practices (often being labelled as English as a second language [ESL] students) in a given sociocultural context (Waterstone, 2008). In this way, they may become silent and feel detached from and rejected by the social group they are trying to access, for example during ‘group work’ (see Duff, in press). These differences in perceptions and conceptual and emotional processing may be related to the demands and practices of the society one lives in or had previously lived in. As evidence elsewhere suggests, immigrant students remain involved in their primary communities and their cultural values and norms (family and friends); in turn, this requires more and more compromises to be made on logistical and ideological grounds (Duff, 2009). If not understood and supported, this might lead to psychological problems and, in extreme cases, to academic failure. The remaining chapters of the book tap into the aforementioned issues and shed light on how Polish immigrant children engage in developing their symbolic competencies across two languages and two communities of practice – school and their families. Their agency, stances and positions on the values and norms observed across two cultures are illustrated.
