Theaimofthisarticleistoanalysetheearlychildhoodeducationandcare(ECEC)language policyinthecityofStrasbourg,focusingonanethnographiccasestudyofanewlyestablished bilingualEnglish-Frenchcrècheinthecity.InFrance,establishinganearlychildhoodeducation structure -more specifically, a day care centre catering to young children -involves close coordination with national, departmental, and local government entities.Associations that embarkonthisprocessgothroughalongadministrativeprocess.

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... consideration,wemaintainthattounderstandthelanguagepolicyinECEC, itisimperativetoexaminetheoverlappingparticipationofdifferentgovernmententitiesand servicesfromthenational,regional,departmental,city,andlocallevels.Ourdatarevealthat the conceptualization of the language policy at a newly created bilingual crèche structure was highly influenced by top-down language policies and pervading language ideologies.Yet, thecrèchepersonnelneededtointerpret,negotiate,andappropriatethispolicyinorderto consideritsfeasibilityandtotakeintoaccountthechildren'sinterestsandwelfarewithinthe normalfunctioningofthisearlyyearsstructure.