“On the edges of the Map”: A study of Heritage Language teachers in Toronto

Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 39-53, 1997

Pergamon

Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Lid Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0742-051X/97 $17.00 + 0.00

S0742-051X(96)00044-3

"ON THE EDGES OF THE MAP": A STUDY OF H E R I T A G E L A N G U A G E TEACHERS IN TORONTO

G. FEUERVERGER Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Abstract--The historical spaces of this twentieth century have been inhabited, in unprecedented numbers, by those fleeing war, poverty and famine. Their sense of rootlessness, as well as their struggle to find voice, meaning and balance in their new lives can be regarded as a metaphor for the (post-)modern urban condition. This immigrant/refugee experience has created complex transformations in all metropolitan centres around the world, but especially in those western countries which encourage immigration and offer a sense of possibility and hope for the displaced. Canada is one such country. Furthermore, the Canadian societal fabric is built upon the notion of a multicultural mosaic where, at least officially, the maintenance of minority languages and cultures is encouraged in most Canadian provinces. In the province of Ontario, the Heritage Languages Program (HLP) was established in 1977 in order to provide classes in the languages and cultures of minority language children for the purpose of promoting a sense of self-esteem and a fuller understanding of respective cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless, there is much ambivalence about issues regarding cultural and linguistic diversity in Canadian society, and therefore the HLP is still located on the margins of mainstream schooling. The purpose of this article is to tell the educational stories of those who teach at the crossroads of cultures and who search for a sense of home within their schools--specifically, those who teach heritage languages in Toronto. The intention is to create a space in which the voices of these marginalized teachers can be heard within the mainstream educational context. It is in the telling and reconstructing of these cultural narratives, from the perspective of the author's own minority language childhood educational experiences, that she explores more deeply the heritage language teaching enterprise and its location within the multicultural reality of Metropolitan Toronto. The struggle to establish a sense of professional identity, to find a voice, and to claim a physical and psychological space in schools is a thread that has woven its way throughout this inquiry on heritage language teaching and learning. Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

If the world today is not to become hoplessly enmeshed in even more terrifying conflicts, it has only one possibility: It must deliberately breathe the spirit of multicultural co-existence into the civilisation that envelops it. There is no need at all for different peoples, religions and cultures, to adapt to one another. It is enough if they accept each other as legitimate and equal partners. They need not even understand each other .... It is enough if they respect each other, if they respect and honour each other's difference. The task of the coming decades should be the development, strengthening and transformation of the world in the spirit of this emerging political metaculture of co-existence and co-operation. (Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic in speeches delivered in New Dehli and Bangkok, February, 1994.)

Introduction The historical spaces of this twentieth century have been inhabited, in unprecedented numbers, by those fleeing war, poverty and f a m i n e . T h e i r s e n s e o f r o o t l e s s n e s s , as well a s their struggle to find voice, meaning and b a l a n c e in t h e i r n e w lives c a n b e r e g a r d e d as a metaphor for the (post-)modern urban condition. This immigrant/refugee experience has c r e a t e d c o m p l e x t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s i n all m e t r o politan centres around the world, but especially in t h o s e w e s t e r n c o u n t r i e s w h i c h e n c o u r a g e immigration and offer a sense of possibility 39

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and hope for the displaced. Canada is one such country. Indeed, the United Nations has recently named Toronto, Canada's largest urban centre, the most ethnically diverse city in the world I. Furthermore, the Canadian societal fabric is built upon the notion of a multicultural mosaic where, at least officially, the maintenance of minority languages and cultures is encouraged (Cummins & Danesi, 1990). In the Canadian province of Ontario, the Heritage Languages Program (HLP) was established in 1977 in order to provide classes in the languages and cultures of minority language children for the purpose of promoting a sense of self-esteem and a fuller understar/ding of respective cultural backgrounds (see Cummins & Danesi, 1990; Feuerverger, 1989). The intention was that heritage language education would offer the potential for a deeper sense of connection and community within the educational experience. However the HLP has been at the centre of political controversy since its inception (see Berryman, 1988). This is because the issue of cultural and linguistic diversity is layered, complex and multiple in symbolic meanings within Canadian society. Heritage language education, by its very nature, engenders emotionally intense discussions--situated as it is at cultural crossroads which have been so dramatically altered over the last few decades in all Canadian urban centres, and especially in Metropolitan Toronto. Giroux (1994) (p. 325) claims that "multiculturalism has become a central discourse in the struggle over issues regarding national identity, the construction of historical memory, the purpose of schooling, and the meaning of democracy." Indeed, there are those within Canadian society who believe that the teaching of ethnic languages should be a private m a t t e r - - t o be taken care of within the respective ethnic communities. They see no redeeming features to the HLP and fear that it is not economically prudent to impose it within the purview of public education . Others see the Heritage Languages initiative as a means to a greater awareness of multiculturalism and to provide minority students with instructional orientation involving active engagement in their first as well as second languages, in order to encourage feelings of pride, self-empower-

ment, self-expression and Cummins, 1991, 1995) 3.

confidence

(see

Purpose of the Study Notwithstanding the genuine and fruitful attempts at the development of a serious multicultural agenda in Canadian society, the HLP is still located at the margins of mainstream schooling--where inter-group struggles are played out in terms of how we should go about educating our children and in terms of what curriculum is considered appropriate, and to what purpose. This controversy is what Jay (1991) has called "the struggle for representation." HL teachers are caught in the cultural trenches, mired in vulnerable and precarious circumstances. It is not within the scope of this paper to elaborate upon the (often fractious) debates and exchanges that have taken place in the Province of Ontario over the validity of heritage language education (see for example, Berryman, 1988; Churchill & KaprielianChurchill, 1994). Suffice it to say that a sense of non-legitimacy continues to cast shadows over the p r o g r a m - - a n d more specifically, on its place within the school day, and on curriculum and teacher development. Not only the heritage languages program but also those who teach in it are marginalized. This double marginality means that we cannot hear the voices of these individuals and their stories as teachers. We therefore do not benefit from their ideas and observations about teaching minority group children. Indeed, heritage language teachers can be described as stepchildren of the Ontario educational system. Their status as teachers 4 is constantly called into question--particularly because they lack formal provincial accreditation. As a result, there is no means by which heritage language teaching can be improved and its teachers professionalized. The majority of these teachers are immigrants or children of immigrants, working in a non-mainstream, "border" educational program. They teach from the margins of the school community and are rarely regarded as integral to the teaching staff. They therefore find themselves to be second class citizens within the wider educational setting and are

