The Family Stories Project: Using Funds of Knowledge for Writing

Abstract

This article describes a literacy project with fourth-grade Latino students in a bilingual U.S. classroom and provides some insights on the importance of encouraging children's uses of two languages for communicating, reading, and writing in the classroom. The author discusses the following implications: Teachers should encourage their students to write about topics from their homes and communities, including those of relatives living in other countries. This funds-of-knowledge orientation draws on understandings and experiences of the students, what they know and care about, and also lets the children become aware that their lives outside of school have meaning and importance within the classroom. Written translation can develop metalinguistic awareness among bilingual children. It is a sophisticated process that demands that young writers use all that they know about oral and written language. Encouraging students to work collaboratively while writing, to use both languages that they are developing, and to write for multiple audiences can be very productive processes that assist in the development of literacy in both English and home languages, as well fostering children's desire to write in their classrooms.

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