Category: Bilingual Education
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For whom are we protecting the designated use of languages in two-way bilingual education (TWBE) programs?
After attending the Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) convention this past week in Atlanta, GA and noticing how much “we” tend to place an immense amount of value on a certain kind “English,” I started thinking about the TWBE context. A context that is dear to my bilingual and Latinx heart as…
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For What and for Whom is our Research?
As someone who identifies as an academic that “researches” the very demographic that is currently being attacked at the border, my sense of obligation to #speakup, #standup, and #resist with and for immigrants has never been stronger. I think Lourdes Ortega’s question (the title of this blog post), For what and for whom is our…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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A Bilingual Journey of Spanish and English. Guest Post by Diana Sampedro
My name is Diana, I am a Spanish mum of a 6 year old girl, and we live in Spain. Her dad is Spanish, too. I love languages and speak English so I decided to raise my kid bilingual, even though I am not a “native” English speaker myself. I think babies and kids have…
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Officially an expert in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
Today I passed my dissertation defense. I have been writing about being bilingual for 9 years on this blog and I NOW have the title to back up my thoughts and ideas. Si se pudo!!!!
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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…
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Multilingual Education: California Education for a Global Economy Initiative (California EdGE Initiative)/Senate Bill (SB) 1174
This post is about Senate Bill 1174 which would repeal and amend proposition 227 of 1998 in the state of California. Proposition 227 ended bilingual education services for students who did not speak English. The new bill would provide services for ALL students in the state of California that would put them on the path…
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Multilingualism is like los manglares de Ecuador.
The mangrove forests are found in tropical places all around the world. One of the places they are found is in and around the surrounding areas of Guayaquil, Ecuador. According to World Wildlife: “The world’s mangrove forests have been described as one of the most distinctive emersed tropical ecological systems on the planet (Fundación Natura…
Interpretations of a Bilingual Life 