"On the Edges of the Map" often rendered ineffective and voiceless. There are two types of HL programs: the integrated classes which are scheduled within the regular school day curriculum, and the non-integrated classes which are held outside the school day proper. In most cases, the teaching of heritage languages in the Ontario elementary system takes place outside of the regular school day, either after school hours on weekdays or on Saturday mornings, to a maximum of 2 1/2 hours per week. This non-integrated format reinforces the "second class" status of the program and the ambivalence of policy makers towards heritage language teacher training procedures and curriculum development. This implied lack of prestige and status sends an unmistakable message to students that time in heritage language classes is not time well spent (Feuerverger, 1989). Especially in the non-integrated format, interaction between "regular" classroom teachers and their heritage language counterparts is minimal; in many cases, they never meet. This sense of displacement is almost every heritage language teacher's condition. They are wanderers within the educational landscape and this nomadic existence reflects the reluctance of mainstream society in allowing the minority experience to stand for universality. Under such unfavourable circumstances, survival itself becomes a triumph. The purpose of this article is to take a first step towards rectifying this societal neglect through an interview-study with a number of heritage language teachers in Toronto, and to illuminate and conceptualize the discussion on minority language teaching. There is little in the educational literature that documents the voices of frustration and distress within heritage language education (see Cummins & Danesi, 1990). Feuerverger and Mullen (1995) have recently provided an illustration of how researchers and their participants can collaborate to create alternatives for encouraging selfexpression and discovery in education from a minority group perspective. They argue that more attention needs to be given to marginalized individuals and populations in terms of curricular innovations that both enhance and promote personal and cultural identity. What this article attempts to do is to characterize as well as to celebrate the existence of these

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marginalized HL teachers and to resurrect their lost texts. My intention is to create a space in which their voices can be heard within the mainstream educational context. 5

Research Methodology: Searching for Professional Identity The study of teachers' narratives--that is, teachers' stories of their own experiences--is increasingly being seen as crucial to the study of teachers' thinking, culture and behaviour (Goodson, 1991). Indeed, a growing number of scholars argue that since teachers are key players in education, their voices should be heard; that they have a right to speak for and about the teaching-learning experience. Furthermore, narrative research is becoming accepted as a means of understanding teachers' culture from within (see for example Carter, 1993; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, 1995; Eisner, 1991; Diamond, 1991; Goodson, 1991; Schon, 1991; Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1993). However, educational investigators have generally paid too little attention to teachers' voices, especially those on the margins of the system. Pinar (1988), for example, suggests that identification with marginalized social groups is of utmost educational importance. In this study, extensive personal interviews were carried out with heritage language teachers in the elementary panel for the purpose of exploring the complexities of, and identifying the salient issues, in the teaching of heritage languages--specifically in the multicultural urban setting of Metropolitan Toronto. The interviews were as open-ended and unstructured as possible in order to explore the perceived needs and expectations of the participants in an in-depth and interactive manner. Twenty teachers were selected at a Heritage Language Teachers' seminar in the East York and the City of Toronto Boards of Education, and the interviews were carried out over a period of 6 months. I interviewed each participant on as many as three separate occasions in the privacy of their classroom after their lessons were over. In some cases, I collected their stories in their homes. For most of them, this was the first time that anyone from outside

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their cultural communities showed a professional interest in their lived experiences as teachers of their ethnic languages. Indeed, they were eager to share with me the multiplicity of tensions that pervades their chaotic existence on the boundary of mainstream schooling. From my perspective as an educational researcher, and also as a member of a minority language group, I could identify with my participants' feelings of isolation and lack of a sense of belonging to the schools in which they worked. I contend that heritage language teachers have a significant contribution to make as partners in the curriculm development of language programs. This paper argues that their educational experiences in classrooms have as much meaning and value as do those of other teachers in Canadian schools. The HL teachers not only deal with the same students but often have a deeper grasp of the cultural and linguistic "baggage" that their students bring with them to school every day. In fact, in terms of their relations within the social organization of the school and inter-group interactions, the heritage language teachers that I interviewed mirrored the feelings of their students--of being stigmatized, alienated and silenced. The findings in this study show that what is most important to them is respect from their mainstream peers and recognition of their cultural identity. Cummins (1994) suggests that it is essential to construct an alternative interactional process in schools where minority identities are ignored or devalued. He claims that the process of identity negotiation is closely tied to academic success for minority students. Indeed, this claim is just as relevant for the professional development of minority language teachers. Current researchers point to the reality that the educational system rarely incorporates the languages and cultures of its students within the mainstream curriculum and argue that in everyday school interactions, many students from subordinated cultural groups are rendered "voiceless" or silenced (see Banks, 1989; Cummins, 1994; Fine, 1993; Giroux, 1991; Nieto, 1992; Zanger, 1994; Walsh, 1991 and so forth). Nevertheless very little attention has focused on the condition of teachers in minority language programs. The approach for this present inquiry was based on the interac-

tive relationship between myself as researcher and the participants, through dialogue, reflection and conversation. Narrative and case study methodologies were employed to document perceptions of the meaning of teaching and learning in a minority language context (see Connelly & Clandinin, 1988; Eisner & Peshkin, 1990; Hopkins, 1987; Huberman & Miles, 1984; Yin, 1984). In this quest for meaning and authenticity in minority language education, I concur with Dewey's (Dewey, 1938) (p. 111) concept of "teaching and learning as a continuous process of reconstruction of experience." Through a process of sharing personal and professional stories, my purpose was to locate the heritage language enterprise within the complex landscapes inhabited by the participants and their struggle for "professional identity" (Pajak, 1986). Van Manen (1990) explains that "we gather other people's experiences because they allow us to become more experienced ourselves." Connelly and Clandinin (1990) support this view and claim that narrative refers to the process of making meaning of experience by telling stories of personal and social relevance. Through an account of my participants' professional "lived experiences," I attempt to present a picture that conveys the confusions, uncertainties and struggles that inform heritage language education in Toronto. I shall present the teachers' stories according to themes that I have identified in the data. My initial interactions with some of these heritage language teachers jogged memories of my own sense of marginality within the school system: The commonality of their professional experiences on the margins of mainstream school culture and my own experiences as a young child struggling to make sense of my minority group status awakened in me an interest to engage in an interpretive inquiry of the minority language experience. In the following section, I present some excerpts of my own cultural narrative as a child of Polish and Jewish immigrants/refugees growing up in the Montreal of the 1950s and 1960s--which also was (and still is) a large, culturally and linguistically diverse urban centre. In this way, my own childhood experiences in "heritage language programs ''6 are intertwined here with the conversations I had with my participants.

