Language
So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.
Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas Spanish, Tex-Mex, and all the other languages I speak, I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself. Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak spanglish, and as long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate.
I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue—my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.Gloria Anzaldúa
After watching the video below think about your home language: What are the characteristics for each of its language subsystems: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics?
To Think About: Who gets to decide what constitutes a language and who is deemed a legitimate speaker of that language? Explore these questions by:
Learning about Black Language, anti-Black linguistic racism, and linguistic justice from Dr. April Baker-Bell
Learning about the concept of translanguaging from Dr. Ofelia Garcia and the CUNY-NYS Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals
Next, watch Teaching at the Beginning’s vignette of a dual language learner, Soyul, during a year of preschool. Then, research the characteristics of Soyul’s home language, Korean, for each of the language subsystems. What are the differences/similarities between Soyul’s home language and English, for each language subsystem? If you are interested in diving deeper into the Korean language, consider starting the Duolinguo Korean course.
If you work with middle school or high school students, visit the I Learn America website and read the stories of bilingual learners from all around the world. Select one of the students, and then, research the characteristics of their home language.
One of the implications of bilingualism is the ability to transfer knowledge across languages. Watch Dr. Dorta-Duque’s video below on crosslinguistic transfer. Then, read Dr. Cummins article on cross-language transfer in dual language. Consider: What are the implications of the differences and similarities between English and Soyul’s home language for classroom instruction? How would you support a student like Soyul in developing their cross-linguistic awareness?
There are different ways in which you can encourage your students’ cross-linguistic awareness. Educators Karen Beeman and Cheryl Urow look at cross-linguistic transfer as “the bridging that occurs continuously in the learner’s mind” (2013, p. 134). Beeman and Urow have conceptualized the bridge as a stage in the Biliteracy Unit Framework in which “students transfer academic language learned in one language to the other language” and “engage in contrastive analysis by focusing on how [the two languages] are similar and different” (p. 134).
Read this brief article about the bridge by Cheryl Urow and watch this video of students in a two-way immersion dual language kindergarten class participating in a bridge. Now, watch a group of second grade students working on their cross-linguistic awareness in a bilingual classroom using the Sobrato Early Academic Language model. What are your take-aways after watching these videos? How do they inform your future teaching practice?
Learn more about (a) how teachers can encourage bilingualism in monolingual English contexts and (b) how monolingual teachers can prepare themselves to support their bilingual learners by listening to an interview with Dr. Nelson Flores and by reading this brief on Sheltered English Instruction from the Center for Applied Linguistics.