Interpretations of a Bilingual Life

Noticias/News

To learn more about bilingualism & trilingualism follow me on twitter (trilingualbaby). You can also read a monthly post (first one today: 3/5/10) about my attempts to create a trilingual home at www.spanglishbaby.com This website has a plethora of information about raising bilingual and trilingual children. I think many readers will enjoy it as much as I have.

My first Latino teacher.

I never really thought much about whether or not having a teacher you could ethnically or culturally identify with made a difference in terms of interest or motivation in subject matter. Probably because I didn’t have a Latino teacher until I went to community college! In fact, this wonderful professor influenced me so much that I decided to major in English Literature because of my experience in two of his classes.

When I started community college I had this intense motivation to do well in school. I started high school with the same enthusiasm, but it slowly dwindled as my classes became more and more tracked ones. The track I was on included students who worked; at the time I had three jobs. I’m sure they tracked us based on test scores and other criteria blah blah blah, it’s not right in my opinion. These classes pretty much consisted of students doing umm nothing. Seriously, in one of my English classes half the class would sleep while the teacher spoke about nothing. One day I decided to ask him, “Mr. Monotone, why do you keep “lecturing” when half the class is asleep?” His response: “Well because I know most of you work and all you want to do is graduate.” I was speechless. He refused to teach or attempt to engage us because he had already decided our intentions AND our future in a way.

Several of my classes from science, math, to English were set up like the one above.

I can still remember my first day of community college. I’ll never forget it. I arrived on campus about an hour before my first class began and opened up my math textbook. It was pre-algebra. A very basic pre-algebra like they probably shouldn’t have named it pre-algebra. At any rate, I sat there, staring at my book with the intention that I was going to make it! To make a long story short I ended up getting a “D” in that class and had to make it up.

The following semester I enrolled in another course that was also required: English 101 with a Mr. Garcia. I purposely picked his class because we shared the same last name and it was a required course, so I thought, “Perfect, I’ll just take the course with him.” As it turned out we were born in the same city, Brownsville, TX and he attended the same highschool as my parents. Even at that time I had no idea that having a professor with a similar background as me would make a difference, but it did. He not only loved teaching writing, he loved to write and share stories. He got me interested in writing. The following semester I decided to take another required  course taught by him, but this time we were studying literature, in addition to writing. If it weren’t for my experience with him I probably would not have pursued a B.A. in English Literature when I transferred to the University of Texas at Austin (UT). In fact, I ended up taking a course with his uncle!!! The only reason I learned that they were related was because they were sharing similar stories in class. I had to ask Dr. Hinojosa-Smith if he was related to a Mr. Garcia. They were to my surprise!!

This blog posting may seem as if I were talking about just any other professor who cared about his students and in many ways I am, BUT I whole heartedly believe that he caught my attention, my interest in English Literature because we are both Chicano, which means the stories he shared resonated with my Mexican-American background. In fact, current research states that when children can identify, ethnically or racially, with a teacher; they are more engaged/interested in the subject matter.

The last time I communicated with him I was asking for a letter of recommendation for a Masters program I was applying to and letting him know I was also recently engages. At the end of the conversation he said, “Make sure you let me know when you get your PhD or have a baby whichever comes first.” If only he knew that I’m working on both, as I write this post, but that the baby will most definitely come first.

Thank you, Mr. Garcia!

Language Varieties in the American School System.

I recently submitted a final paper to my Literacy & Culture class @ UT. The topic was: The Use of Language During a Read Aloud. For those of you who aren’t familiar with “read alouds” they basically consist of the teacher reading a book to the class. They serve several purposes from reading for pleasure to teaching social activism.

In previous posts I have mentioned my reservations with the use of language varieties by the teacher in the classroom. In a more recent post I mentioned that my views about the use of language varieties in the classroom was changing. I think I may have made a major shift. After the pilot project I implemented in a 3rd grade bilingual class room I do believe that the use of code-switching and Spanglish in the classroom is ok. Really, it is. Let me further explain.

I decided to read four books to a class of bilingual children. There was obviously a spectrum of language proficiencies in the classroom. Not all children were “fully” bilingual. Some were Spanish dominant and others relied on code-switching more. As I was saying I read four books. One was a monolingual English book, one was a monolingual Spanish book, and the other two were code-switching books. When I read each book I, as the teacher, stuck with the language the book was written in. So, for example if there was code-switching in the book I code-switched whenever I spoke to the students. It was quite liberating!

