gonzalo zambrano

Languages in contact at borders have generated interest among researchers in various fields, and this work in Applied Linguistics is a case in point. It seeks to analyze the bilingualism of children aged 4 to 6, born in Brazil to Venezuelan families living in Venezuela, who are starting school in a Brazilian school located on the border between Brazil and Venezuela. With a sociolinguistically complex setting, where Brazilians and Venezuelans live together, speaking both Spanish and Portuguese, I sought to answer the following research question through qualitative and interpretivist research: How do children born in Brazil to Venezuelan families living in Santa Elena de Uairén/VE fit into the activities of the Brazilian border school? The ethnographic research allowed me to show that teachers have difficulty dealing with the linguistic and cultural differences of this ＂minority＂ during school activities. In addition to observing the resistance of some students to learning the language and customs of Brazil, in the same way that national symbols generate identity conflicts.