"On the Edges of the Map"

Teaching and Learning in Minority Language Contexts: Some Personal Reflections and Interpretations Teaching is a highly personal enterprise. Indeed, Ayers goes so far as to say that "teaching is primarily an act of love" (p. 18). It certainly is not merely a question of mastering certain technical skills. It is relational and interactive. As in any profession where there develops over time an intricate relationship between practitioner and client, teaching is more of an art than a science. There is a wellknown saying that even the best curriculum materials will fail if the teacher's heart is not in it. Goodson (1991) argues that in understanding something so intensely personal as teaching, it is critical to know about the person the teacher is. Researchers are beginning to focus more deeply on the interaction between life histories and the broader social and political context of the schools in which teachers find themselves. Indeed, teachers' perceptions of themselves in terms of their role in the educational enterprise, and their attitudes towards their students, may have the greatest impact on the success of the teaching and learning that takes place within their classrooms (see for example Pare, 1994). Teachers' lives are also influenced by what happens to them outside of the classroom as well as within (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995). Their personal and cultural stories influence their professional lives, and the perceptions of the world that they bring to the classroom interact with those of the students in the class. And these implicit or even tacit cultural and historical life experiences, or as ConneUy and Clandinin (1988) put it: "these culturally and socially embedded metaphors have a powerful shaping influence on the way in which teachers come to know teaching." An increasing number of scholars point to narrative research, action research, reflective practitioner research and collaborative research as a means of encouraging teachers to act with intent by reflecting systematically on their experience and the experiences of their students (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, 1995; Eisner, 1991; Richardson, 1994; Schon, 1987; and so forth). Tabachnick and Zeichner (1993) argue that learning how to teach in a culturally sensi-

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tive and responsive way is an important goal for all prospective teachers, regardless of the social context in which they teach. One of the pivotal questions that fueled the conversations with my participants was "how can we make heritage language education more meaningful?" This primary concern led to reflection on the dilemmas of teaching and learning within a marginalized context. The stories of most of my participants were laced with feelings of dismay and a sense of teaching "against all odds." Vulnerability and insecurity permeated their oral texts. In order to understand what motivates and disturbs them about their professional lives, I as researcher and former elementary classroom teacher, experienced the need to share my own professional stories in the safe place of our conversations. Dialogue, therefore, was the process through which a deeper meaning of the minority language experience emerged. The findings in this study are congruent with Clark's (1990) assertion that people make sense of text in relation to their own past experiences, their beliefs and expectations, and their present needs and aspirations. In order to explore the educational stories of these heritage language teachers, I began to revisit my own reasons for entering the teaching profession almost two decades ago, and to observe those experiences through different lenses. I wanted "to recount the past in order to reclaim it," as Makler (1991) (p. 46) puts it--"in this way we re-evaluate ourselves in relation to others." This image of teaching as an interpretive and reflective activity informs the notion put forth by Ayers (1993) that good teaching requires "a serious encounter with autobiography" and indeed we must consider that a critical knowledge of teaching involves an exploration of one's self. Accepting Hunt's (Hunt, 1991) claim that "beginning with ourselves" is necessary in order to validate the educational research endeavour, I have attempted to allow the voices of some heritage language teacher-educators (including my own voice) to explore the epistemologically complex terrain of linguistic and cultural diversity within the educational context of Metropolitan Toronto. In terms of my own childhood education, I was well aware that I was not part of the

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majority culture. I can still feel the humiliation as I sat in my kindergarten class witnessing (as did all the other students) the displeasure in the voice of my teacher as she mumbled my family name. I wanted to disappear into thin air when she imperiously asked why my parents hadn't considered shortening that unwieldy (immigrant) name in order to make life easier for everyone! What saved me was that I was not the only immigrant child in school. In fact, almost half of the student population in my school were children of displaced persons from World War II. Playing in the streets of my childhood meant being immersed in a cacophony of languages and cultures from Eastern and Central Europe. Multiculturalism for me was as natural as breathing the air around me. My own home was linguistically and culturally diverse. My teachers, however well-meaning most of them were, did not recognize the value of our linguistic and cultural backgrounds. They made us feel that we had an unfortunate burden to carry and that the quicker we rid ourselves of it the better. N o t surprisingly, I hated the Yiddish classes that I was forced to endure after school hours. They seemed like a great interference and waste of time. It wasn't hard for us to figure out that what really counted was what happened in the "regular" school day. 7 Below is a brief excerpt from my personal narrative on minority language education: My minority language educational experiences in childhood were a very dismal affair. I was sent to a Yiddish language program after regular school hours (twice a week from 4 to 6 pm) which took place in the basement of a dilapidated community centre. The teacher didn't know how to engage her pupils and so our main activity in class was to gaze out the window at the other children who were playing in the street. There might as well have been bars on those windows. It was clear: nobody wanted to be in that classroom. The books were old, torn and grey. That is what I remember. No pretty pictures. The stories held no meaning and certainly no excitement. The only fun in class was when the more "creative" boys would "slingshot" erasers through the air. Suddenly the room would be transformed into a carnival of rubber snowballs. At least then we could imagine that we were outside. Once an eraser hit the teacher in the face. Dead silence. She sat down at her desk and began to cry out of sheer desperation. Poor woman. I felt sorry for her and disgusted. I compared her to the exciting French teacher at school. A n d I remember saying

adamantly to myself that I would not be a party to such a sham. Indeed, I had more respect for language learning than that. 1 knew it didn't have to be like that. I had seen the dregs of "minority language education" and I wanted out of there. I raised such a tantrum at home that my parents reluctantly decided to comply with my wishes. But at night I secretly felt guilty that I had abandoned my Yiddish schooling. I would try to hang onto the spelling of the words in my mind. As the m o n t h s went by, the letters became fainter and fainter. It was a slow miserable death. I felt like a criminal... (in Feuerverger, 1995).

