Category: 3rd generation bilinguals

• An Update About Raising 3rd Generation Multilingual Daughters.

  Just read an article about “Bilingualism and Age,” which got me thinking about my daughter’s language exposure and development: Sabrina was born into a home where both parents spoke in Spanish to her (direct input), but we spoke (and continue to do so) in mostly English to each other with some Spanish. Her daycare was…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  October 28, 2018

  3rd generation bilinguals

  bicultural, bilingual children, Bilingual Education, bilingual life, bilingual strategies, bilingualism, sociolinguistics, spanish

• You can learn Spanish, but you will never get our culture.

  Speaking Spanish for us does not begin at 7:45 am and end at 2:57 pm. Speaking Spanish for us is NOT “a lesson.” It’s not a “time period.” It’s not a temporary thing. Spanish isn’t something that happens out of coincidence. I wouldn’t even say that it’s how we “naturally” communicate. Spanish for us is…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  May 11, 2018

  3rd generation bilinguals, Bicultural Experiences, Bilingual Education, Bilingual Experiences, dual immersion, dual language education, Language:Culture Expression & Identity

• Why I chose to become a Mexican National.

  On the day I became a Mexican National, December 15, 2017, I was filled excitement and like a piece of my heart was beginning to heal. I, of course, posted it on Facebook and got many congratulations. I knew that some people may not find my decision to become a Mexican National as making a…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  December 17, 2017

  3rd generation bilinguals, Bilingual Experiences, Language:Culture Expression & Identity

  bicultural, bilingual, chicana, dual citizen, immigrant, mexican-american, pocha

• I’m a Mamá Raising Language Warriors

  Language warriors are “… Spanish-dominant bilingual students [who] not only support English-speaking peers’ learning Spanish but also advocate for their marginalized monolingual Spanish-dominant peers. This language warrior role revealed problem solving, mediating skills, and advocacy, but such attributes are rarely recognized by academic assessments” (DeNicolo, 2010, p. 234). Below is a glimpse of MY little…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  October 2, 2017

  3rd generation bilinguals, Bilingual Education

  agency, bicultural, bilingual children, Bilingual Education, bilingual life, bilingualism, code-switching, dual langauge, identity, immigrant, language-in-use, mexican, translanguaging, two-way immersion

• Latinx Community Raising Bilingual Children

  Ever since I decided to raise my daughters in a bilingual world I knew that I didn’t fit the profile of the many “how to raise a bilingual child”  books I was reading. First, the “one parent one language” (OPOL) method wasn’t a right fit because both my husband and I are bilingual. The “minority…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  June 15, 2017

  3rd generation bilinguals, Bilingual Education, Language:Culture Expression & Identity, multicultural education, multilingual education

  bicultural, bilingual, Bilingual Education, bilingual life, bilingual strategies, bilingualism, california dual language, foreign language schools, immersion schools, immigrant, language policy, Latinx Community, parents and second language education, spanglish

• 3rd generation bilinguals: an anomaly?

  Statistically speaking my daughters should not be speaking Spanish. It is a well known fact that most U.S. born individuals lose their parents or grandparents “native” language by the 3rd generation. First generation being the parents that immigrated to the U.S. and 2nd generation being the children born in the U.S. I have to admit…

  Suzanne García-Mateus

  February 22, 2016

  3rd generation bilinguals, Bicultural Experiences, Bilingual Education, Bilingual Experiences, multicultural education, raising bilingual children, Translanguaging