Interpretations of a Bilingual Life

"If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language." -Gloria Anzaldua

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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 […]

    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
  • Appropriating Whiteness by Accident.

    I didn’t do it on purpose. I mean I may have started to enunciate my words a certain way in middle school because “the way I spoke” was commented on a few times by white peers, but I swear I didn’t seek out to appropriate a white accent or mannerisms. I also didn’t purposely choose […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    May 5, 2017
    Bicultural Experiences, Bilingual Experiences, Language:Culture Expression & Identity, multicultural education, multilingual education
    accents, bicultural, bilingual, Bilingual Education, bilingual life, bilingualism, social positioning, sociocultural theory, spanish, translanguaging
  • Do Children Learn or Acquire Language?

    Below is a video of our 3 year old speaking Mandarin. Her teacher sent it to us because she was very impressed with Siena’s accent in Mandarin and how natural it sounded. To be honest, I was very impressed as well even though I have no idea what she is saying. In fact, I find […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    April 2, 2017
    Uncategorized
    accents, bicultural, bilingual, Bilingual Education, bilingual life, bilingual strategies, bilingualism, Chinese Immersion, immersion schools, immigrant, Language Immersion
  • Please don’t call me “super liberal” Here’s why…

    I’m the first to admit that I didn’t start voting until I was 28. I don’t really have a solid reason. I wasn’t anti-politics or making our nation and communities a better place. I could blame it on my parents since they couldn’t vote because they weren’t citizens, but I’m past that. There was definitely […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    March 31, 2017
    Uncategorized
    agency, bicultural, bilingual, code-switching, identity, immigrant, marginalized communities, social positioning, spanglish
  • Our Multilingual Journey: Spanglish, Spanish, English, & Mandarin.

    It’s not uncommon to walk into my home and hear a multitude of languages being spoken at any given time. Our 3 year-old, so far, is becoming prolific at translanguaging between Spanish, English, Spanglish, and Mandarin. She has a great role model of how to translanguage, her big sister! Sabrina has been translanguaging since she […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    March 22, 2017
    Uncategorized
    bicultural, bilingual, bilingual children, Bilingual Education, spanglish, spanish, Texas, translanguaging, two-way bilingual education
  • Making America (Immigrant) Again!

    When I think of “America” I think of South, Central, and North America—that’s one of many flaws in Donald Trump’s campaign slogan. He is perpetuating the idea that “America” strictly applies to those of us in the U.S.A and belong to the dominant group or share the dominant groups views. I am left wondering, Donald […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    February 8, 2017
    Uncategorized
  • Spanish as a right: We do what we please with our bilingualism!

    I have been speaking to my daughters in Spanish since they were in womb. I have made zero accommodations for anyone in the way I choose to navigate our bilingual lives. I have had a range of experiences in which I was asked to simply speak English in public spaces to being asked when I […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    February 4, 2017
    Uncategorized
    accents, agency, bilingual, bilingualism, code-switching, identity, immigrant, language as a right, language policy, lingua franca, spanglish
  • Living in White (Public) Spaces

    It never fails. I’m sitting in a cafe working away. Totally focused on my next writing project when I do what I always do. I look around the cafe (sometimes restaurant or store) and see who is present? Who is accounted for? Who is there? Who has the privilege of buying the food I’m buying. […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    December 16, 2016
    Uncategorized
    austinlife, bicultural, bilingual, gentrification, Texas, translanguaging
  • Exploring Cuba. #cubalibre ¡Vamos a Cuba!

    The first time I went to Miami, Florida I was in my 20’s. I fell in love with the city because a part of me felt like I was somewhere in Latin America or the Caribbean. It was in Miami where I learned how mojitos and cuba libres are supposed to taste and how REAL […]

    Suzanne García-Mateus

    December 5, 2016
    Uncategorized
    bicultural, bilingual, Bilingual Education, cuba, cubalibre, immersion schools, supportthecubanpeople, vamosacuba, visitingcuba
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