The following is an excerpt of a journal entry that I wrote well before I began to carry out the interviews for this study and to travel the present research journey with my participants. In fact I wrote it during the first year of my academic position in the Centre for Teacher Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The central question around which the journal revolved was "Why did I go into teaching in the first place?" I knew early on in my life that I had a vision of myself connecting with others, all kinds of other beings, from all kinds of backgrounds. I saw teaching as an opportunity to share knowledge and feelings and different ways of looking at the world. To communicate with people of m a n y cultures and languages. To offer and to receive ideas. To be involved in the teaching-learning enterprise meant entering into a dialogue. (It was a yearning for the kind of dialogue that was not possible in my family life.) It was a yearning for "inclusion" and understanding and belonging. I hoped subconsciously that in the classroom created by me, there would be justice and tolerance and admiration of talent. I would nurture my students and they would nurture me. We would enter into each other's worlds; we would break down barriers. We would free each other from all sorts of tyrannies. I would rescue my students from their prisons. A n d most of all, I wanted to create an environment of safety and trust--all things that had been impossible in my own childhood. I wanted to "make it better" and I saw the classroom as a means in that direction. It would give me the opportunity to empower my students and finally myself. A n d in my classrooms I think I did make a difference. It was like a mission... (Feurverger, 1991)

The next excerpt is part of a narrative which explores my personal reasons for doing schoolbased research work in the area of multicuitural/anti-racist education: When I talked about my research work with B [a colleague of mine] yesterday, he told me that he felt that one of my special talents was to be able to

"On the Edges of the Map" build bridges between people of different languages and cultures and even those from within the same culture. He was curious to discover where that capability came from. I thought about it and I finally realized today that as a child 1 was desperate to find a bridge to connect me with the outside world. I needed to find a way out of the bleakness of an emotionally wounded family into the light of other people, other possibilities, other role models. Languages and cultures became my escape from the clutches of a childhood tormented by nightmares of the Holocaust. So many people see the Tower of Babel as a disaster and an unleashing of confusion onto humanity. I see it as my personal salvation. We all have our perceptions of reality and our own needs. We all have to find meaning in our unique life experiences. That is the challenge placed before us. (Feuerverger, 1994) I shared reflections such as these with my participants during the interview process and many transformative conversations emerged. As researcher and participants, we could identify with one another in the safe place of our respective minority group experiences.

Educational Stories F r o m the Margins: Reflection, Dialogue and Conversation M a n y of the heritage language teachers that I interviewed had been regular classroom teachers in their home countries. Others had followed different professional routes, but in their new "immigrant" status, were involved in heritage language teaching while they were re-training or writing equivalency exams in their fields of discipline. M a n y of them had fled wars, persecution, famine or economic hardships in order to make a new life for themselves and their families. Some were not employed but were teaching heritage languages in order, as one participant put it, "to wait for something more substantial." At least half of my participants had masters level degrees from their home universities, and one had a doctorate. The others held bachelor's (B.A./B.Ed.) degrees or their equivalents, and almost all of them had been teachers in their countries of origin. M a n y of them showed a great sense of confidence in their teaching skills and were respectful of the pedagogical and social needs of the students in their classrooms. Others felt trapped, and being insecure in their positions, could not relate to the Canadian educational

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context in which they were now operating. W h a t all of the teachers had in c o m m o n was a sense of marginality in their respective schools and within the educational program. As emerges below, the teacher's personality mattered a great deal and influenced the ways in which students perceived the program. Those teachers who genuinely tried to establish a caring and facilitative relationship with their students seemed to create an environment of trust and flexibility wherein the motivation to learn was high. Those teachers who adhered rigidly to a content-driven curriculum that in most cases was out-moded, or suited to the home country rather than to the Canadian setting, found great difficulties in their classrooms and expressed much frustration. There is also the problem that this "transmission" approach frequently reduces students to passive roles in the classroom, and contrasts negatively with the more activity-based approaches increasingly favoured in Canadian mainstream classrooms. My participants also discussed many issues that were related to the lack of formal accreditation of the program, including the paucity of appropriate materials for most languages, the difficulties of multi-level classes both with respect to age and heritage language proficiency, and the considerable variation in terms of students' motivation to learn the language (especially when taught outside of regular school hours). The discussion below is organized around three broad themes that emerged from the stories that these teachers told me in the quiet "borderlands" of our conversations. The first of these themes focuses directly on the complexities of living on the margins of the school system with very little professional identity and little possibility of sharing their teaching lives with their colleagues. The second theme deals with the knowledge that these participants have about the communication gap between immigrant parents and their children, as well as with the importance of creating a multiculturally inclusive environment at school. The third theme arises out of the vulnerability that these teachers experience in the p r o g r a m as a result of lack of professionalization, certification, and integration into the mainstream school.

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Theme One: "On the Edges of the Map": Marginal Existence One thread that ran very clearly through all the interviews is that heritage language teachers need to gain a better understanding of themselves as professionals; they need to be aware of their own importance. They need to be helped to become authors of their own professional development and to make meaning of their teaching experiences. For example, some of the participants had a very limited understanding of the meaning of teaching in North America, and only a weak sense of themselves as "legitimate" teachers. Moreover, their concept of a Canadian student was often fuzzy and uncertain. Many were aware that they need to be able to frame their teaching roles within a wider educational context in order to attain the possibility of success. Mishler (1986) notes that meaning is made within context and through interaction, and shared contexts tend to create shared understandings. Unfortunately, given the marginal position that most heritage language educators find themselves in, it is almost impossible for them to negotiate a satisfying and healthy role for themselves and consequently it becomes an uphill battle for them to create a positive environment for learning. They are constantly "on the edges of the map" (Chambers, 1994). Teaching for me was a calling. I have always wanted to make a difference in the lives of my students. To give them pride in who they are and where they come from, that their language is important and worthwhile. But I realize that if the classroom teacher and the ESL teacher don't feel the same way, as I do, then it will confuse the students. We have to find ways to come together for the good of the students. As a heritage language teacher I am not taken very seriously and that bothers me a great deal. (A Chinese heritage language teacher) As a heritage teacher, I don't feel important in the school. On the contrary, I often am left out of all sorts of professional activities. They simply don't realize that l exist half the time even though I'm in the school before the end of the day. It's hard to take my job seriously in that kind of environment. (A Punjabi H L teacher)

