Abstract:

Reforms in state schooling in Abu Dhabi have included a reorientation of the medium of instruction from Arabic-only to Arabic-and-English, in a concerted effort to build a bilingual national population from Kindergarten onwards. This goal has been addressed through the hiring of thousands of English teachers from the Anglophone world to teach in state schools alongside Arabic teachers. However, national teachers who possess a high level of bilingual proficiency offer a two-for-one alternative to the monolingual expatriate teacher model.

This case study was prompted by a child’s innocent question which reveals the prevalence of monolingual constructions of teacher identity. It investigates how an Emirati teacher candidate, Hanan, successfully draws upon her bilingual repertoire during her teaching internship in an early years setting. Drawing upon classroom observations, interviews, lesson plans, and teacher reflections, the study highlights the richness of the multilingual and multicultural resources that she draws upon as she learns to teach. Inferences are drawn for similar contexts of bilingual education.

Keywords:

Language teacher identity, early childhood education, bilingual education.