Bilingual Educación in the Home: Everyday Mexican Immigrant Family Educational Practices

Abstract

As we embrace the increasing numbers of young Mexican immigrant children and their families present in our schools, it is important for educators to better understand the many family educational practices present in these households. This article examines the strategies and resources utilized by two Mexican-born and two U.S.-born Mexican immigrant families in teaching and guiding the bilingual educación of their children—an education that encompasses academic teaching but also provides teachings that shape children’s views toward the English and Spanish languages and their cultural identities as Latinas/os in the U.S. Drawing on sociocultural theory, three primary types of teaching practices used by these families to impart bilingual educación in the home are illustrated while highlighting the values and social capital they communicate: 1) school-prescribed teaching practices; 2) embodied teaching practices; and 3) culturally-prescribed teaching practices. The author concludes with implications for educators.