The participants in this study placed considerable emphasis on the importance of creating partnerships between heritage language teachers and the mainstream peers in their schools. A fundamental issue which

continually emerged during the interviews was the desire on the part of the H L teachers that teaching should stand for continuity and a sense of belonging--a condition to which these teachers clearly do not have access in their present state. We have so much to learn from each other but the regular classroom teachers in m a n y cases see us as superfluous. They don't understand that we know a lot about the children that would help them in their classes. We can explain about the culture they're coming from and why they react the way they do. It's a question of respect for diversity and for each child. A n d for us as teachers. (A Greek HL teacher)

It should be noted that there was unanimity of opinion on the need for collaboration and for a sense of community between the heritage language teachers and the other teachers in their schools. My participants displayed an intensity in their desire to escape their plight as inhabitants of a kind of educational "ghetto," and to move more towards the centre of things. Their stories of alienation and isolation agree with the findings of Goodson and Cole (1994) on teachers' professional knowledge. These authors state that the process of redefining what it means to be a teacher and what it means to develop a sense of a new professional identity are contextually dependent on teachers' developing notions of professional community. Clandinin and Connelly (1995) (p. 3) discuss how "little is known about the way in which individual teachers' knowledge is mediated by other teachers and by things funnelled in the school... In this construction of teachers' lives, it is important to be able to characterize this place and time, that is, the professional knowledge landscape." In the case of most of my participants, their professional knowledge landscape as heritage language teachers was a bleak and barren place with little hope of interaction with the mainstream teachers in their respective schools. It was only within their individual classrooms that some of them felt wanted and productive. And even in those circumstances, their classrooms were not their own; they "belonged" to mainstream teachers. These H L teachers were, in effect, constantly being confronted with their lack of belonging in their schools. A few of my participants taught in the integrated heritage language program, and pointed to the fact

"On the Edges of the Map"

t h a t there was then at least a s y m b o l i c difference in terms o f inclusiveness within their schools. T h e y m e n t i o n e d that the i n t e g r a t e d (i.e., i n c o r p o r a t e d into the regular school day) p r o g r a m was m o r e c o n d u c i v e to c o l l a b o r a t i o n between teachers: In theory we have the opportunity to work together. But that doesn't happen as often as I'd like. It is also very difficult because we don't have our own classrooms, so we travel throughout the whole school the whole day. We have to carry all our materials and can't organize the classroom in advance. We have to fit into what already exists. That is a problem because you are limited in what you can do. You have to improvise. But what is good is that being integrated into the regular school day makes a difference in terms of being more accepted by the other staff members and students. At least in principle. (A Portuguese HL teacher) This teacher voiced the o p i n i o n o f m a n y o f the p a r t i c i p a n t s ; t h a t the heritage l a n g u a g e p r o g r a m gains prestige a n d status when it is included in the r e g u l a r school c u r r i c u l u m a n d takes place d u r i n g the school day. These c o m m e n t s are consistent with m y earlier findings ( F e u e r v e r g e r , 1989) that I t a l o - - C a n a d i a n students in i n t e g r a t e d heritage l a n g u a g e p r o g r a m s h a d significantly m o r e positive p e r c e p t i o n s o f their I t a l i a n l a n g u a g e learning t h a n did their c o u n t e r p a r t s in n o n - i n t e g r a t e d programs: I see how beneficial the Italian program is for the children, especially when it is integrated in the regular school day. They treat it like any other subject and they can feel proud of their ethnic background instead of feeling like it's a heavy weight. I think they feel more balanced and just more at ease with themselves. I wish this was around when I was a kid. I didn't have that luxury. And I still feel embarrassed when I'm in a public place and I'm speaking Italian with my parents. I hope these kids won't feel that way. And it doesn't make them feel less Canadian. Actually I think it's the opposite. (An Italian HL teacher) H a v i n g a c l a s s r o o m o f o n e ' s own was a significant issue for m a n y o f the teachers in this study. M o s t o f t h e m focused on the need for a physical space for heritage l a n g u a g e e d u c a t i o n in the s c h o o l - - t h a t is, a central classr o o m - - i n o r d e r to a v o i d the negative a n d s o m e t i m e s petty a r g u m e n t s f r o m r e g u l a r classr o o m teachers that their c l a s s r o o m s are " m i s t r e a t e d " o r " r a n s a c k e d " because o f the heritage l a n g u a g e classes.

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The [heritage language] teachers are like mermaids, floating around, carrying everything with them...And if anything goes missing in the classroom, the regular classroom teacher complains to the administrator and they blame the heritage language teacher who in turn blames the students. It makes the students, especially the little kids feel that they are not wanted. And the heritage language teacher is so embarrassed and frustrated because it's so unfair. (A Chinese HL principal) The r e l a t i o n s h i p between the H L teachers a n d their m a i n s t r e a m colleagues is a p i v o t a l one within the c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f heritage l a n g u a g e teacher d e v e l o p m e n t . Indeed, the stories o f m y p a r t i c i p a n t s reveal t h a t inclusiveness in their schools a n d a dialogical relation with their peers is at the core o f their educational longings.

Theme Two: Creating Bridges at Home and at School M a n y o f the p a r t i c i p a n t s in this s t u d y p o i n t e d to the c o m m u n i c a t i o n g a p between i m m i g r a n t p a r e n t s a n d children; often the family becomes the b a t t l e g r o u n d on which the w a r o f c o m p e t i n g social a n d p e r s o n a l values is p l a y e d out. M a n y H L teachers (especially in the higher grades) m e n t i o n e d t h a t they were a w a r e t h a t certain i m m i g r a n t students in their classes b r o u g h t with t h e m different changes o f c l o t h i n g for school. T h e y w o u l d witness c o m p l e t e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s o f identity on the p a r t o f some students as soon as they entered the school grounds. T h e r e were m a n y "tightr o p e walks," p s y c h o l o g i c a l l y - s p e a k i n g , t a k i n g place simultaneously. T h e y told me h o w p r o f o u n d l y conscious they were o f the abyss that separates some children f r o m their parents. "It is i m p o r t a n t to teach the p a r e n t s as well as the children," explains one H L teacher f r o m A f g h a n i s t a n : P a r e n t s m u s t be m a d e a w a r e that this is n o t the c o u n t r y they c o m e from a n d that their children are g r o w i n g up in a very different e n v i r o n m e n t f r o m theirs. T h e y have to learn h o w to listen to their children a n d to realize t h a t a l t h o u g h it is very i m p o r t a n t for their chidren to a p p r e c i a t e their h o m e culture a n d to respect their parents, they (i.e., the p a r e n t s ) also have to respect their child r e n ' s C a n a d i a n culture. M a n y H L teachers e x p l a i n e d that their students h a d a very limited u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f

