La Clase Mágica

La Clase Mágica [The Magical Class] is an after-school educational computer club that links university and community institutions and is focused on social change. Bilingual children from the local Mexicano community come to La Clase Mágica three times a week to play culturally and developmentally designed computer games in collaboration with undergraduate students from a neighboring university (Vásquez, 2003).

La Clase Mágica began as an extension of the Fifth Dimension program developed by Cole (1996). Vásquez (2003, pp. 43-49) highlighted several principles from the Fifth Dimension program as particularly important to La Clase Mágica: an adaptability to local conditions, a mixture of play and education situated in a computer-based fantasy world, a culture of collaborative learning, and a focus on learning and development.

However, La Clase Mágica was adapted and changed considerably in collaboration with the local community, which eventually took control of the program. Vásquez (2003, pp. 49-62) described five principles that guided this adaptation: a perspective that values and includes the cultural and linguistic resources of the local community, a focus on supporting multiplicity and diversity; a commitment to change, a partnership with local community members, and a multigenerational approach. As a result, La Clase Mágica focused not only on discrete academic skills but also on helping children develop "the means to negotiate the social and intellectual life of the academy" (p. 25) without loosing connections to their own culture and language. Vásquez (2003) provided a detailed discussion of several central features of La Clase Mágica: the development of culturally-based materials, the interactions between children and undergraduates, and the links between the university, community and Mexicano families.

Vásquez (2003) reported that, although it will be a few years before the full impact of La Clase Mágica can be know on children's progress through the educational system, "participating children are more successful in acquiring their second language and maintaining their first language than their peers in a more traditional public school bilingual program" (p. 63). She also reported that, by providing bilingual learners with early and frequent interactions with undergraduate students, "La Clase Mágica facilitates entre to and alliance with the academic culture of the university" (p. 17).

Relevant CIP Cultural Questions

3.3.3 Preferred Learning Approaches

3.4.1 Influences Outside School