”It is the best thing that can be done for the children” : How Chilean pedagogues describe their work with and around bi- and multilingual children.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to find out if Chilean pedagogues feel sufficiently prepared to work with and around bi- and multilinguistic children. The two questions that are answered in this thesis are Do the pedagogues feel like they have enough theoretical and practical knowledge about bi- and multilingualism? In that case, how and why? How do their personal experiences and feelings towards bi- and multilingualism affect their professional work? In order to answer the purpose of this thesis a qualitative study is conducted using semi-structured interviews as a method. The results show that the pedagogue have a positive look on bi-and multilingualism. Both when it comes to themselves as well as the children. This affects their work in a positive way since they feel that being bi- and/or multilingual is important. These feelings and thoughts make the pedagogues positive and motivated about working with these children. The pedagogues mention practical knowledges that they have such as singing, counting, telling stories etcetera. But when it comes to their theoretical knowledge none of the interviewed pedagogues have read about bi- or multilingualism. Therefore none of the pedagogues mention any specific theoretical ways in which they work with or around bi- and multilingualism. But what they do have thoughts about is that they feel that it is important to encourage bi- and multilingual children and their language development. And that they will find ways to work with these children even if their theoretical and sometimes practical knowledge might be lacking.