48

G. FEUERVERGER

their culture--that is, they would see it in terms of the static, immigrant culture of their parents. Heritage language programs aim to widen the perspective and to offer the students a more representative view of their heritage. It's not only teaching the language. It's much larger than that...Actually I think it is one of the most important things in the program. Immigration at that time [the early 1960s] came from rural areas, the image they have from Portugal is of the uneducated farmers... My first year as a heritage language teacher was very hard because the students didn't want to accept the program. That was thirteen years ago. That first year that we were there we realized that these kids are totally blocked against that particular culture..So what we did was forget about the language, forget about everything else...We went to the tourist office and we borrowed tourist films about Portugal. I'll never forget one kid, what she said that she learned so many things about Portugal, and she talked so much at home about Portugal that her parents decided to buy her a ticket and send her to Portugal. She had never been there. (A Portuguese HL teacher)

Indeed, many teachers focused on this conceptual "trap" that many children of immigrants fall into; namely that they can only imagine what the country is like through their parents' eyes, The country has completely evolved since their parents left anyhow, not to mention that they came from rural areas, so it is a completely erroneous view of what their heritage is all about... Having to deal with their identity is one of the most important functions of this program. (An Italian HL teacher and principal)

On the other hand, many of the participants stressed the need to "educate" the parents: If parents do not understand what their children are going t h r o u g h - - t r y i n g to sort out two very different cultures and finding a way to live with both then they will become strangers to each other. And I see it happening. Especially when the children become teenagers. There is no sense o f safety or security for some. I worry about (immigrant) parents being too hard on their kids and thinking that here in Canada their children have it so m u c h easier than they did. Also there's the question of religion [Moslem] which is so strict; it's all very complicated. (Farsi H L teacher)

These remarks concur with the results of a study focusing on university students' attitudes towards ethnic identity maintenance and heritage language education (Feuerverger, 1991). The university students shared the view that in

order for children of immigrants to appreciate their ethnic culture, they must realize its vitality and its modernity. In other words, they must be taught to see beyond the immigrant experience of their parents and to create an understanding of their ethnic homeland for themselves. The students also spoke of the literacy gap between parents and children that may be affecting family relations and consequently ethnic identity maintenance. The children live in two different worlds, the world of the school and the world of home. At home it is a country. They come to school and it's another country. In m a n y cases, the children are m u c h more literate than their parents and this causes tensions. (An Arabic H L teacher)

As mentioned earlier, many of the participants in this study expressed the view that heritage language education is an "eye-opener" for students because they hitherto have only been able to "see" the culture through the immigrant "lens" of their parents. Therefore, the program gives them the possibilty to see their culture as a modern and meaningful one. They can begin to value their home culture, their Canadian culture, their identity and themselves. They need to integrate a positive image of both their ethnic culture and their Canadian culture. Indeed, heritage language education should not be considered peripheral to the mainstream curriculum. I return again to the sense of marginality and vulnerability that lies deep within the psychological landscapes that both these HL teachers and their students inhabit. These are not feelings that can easily be shed, especially when the struggle for a truly multicultural society is still ongoing. The larger societal script explicitly and implicitly asserts that it is encumbent upon the minority person to "fit in" as quickly as possible. Many participants expressed how important it is that the mainstream educational system honour the dual identity of their students--hence the significance of the HLPs. There is also the issue that if they do not have a positive image of their Portuguese background, they're not going to have a positive image of being Canadian either. You have to integrate the two. I believe this program helps students integrate into the Canadian society. That has to be stressed a great deal because m a n y educators and people in positions of power think this [i.e., the HLP] is something that should be around for immigrants, to help them for

"On the Edges of the Map"

a while as they get used to being in Canada... but it is not just for them it is for all of us. (A Portuguese HL teacher) M o s t of the teachers interviewed spoke to the issue o f a culturally relevant ( m a i n s t r e a m ) c u r r i c u l u m that w o u l d respond to the needs of the students. Their words c o n c u r r e d with C o r s o n (1993) who argues that the most import a n t challenge is in "establishing a context for learning that is genuinely c o n g r u e n t with the culture of... m i n o r i t y children" (p. 51). The following four examples reflect what m a n y p a r t i c i p a n t s expressed regarding the significance o f a m u l t i c u l t u r a l l y inclusive school environment: Heritage language education is not just about immigrant kids needing extra help. It stands for what should be taught in all classrooms. It's about understanding other cultures about what people go through. It's not just for immigrants, it's for those who have never been through such an experience. To appreciate the experiences of others, to ask yourself whether you could go through what they went through. It benefits Canadians who have been here for a long time so that we can learn another way of looking at the world--another way of seeing the world. I don't think the program will ever be really important until the "old" Canadians realize it's good for them too. For example, with the knowledge of these languages and cultures we could be much more useful in international trade and business. (A Ukrainian HL teacher and principal) It makes you a more interesting individual when you are exposed to more cultures. And what better way than to learn about it in school. And really the immigrants become established and they bring a lot of economic power. Look at the Chinese and the Koreans and the Italians and Greeks and East Indians. And the Jews and the Ukrainians before them. They have become established and add so much to the economy. Multiculturalism is the mainstream! (A Bengali HE teacher) We need to educate the mainstream community that heritage language education is good for all of us, (not just a compensatory program for the immigrants), and that it is crucial for positive self-esteem and identity formation. As a matter of fact, we need to bring multicultural education into the curriculum. This will empower everyone. (A Chinese HL teacher) Heritage language teachers don't just teach the language, it's much larger than that. It's intercultural understanding. (A Hebrew HL teacher) The words o f these p a r t i c i p a n t s indicate their deep c o m m i t m e n t to the n o t i o n of a society whose schools are devoted to social diversity a n d egalitarianism. They clearly try to h o n o u r

49

the lived experiences of their students (and even o f the parents), a n d in so doing, they display a p r o f o u n d caring which is u n d o u b t e d l y at the root of all good teaching. This issue will be discussed further in the next section.

