Bilingual Pairs in Teacher Education: Exploring WILD Strategies in an Environmental Education Workshop

Abstract

In this study, the authors narrate the results of a linguistically accommodated environmental education workshop in which monolingual and bilingual preservice teachers were exposed to instruction in English and Spanish. The authors contend that environmental initiatives, such as Project Wildlife in Learning Design, can promote an understanding of interdependence as a construct that is permeated by caring behaviors that are socially and linguistically situated. This article sheds light on the complexities embedded in such efforts and highlights outcomes of this experience including feelings of empathy, resistance, and experiential learning of “otherness.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

María Guadalupe Arreguín-Anderson

María Guadalupe Arreguín-Anderson is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood & Elementary Education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Esther V. Garza

Esther V. Garza is Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education in the Department of Curriculum and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.