, where languages and literacy converge to legitimate the Brazilian linguistic and cultural diversity. Initially funded by national communication mogul Rede Globo and the World Bank, today, it also responds to municipal, state, and federal accountability. We concludedthat Asinhas’ recruitment of Educational Agents to promote meaningful forest-based content at an anthropological home visits approach is an outstanding decentralization and multilingual setting and curriculum acknowledgement, despite its population under representation and scaling-up limitations.

Highlights

According to the nomenclature adopted in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010), methodological articles are not designed to present results
In order to attend the need of its riverside residents who would drop out of school in fear of facing flood, wild animal and other dangers, the state of Acre created Asas da Florestania (The Forest-based Wings Program)
This article identified Asinha’s policy, its teacher training, home visit model, and forest-based content as instruments to answer the following question: to which extent are all identities and languages represented in terms of bilingualism, teaching practices, and resource at this particular riverside indigenous ‘forest-based citizenship’ program? The methodological approach adopted is that of sample gathering and analysis of secondary data in order to explore the program’s effectiveness in relation to its setting, participants, and material as a qualitative case study

Summary

Introduction

According to the nomenclature adopted in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010), methodological articles are not designed to present results. Instead, studies of this kind aim at providing through and stepwise details for well-read researchers to assess the applicability of the methodology analyzed through illustrations, new advances in one specific domain that is relevant to its systematic review. In order to attend the need of its riverside residents who would drop out of school in fear of facing flood, wild animal and other dangers, the state of Acre created Asas da Florestania (The Forest-based Wings Program). This neologism proposes the tone of Asas program: highly engaging and representative of its student population

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion