Janelle Franco’s research while affiliated with University of Washington Tacoma and other places

B-Club was a play-based after-school program set in the heart of a diverse, new immigrant community in Los Angeles. This chapter discusses the transformative potential of this space for educator preparation. By sharing examples from B-Club, we suggest possibilities for re-imaging teacher education and reconceptualizing what learning can look like for both children and adults. We unpack examples of creative play and joyful human connection that took place in this multilingual, cross-age program, showing how children and university students worked and played as they moved across activities in a free-flowing, indoor-outdoor space. We describe the learning that happened for children and adult students alike, and call for creating more such learning spaces that integrate mind, heart, and activity by approaching learning as a playful and creative act. We also underscore the importance of connection and the ways in which relationships can nurture buds of development, promote agency, produce powerful forms of learning, and support the wellbeing of body, mind, and spirit.

Exploring language ideology and pedagogy, this article details two approaches utilized to bridge theory and practice in a class on second language acquisition for preservice teachers.