Here were some of the things I noticed. The majority of the children chose to use the language I was using, which was also the language the book was written in. Here’s the interesting point. During the monolingual read alouds the conversations about the books related strictly to the content in the book. During the read aloud of the code-switching books, or what I was calling the culturally and linguistically relevant books, the conversations were not only about the content in the books, but about the children’s home lives! In fact, when I asked them to respond to a dilemma one of the characters was experiencing, which was one they could relate to; I found that the use of language for the written responses was irrelevant to the language I was using or the one the book was written in!!!

After I was done writing my 20 page paper I learned that if we use the language varieties the children bring into the classroom as a learning tool rather than focusing on getting them to constantly produce Standard  English or Standard Spanish, then maybe we will also develop critical thinkers! And by nurturing critical thinkers the language development will follow. That being said, if I were still a classroom teacher I would still make sure my lessons included the use of all language varieties including my pursuit of developing Standard Spanish or Standard English.

Killer Crónicas: Bilingual Memories by Susana Chávez-Silverman

I bought this book, “Killer Cronicas,” today at my favorite locally owned bookstore in Santa Ana, C.A. called Libreria Martinez. My sister Sarah Rafael Garcia introduced me to the bookstore when she did her first reading there this past summer. I enjoy going to this bookstore when I visit partially because the owner, Rueben Martinez, is so friendly and excited about all of his books, but also because it has quite an array of Latino books there. Everything from children’s, teenage, and adult texts color the bookshelves of this well known establishment. The owner was recently honored in the Ornage Country Register as holding a “PhD in Life.” If you were to walk into his bookstore you would certainly feel as if you had known him all your life. He has that kind of energy and charisma with people.At any rate, the reason I’m writing this post is because I picked up a book that called out to me. The author, Susana Chavez-Silverman,  reminded me of someone I could become. In short, her book is a memoir, of her experiences as a bilingual individual living here in the US and abroad. She offers an interesting perspective. It made me realize that sometimes language experiences can be told as they are. It also made me realize that the interpretations I am telling are very hmm analytical? Maybe very much a proactive, hands-on analysis of my language experiences…maybe my readers can tell me.

Language is fluid….

“Language is fluid.” Something I heard at La Cosecha Conference a few years ago in New Mexico. The comment has sort of been implanted in my mind since then. Everytime I contemplate or try to make sense of the use of language in my life I remember this statement made by a researcher from the Center for Applied Linguistics (www.cal.org). English is fluid and one of the characteristics that I  love about it is that it is very fluid. Partially because we don’t have a “language academy” regulating the “proper” use of terms. Don’t get me wrong, for many different reasons I wish the English language did have an “academy,” just as I wish the US had an official language, actually I wish it had two official languages, English & Spanish. For instance, for some time now I have been evaluating the use of hyphenated words in the English language.  We use them all the time, informally and formally.A couple of my friends, one from Spain and the other from Venezuela, pointed out how versatile hyphenated words are in English, something they haven’t really experienced as much in Spanish. Since then I have seen them everywhere! On advertisements, in my own blog, and in social settings. I did a little research of my own and found several websites, most by English professors, describing the rules behind the use of hyphenated words. Apparently, if you are using a hyphenated words such as, “big-eared,” an adjective, then it must be hyphenated, just like “passion-driven writing.” I also learned that words go through various phases before they become “one word,” like the word “database,” at one point it was considered two words. The hyphenated version may actually be a phase depending on how “catchy” the word is, it may actually become one word! See how fluid English can be. Both my friends that brought this to my attention said that sure there are hyphenated words in Spanish, but they’re not used or invented as loosely as they are in English. I love it!As I was thinking about this it dawned on me once again that IF I spent an extended amount of time in a Spanish speaking country these are the sort of observations I may make on my own. Once again I yearn to live in a Spanish speaking country to further my exploration of how I acquire a second language, but also to notice all of the  little details that constitute a language.

