ENGLISH TEACHING AT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES AT SCHOOLS FROM THE MUNICIPALITY OF GUARAPUAVA, BRAZIL

The present research was meant to answer how English teaching takes places at early childhood education (ECE) in Guarapuava, Brazil. The Cultural-Historical Theory (VYGOTSKY, 2012), the conception of language as a social phenomenon (BAKHTIN, 2011), of bilingual education (GARCÍA; WOODLEY, 2014) and of translanguaging (GARCÍA; FLORES, 2012; BUSCH, 2014) were applied to support this paper. The first specific objective was quantitative, presenting the scenario of the English language education offer at ECE in the city as a whole. Other than that, three qualitative specific objectives were proposed: to identify the pedagogical practices at the schools, its common points and differences; to discuss the accordance of the practices to the development of the children; and to provide reflections about the practices and their implication to teacher education. For the qualitative analysis, school A (private, 4 years old group) and B (public, attended by a volunteer project, 5 years old group) were invited to participate represented by its teachers. The offer in the city posits the variance between private and public schools. The lack of specific educational policies seems to imply in different pedagogical approaches, to affect the appropriateness of the practices regarding children development and to impact the teacher education