Theme Three: Professionalization, Certification and Integration The pedagogical a n d curricular m e a n s required to attain heritage language educational aims are missing for most of these teachers due to the lack of coherence a n d accreditation of the H L program. Perhaps most significant of all were the m a n y c o m m e n t s made that focused o n the need to create a professional, reflective community that displayed a n "ethic of caring" (Noddings, 1984; Witherell & Noddings, 1991) a n d that was based o n interaction a m o n g teachers, students a n d parents. As I m e n t i o n e d earlier, m a n y H L teachers pointed to the need for a more collaborative spirit in terms of language e d u c a t i o n a n d to a greater "caring" relationship between "regular" teachers a n d heritage language teachers as follows: So many people are working in the area of language learning. There are ESL and French and HL and regular classroom teachers for example. It would be nice to get a little more co-ordinated. Each has so much to offer the other. A cooperative spirit between the (provincial)governmentand the heritage language program is also important. Teachers MUST be certified with credit courses. That will give credibility to the program. The heritage language teachers should be made to feel wanted by the others, to be told in many ways that they are valuable players in the school. This does not happen that often, and it is devastating. (An Eritrean HL teacher) The m a j o r i t y of the participants were deeply concerned with the quality o f H L p r o g r a m s as a whole. Coherence a n d connectedness in the c u r r i c u l u m emerged as crucial to its survival. M a n y expressed frustration in the lack of relev a n t resource materials for their courses which speaks to the bigger issue of "legitimizing" the p r o g r a m t h r o u g h teacher training. These H L teachers were eager to have a c o n v e r s a t i o n a b o u t schools which focuses on "micro" as well as " m a c r o " issues. F o r example, they stressed the need to c o n t e m p l a t e n o t only society's influence on schools a n d students, b u t also what h a p p e n s as students interact with teachers

50

G. F E U E R V E R G E R

in t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l c l a s s r o o m s . T h e y h i g h l i g h t e d the importance of "process" not only " p r o d u c t . " F o r e x a m p l e o n e issue t h a t was e m p h a s i z e d r e p e a t e d l y was t h e ' i n t r i c a t e interp l a y b e t w e e n b u i l d i n g m o t i v a t i o n in the H L c l a s s r o o m s a n d b u i l d i n g g e n u i n e respect for c u l t u r a l a n d linguistic d i v e r s i t y w i t h i n C a n a d i a n society. The problems are to find suitable materials. We have little that doesn't come directly from India. So it's not very relevant to Canadian students. Hand in hand with that, we need heritage language teacher training--it has to be standardized--because some do not appreciate the Canadian way of teaching. They may know the language but they don't know how to teach a class. (A Punjabi HL teacher) Motivation is everything. I see how heritage language teachers are treated like second class citizens in schools. This is so destructive for the morale of the teachers and the students. I was a teacher in my country for 23 years and I love to teach. But, you know, I have experience. I've learned about language pedagogy, about child psychology. But many HL teachers here need more orientation. It could be done in a faculty of education or in school boards. But it has to be for credit. (A Salvadorean HL teacher) The teachers need more suitable and interesting curriculum materials because after all the children may not know the language well, so they are second language learners. Having the opportunity for teachers to attend workshops is important. In many cases the parents force their children to come to these classes but don't understand the limitations to the program and so they expect miracles. They expect their children to read and write Croatian after only two hours of instruction per week without much learning resources. There's so much needless difficulty and misunderstanding. The program has to be made more attractive and meaningful, like it is in their English regular schools. (A Croatian HL teacher) ! guess the issue here is to improve the program by teacher certification. That would change the whole face of teacher training in heritage language education. It's an issue of self-esteem and being part of the same group as the other regular teachers. (A Gujurati HL teacher) Many participants discussed the negative impact that some school administrators (for e x a m p l e a s c h o o l p r i n c i p a l o r an a r e a s u p e r i n t e n d e n t ) c a n h a v e o n the s t a t u s o f the p r o g r a m w h e n t h e y s h o w explicit o r i m p l i c i t rejection. To quote one Korean HL participant: When mainstream administrators are not in favour of the program, that comes across and somehow the children feel it...The staff feels it too...and the

teachers have more difficulties. We know some instructors that are so badly treated by administrators just because they teach heritage languages .... M a n y t e a c h e r s s p o k e to the necessity o f incorporating child-centred instructional m e t h o d s i n t o h e r i t a g e l a n g u a g e classes, or, as o n e t e a c h e r p u t it, " t o f o l l o w t h e C a n a d i a n p e d a g o g i c a l style." T h i s was a salient issue f o r m a n y o f the p a r t i c i p a n t s . T h e y a c k n o w l e d g e d the fact t h a t c l a s s r o o m s s h o u l d be r o l e m o d e l s for a d e m o c r a t i c a n d j u s t society w h e r e s t u d e n t s c a n feel e m o t i o n a l l y safe a n d intellect u a l l y inspired. If you get someone who hasn't had their schooling in Canada, and they had all of their formal education in a different country, they will teach the way they were taught in their home country which often is completely different from the way these children learn in Canada. ! think it can turn these kids off completely. It has to do with whether the teaching style is similiar to the way they are taught in their regular school and I think that's where training for HL teachers is very important. Not to mention that some of the HL teachers come from repressive regimes and have unfortunately been taught in that fashion. This is not what we want to teach our children here in Canada. (A German HL teacher) The students must realize that the heritage language classes are as valuable as the regular classes, but how can they believe that if the materials don't exist or are second-rate and if the teachers do not teach "Canadian-style'?... You can't fool the kids--they know what makes sense. (An Urdu HL teacher) T h r o u g h o u t these i n t e r v i e w s I sensed a wides p r e a d desire t h a t the s a n c t i t y o f t h e H L classr o o m be a c k n o w l e d g e d to the s a m e e x t e n t as t h e m a i n s t r e a m c l a s s r o o m - - a s places o f h o p e a n d transformation where students and teachers can e x p l o r e a n d i n v e n t the k i n d o f society we w o u l d like to i n h a b i t ; a n d w h e r e s t u d e n t s are g i v e n the o p p o r t u n i t y to learn the a c a d e m i c a n d critical skills t h a t will e n a b l e t h e m to realize their d r e a m s a n d learn to trust a n d c a r e for o n e a n o t h e r . T h e s e H L t e a c h e r s s p e a k to the crucial task of creating a new pedagogical map that o p e n s a l e g i t i m a t e space for a l t e r i t y - - t h e s c h o o l as a m e e t i n g p l a c e for all. Concluding Remarks T h e p u r p o s e o f this s t u d y was to tell the e d u c a t i o n a l stories o f t h o s e w h o t e a c h at the c r o s s r o a d s o f cultures a n d w h o search for a sense o f h o m e w i t h i n their schools. S c h o o l s h a v e b e c o m e , m o r e