Bilingual Dilemmas Comment Response

Yes, I am being too hard on myself, but I cant help it Im a little obsessed with language. I don’t have a distaste for Spanish. I think it’s normal to have these sentiments. Ill eventually grow out of this phase and move right back in…it’s the way I get by. As I mentioned in the section “About my blog” I write these thoughts and experiences about my bilingual life in order to better understand language, culture and identity. I try to compare and relate them to the experiences my students may be going through in order to inform my research interests. Thanks for your advice….it helps mujer!

Bilingual Dilemmas: Negotiating my use of Spanish.

Lately, I have been utterly sick of speaking Spanish. I’m tired of not knowing all the words I need to communicate with. I’m sick of trying to decide whether or not the Spanish phrase I’m using actually exists in Spanish or if I’m borrowing it from English. I find myself having to compromise my identity as a Spanish-speaking Latina living in the U.S.! I find myself meeting Spanish half way, per se. For instance, I’ve decided to speak Spanish with the custodians at work, but I’m not going to with teachers who I know are proficient and comfortable enough to speak English.

I have stated before that I came to the realization that I will never be nearly as fluent as a native speaker of Spanish until I live in a Spanish-speaking country. So, until I do, I refuse to speak Spanish unless absolutely necessary. I’m tired of negotiating conversations, thinking over and over how to say certain things, and pulling out a Spanish dictionary. I’m also tired of trying to figure out why people use Spanish and English the way they do. They “code-switch,” “borrow,” and all sorts of other creative twists.

I can only imagine what goes on the heads of my little students!

If you have ever heard me speak Spanish you would probably think I speak it well. Depending on your experiences with Spanish you may even notice my errors. I consider myself very proficient, but my mind is actively thinking about what I’m saying as I’m saying it and it drives me insane. In other words, I want my use of Spanish to be as automatic as my use of English.

What does this mean in terms of my research interests?

Good question. I recently learned that sometimes the actually “study” may come after  exploring a pseudo-study. For example, when I began my case study this past fall I had a very specific skill in mind that I wanted to work on with my student. I wanted to analyze how her proficiency in Spanish may or may not be detrimental to her writing experiences in junior high. Yes, I know it seems broad. After two months of meeting with my case study I came to the realization about what I actually would have liked to focus on. Unfortunately, I realized this two days before our second to last meeting. So, by writing about my frustations in regard to Spanish I may not know exactly where I’m going with this sentiment or thought, but through various explorations I may or may not be on to something. For instance, during the last two sessions with my student we decided that she would watch her favorite novelas, like she always does, and write about what happened in each novela in order to edit and revise it. She was writing about two novelas. One she summarized in English and the other in Spanish. In other words, we were using her writing about the novelas to help her learn revising and editing skills. By default, she was also learning about the English language. She also drew her own conclusion. She noticed that one thing she did in her writing in Spanish was the same thing she did when she wrote in English. The writing skills transferred!

One of the struggles I had with my case study was that we didn’t really communicate. She wouldn’t speak! I was speaking to her in English because she is scheduled to write in English on her high stakes standardized test in the Spring. As we progressed through each session we spoke less and less English and more Spanish. Spanish eased it’s way into our sessions. If my student feels as if she has to negotiate her use of English then it’s no wonder she would hardly speak to me in English!!!

Code-Switching in the classroom…

A review of Iliana Reyes’ article, “Functions of Code Switching in Schoolchildren’s Conversations.”

