Multiple Embedded Scaffolds: Support for English Speakers in a Two-way Spanish Immersion Kindergarten

Abstract

The present research focuses on opening activities in two bilingual Spanish immersion Kindergarten classrooms in northern California, Creekside and Seaside, in which similar numbers of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers were instructed primarily through Spanish. This study analyzes ways in which teachers structured opening activities to ensure comprehension and participation by children when the youngsters had little or no knowledge of the language of instruction, Spanish. Routines are analyzed in terms of scaffolding provided, with the concept of multiple embedded scaffolds proposed to explain how native English speakers are supported in language acquisition and content learning through a language that is new to them. Analysis revealed specific communication strategies such as functional repetition and the use of non-verbal cues to meaning that scaffolded comprehension. In addition, the teachers modeled language use themselves and structured events so that native Spanish speakers would model appropriate responses for non-Spanish proficient children to emulate. Finally, in the curriculum routines, teachers increased the conceptual and linguistic complexity of the content placed in the slots created by the routine, continually challenged children to higher levels of language performance, and engaged their participation in their zones of proximal development.