"On the Edges of the Map" than ever, zones where we encounter diverse worlds, cultures, experiences. What emerged from the interviews was a tapestry of conversations that explored the centre of schooling, acknowledging the realities, illusions and expectations of heritage language teaching and learning in a contemporary urban centre such as Toronto. At the core of our discussions, my participants allowed me into their personal looking glass of shared hopes for heritage language teacher development, certification and integration. They allowed me to understand the psychological separation between themselves and their mainstream colleagues. What they search for is a "communion" in Buber's (Buber, 1958, 1965) terms--the dialogue between persons which results in mutual validation. Their stories also reflect a need to bring together pedagogies that are appropriate to the process of student integration into Canadian society and those that are appropriate to the maintenance of the home language and culture. As interpreters of minority culture inside the schools, the teachers in this study stressed the need to re-envision the mainstream curriculum within a context of intercultural understanding. The findings of this study also suggest that good teachers incorporate all kinds of instructional strategies and are always on the look-out for "what works" (see Delpit, 1988). The voices of these heritage language teachers speak to the need for rethinking and reshaping an understanding of teaching and learning as a social phenomenon that is fundamentally linked to a sense of identity and self-worth within culturally diverse school populations. The power of their narratives lies in the potential to "create bridges between worlds other than our own, to see ourselves...in the stories of others, to address injustices, and to find ourselves changed" (Witherell, 1995, p. 47). Indeed, accepting heritage language education within the mainstream requires a transformation in our understanding of mainstream society. We must, in fact, be able to recognize in the stories of those living between worlds, the story of post-modern urban, multicultural society. In the interview process, my participants and I became engaged in the development of personal and professional identity through a process of relational storytelling. Our conversations confirmed the epistemological value of

51

being on the margins in those "borderlands" which Anzaldua (1987) describes as "those unintentional, multicultural spaces, sometimes called 'common ground', where disparate cultures meet." It was in the retelling and reconstructing of these cultural stories from the perspective of my own minority language childhood educational experience that I tried to explore more deeply the heritage language teaching enterprise and its location within the multicultural reality of Canadian urban society. Finally, the educational relationships that were developed in the course of this inquiry created an opportunity for my participants to explore their cultural selves and to consider the need to reclaim their identities from the "edges of the map." The struggle to establish a sense of professional identity, to find a voice, and even to claim a physical space in schools is a thread that has woven its way throughout this research story on heritage language teaching and learning. This psychological and physical dislocation, felt deeply by the participants within their educational landscapes, was a guiding motif throughout this paper. Heritage language teachers may yet invent their place within the Canadian educational landscape and become partners in curriculum-making with their mainstream colleagues. At bottom, all teachers need to respond sensitively to the deepest realities of their students' lives. In order to do this, they must be given the opportunity not only to communicate across classrooms but also across cultures and therefore to create meaningful and caring connections not only with their students but with their fellow colleagues in their schools. Acknowledgements I wish to thank Sandra Acker for her highly stimulating and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. I also wish to express my gratitude to the Ontario Ministry of Education for supporting this research study under a transfer grant in 1994 1995. Notes 1This statement was made by a U.N. official in the context of a discussion about international issues at a conference on democracy in multicultural societies (personal communicationwith the author, June 1993).

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G. F E U E R V E R G E R

2 They do not understand the implications of the fact that over the past two decades, Canadian immigration levels have gone from approximately 85,000 to 220,000 annually, with one out of every four immigrants settling in Metropolitan Toronto (Cummins & Danesi, 1990). Statistics Canada has projected that more than 300,000 children under the age of 15 from diverse countries will arrive in Canada between 1990 and 1995. An estimated 55 percent of these children are expected to live in Ontario with 40 percelat of all immigrant children living in the Metropolitan Toronto area (Burke, 1992). Projections for the city of Toronto suggest that by the year 2000, 70 percent of its school population will come from an ESL background (Gerard, 1993). It seems only reasonable to assume that within this context of diversity, the issues of minority language education cannot be viewed as being peripheral to mainstream schooling. 3 In fact the term "Heritage Languages" has recently been changed to "International Languages" by the Ministry of Education" in order to give it a more mainstream flavour, in an attempt to increase its status within the system. But most people, especially in the elementary panel, still refer to the program by its original name. 4Officially, the term for these teachers is "instructors" due to their lack of provincial accreditation. However in this article, I refer to them as teachers because that is their rightful title and that is the professional position they strive for. . 5This inquiry emerges out of a larger research project t'unded by the Secretary of State of Canada designed to carry out a detailed inventory of curriculum materials currently being used in Canadian heritage language programs, and to document both the teacher training courses available for heritage language teachers and the heritage language classes being operated across Canada. The scope of the original project was wide-ranging and included examination of heritage language materials and classes in both the public education sphere as well as in the supplementary school sectors operated by the ethnocultural communities. Three inventories (materials, teacher training courses, and heritage language classes) are now available on a computerized database (see Cummins, Feuerverger, & Lopes, 1993). °The term is in quotation marks because in those days these were not officially called HLPs and they were not funded by the provincial government in any way. v It is finally in adulthood that I am reconnecting with my first language Yiddish and reclaiming my heritage through cultural and linguistic activities that are now entering mainstream society. There was for example a very successful festival at Harbourfront in the summer of 1995 (a mainstream venue in Toronto for cultural activiites) focusing on Yiddish klezmer music and theatre. These performances drew a very large crowd of spectators, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

References Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands." The new mestiza = La frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books. Ayers, W. (1993). To teach: The journey of a teacher. New York: Teachers College Press.

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