Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the process of moving from a curriculum suited to students who will return to Japan to one that is designed with heritage language learners (HLLs) residing permanently in the U. S. in mind. It describes strategies used by Albanian and Bengali communities in East London to address two common problems faced by community-run schools: lack of resources, including facilities, and difficulty finding trained teachers. The book discusses the introduction of HL-specific pedagogical innovations in two Brazilian Portuguese community schools, one in London and the other in Barcelona, and evaluates to what extent these innovations have been assimilated into the structures of both schools. It also describes a study of language offerings in public high schools in Los Angeles in an attempt to understand whether schools are responsive to the demographics of communities in their neighborhoods.