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From Peanut Butter to Eid … Blending Perspectives: Teaching Urdu to Children in Canada

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Abstract

The focus of this article is to examine the notions of language learning, heritage (referring to tradition) and ancestry (descendants & properties passed on), and cultural identification for Urdu-speaking immigrant children now living in Canada. This article provides a detailed ethnographic account of an innovative language program developed to teach Urdu to children within the Canadian context. The author draws on the research of Taylor (1983)7. Taylor , D. 1983. Family literacy: Young children learning to read and write, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. View all references to show that the evolution of literacy transmission is highly dependent on the childhood experiences of individual educators and evolves through the interplay of their unique biographies and educative styles, including the use of various texts. Questions explored include the following: What types of texts are used? What are the students' reactions to the texts? What are the teacher's practices within the classrooms? What kind of an impact does the learning of Urdu have on the identity construction of these children?

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... In these studies, two cultural identity constructs are presented in opposition to one another, with home and school often representing such conflicting contexts (Ogbu, 2008;Zhou, 1997). For instance, Naqvi (2008) found that the community education settings represented the home culture of Urduspeaking children of immigrants and did not relate to their formal schooling experiences. At the same time, several studies associated cultural congruence with the success of WesternEuropean immigrants, who had advantages in their adjustment into mainstream cultural practices (Portes & Zhou, 1993). ...
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... In these studies, two cultural identity constructs are presented in opposition to one another, with home and school often representing such conflicting contexts (Ogbu, 2008;Zhou, 1997). For instance, Naqvi (2008) found that the community education settings represented the home culture of Urduspeaking children of immigrants and did not relate to their formal schooling experiences. At the same time, several studies associated cultural congruence with the success of WesternEuropean immigrants, who had advantages in their adjustment into mainstream cultural practices (Portes & Zhou, 1993). ...
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