ABSTRACT
While current Spanish dual-language immersion (DLI) programme models frequently promote strict adherence to structured Spanish and English times, we present an alternative approach, which frames children as language acquirers rather than as language learners. The approach, situated within a Spanish, DLI preschool, framed with a Reggio-inspired, developmentally appropriate framework for early childhood, counters deficit notions of emergent bilinguals, validates and affirms linguistic and cultural diversity, and provides spaces for young children to translanguage as they acquire first and second languages. In this study, we document the ways in which language is used in the space and how a first-year teacher's reflective practice evolves as she navigates pedagogical and identity shifts throughout her first year of implementation.
