Striving to Create an Equitable Classroom Community:  
What happens when native English speakers are paired with native Spanish speakers in a Dual Language Immersion Kindergarten classroom?

Abstract:  How do native English speakers and native Spanish speakers interact and communicate in a Dual Language Immersion Classroom and how will this change as we grow together as a classroom community? When you bring two groups of students together from diverse cultural backgrounds, how do you encourage them to form friendships? These questions pushed me to take a closer look at how to foster a more equitable environment for my Kindergarteners at Capri Elementary school in Leucadia, California.  Through class discussions, student interviews and observations, I discovered that my students’ backgrounds played a significant part in how they interacted with each other in the classroom.  I found they benefited from the use of cooperative learning strategies and from being paired up with a language partner or compañero whose native language was different from their own.  I also discovered that daily class meetings were the most successful way to encourage positive behavior and foster friendships.  We used the class meetings as a time to highlight their successes and discuss ways to improve.  My action research journey pushed me to look more closely at ways to bring the families of my students and our school staff together to create an equitable school community.