So far our project has focused on in-school projects in middle school classrooms, in a variety of subjects. We've had teachers run units in English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science/Math, and English as a New Language. There are a couple of nice examples from language arts described in our paper at SIGCSE (Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education) this year: https://doi.org/10.1145/3287324.3287368 In one case, students adapted a simulation of an interview with a book author, and students were able to bring in cultural figures they related to as part of an imagined bilingual conversation between the interviewer and interviewee.

This is a great question.  Sara Vogel and I were part of the CUNY NYSIEB team that started working with schools to help them understand translanguaging theory and forge translanguaging pedagogies.  We see translanguaging within CS as a natural extension of translanguaging work that has been taking root in some schools.  Therefore, we see translanguaging as the organic way in which bilinguals use language in the world.  One important aspect of translanguaging is that students are not switching between languages but rather using resources from a unified linguistic repertoire and thus creating novel ways of languaging.  Our work with CS emphasizes that while emergent bilinguals learn CS they are drawing upon both their entire linguistic repertoire as well as their semiotic repertoire, using a range of tools such gestures, drawings, etc, to make meaning.  In this way, we are expanding translanguaging, so that both students' linguistic and semiotic resources are considered when understanding their learning.  So, to answer your question, our approach emerges from the translanguaging movement and adds to it.

Thanks, Jill and Laura!

Anyone who is interested in learning more about translanguaging theory and pedagogy can check out the CUNY-NYSIEB work at their website here: https://www.cuny-nysieb.org/

Zoila:  Thanks for visiting the site and watching the video!  One of the classrooms that we work with is an ENL class in which students speak at least 3-4 different languages.  We didn't emphasize it in the video although some of the footage from the video was in that class.  I think that's a great suggestion that we bring that to the forefront, so that teachers who teach in those settings understand how translanguaging pedgoagy and literate programming can help support CS learning, English acquisition, and general language development as well.

Students in our partner classrooms have a host of language backgrounds and experiences. While most students use Spanish and English, there are also students who use Arabic, French, Wolof, Amharic, Tigrinya, and even among those who use Spanish, there are key differences in their language and literacy experiences, interests, and resources. Our translanguaging lens is useful because it allows us to think about students language repertoires in a holistic way -- to notice a fuller range of practices and design CS experiences not just with static notions of L1 in mind. While the strategies you use with a student who has particular practices with Spanish may differ from a student who uses Chinese or languages that Scratch doesn't support, the idea of noticing and building on their resources is still central.

Would love to learn more about the work toy do with CS for All teachers and will be taking a look at your research!

Just to reiterate a subtle point too---the question of whether students' whose first languages differ have different challenges in participating fully in school is important and interesting (for instance if you're going from a pictographic to an alphabetic language, or among related languages or unrelated languages), but we also find real differences in language backgrounds within languages, and that's why our project doesn't rely on translated curriculum. For instance, among kids whose home language is primarily Spanish, we see things like regional or national dialects; kids both with and without interrupted formal education (i.e., some kids didn't get to go to all of primary school before landing up here), kids who were raised in two countries by going back and forth vs kids raised in two countries where they moved permanently to the US, and more. Every kid's background varies, and so the point of the approach is to focus on techniques that allow kids to use whatever they bring to the table, rather than trying to design curricula around one particular non-English language.

I like the approach you mentioned "focus on techniques that allow kids to use whatever they bring to the table, , rather than trying to design curricula around one particular non-English language." This philosophy of constructivisim can help students build knowledge based on their own experience and background. It's similar to the perspective about educational technology that is to focus on how to use technology to facilitate learning rather than technology itself. Thanks for sharing!

Exactly! We advance the idea that, as Laura said in the video, teachers are in the driver's seat of designing and preparing experiences that draw on students' backgrounds, and so our project focuses on developing an approach to teaching and learning CS with emergent bilinguals, rather than a static curriculum.

Thanks, Rebecca! It's great to be a part of the vibrant RPP for CS for all network with you.

Thank you! Glad it was useful for you. We hope to add to the resources on translanguaging in CS contexts, so stay tuned!

yes, we are hoping to roll out teacher resources on our project website http://www.pila-cs.org this summer!

Thanks, Todd! Your work with students with disabilities is also a key part of the CS for All puzzle, glad we get to learn from each other!

Thanks, Julie! You are always a real supporter :)