My curiosity in reviewing this specific article started with an observation. There are two recent observations actually. The first has been an on-going one, and always in the bilingual classroom. Student’s code-switching (CS), which is normal. The distinct feature in the bilingual classroom is that the teacher is also fervently switching languages! The second was here, in my graduate course titled, “Critical Issues in Bilingual/Bicultural Education,” throughout our discourse people CS, though less frequently than in the bilingual classroom and with the exclusion of Spanglish terms. I was challenged by the notion that fervently CS in the classroom was okay, and in fact a good strategy to utilize in order to, for example, communicate with children who use it as a means to bridge misunderstandings. I decided to read the article, Functions of Code Switching in Schoolchildren’s Conversations by Iliana Reyes because I thought it would be a good place to start to better understand why individuals, specifically children, CS in the first place. The article touched on the most popularly known reasons among bilingual teachers. For instance, students draw from words in either the L1 or L2 if they don’t know the word(s) in one of the languages, to express an emotion, or because it is common practice in their community. I did not expect the article to answer the questions I have about teachers CS in the classroom, but I did expect it to shed some light on how it develops among school aged children. For instance, though the community students live in CS, does the teachers’ use of CS discourage a students’ knowledge of proper use of Spanish or English, or more specifically, does it discourage a student from increasing their academic vocabulary in English or Spanish? Reyes observed 20 pairs of 7 and 10 year olds and concluded that children CS for different reasons. She had these 20 pairs, each child was allowed to choose a grade-level counterpart, work on a science activity. The observers left the room, while the children worked on the activity. Each child had a microphone attached to their waist. Overall the context in which children CS was not one of the determining factors as far as frequency is concerned. In other words, the amount of CS displayed on the playground was about as frequent as the CS they displayed during the assigned science activity.Reyes included a sociolinguist analysis in her study which stated that, “…only code switches that constitute more than one lexical item were included in the analysis.” (pg.83) she went on to explain how, “Many investigators in the field of language CS do not consider single switches, ‘true switches,’ therefore, only those longer switches that clearly indicated a syntactic switch into the other language have been included in the present analysis.” (pgs.83-83) I was enlightened because it clarified that the “CS” done in my graduate class is not actual CS, but I am still concerned about the classroom teachers’ use of CS. They do actually fit into the definition of CS. For instance, Reyes describes CS as two categories: the metaphorical and the situational. She says, “Under the metaphorical category, CS varies according to discourse function (e.g, to include or exclude someone from a conversation, to convey intimacy, or to emphasize a message).” (p.78) The observations I have made seem to indicate that the reasons why children CS are the same reasons why teachers seem to be CS, according to Reyes study there are six reasons why, all of which are evident in the classrooms I have observed throughout the years. The six reasons, which fall under either metaphorical or situational include clarification about the meaning of a words or concept, in order to put emphasis on what they were trying to say, when the topic of conversation shifts, to accommodate the listener, when they were shifting questions, or when the situation (context) shifted. Which begs the question, are teachers who fervently CS actually fully bilingual in English and Spanish? As I took notes about the article and paused to think about what the writer was saying; the whole time I kept remembering what the proponents and opponents for African-American Vernacular English in the classroom would argue. The proponents would state that students need to be taught in the language they know in order for literacy skills to transfer, in addition to feeling comfortable with the way they speak. The opponent’s arguments ranged from the need to acquire Standard English in order to be successful in school, let alone life to realizing that Blacks speak improper English and it should be corrected. So, do CS and Spanglish in the classroom fit into the same category as the teacher’s use of Ebonics in the classroom?The struggle I have with CS sways between adults’ use of it and children’s use of it and what that means in the classroom. Both Genesse and Reyes research interests include, “The nature of language development in…developing bilinguals…,” which, “…must be understood in relation to their development of bilingual communicative competence (Genesse, 2002; Reyes, 2001). Towards the end of Reyes article she states that children develop their ability to CS as they acquire “language.” In other words, as the child gets older they learn to manipulate the six different facets within CS, although in the transcripts, which she included in the article I still wonder how well these children know the proper way to speak English or Spanish. In addition, if teachers refrained from fervently CS, and instead taught one content area in one language and the next in another depending on how they have designed their class to function within the transitional bilingual education model, then maybe students would know to say words, in both English and Spanish with proper use of grammar and articulation. For instance, throughout the transcript students mispronounced the following words or phrases or did not use the appropriate word in Spanish: “…she don’t need to go to summer school”, “…mira mira los magnets”, “..we do not need this no more”, “..asi ira”, and “compass?” Reyes article did enlighten me in terms of how well children learn to CS as they acquire language. The seven year olds used three types of CS more frequently, while the ten year olds used the five different types of CS during their conversations. In other words, the older children CS more than the younger children because they have a firmer grasp of both the L1 and the L2 (see figure 1 on p.88.) Although, I do believe there is value in CS and it certainly is a skill, I am still not convinced that teachers constant CS in the classroom is a good strategy, especially when the way they CS reflects the way children use it. Hmm….do the words Oakland and Ebonics ring bell? Read Iliana Reyes entire article: (copy & paste the following link) brj.asu.edu/content/vol28_no1/art5.pdf

Bilingual & Bicultural Education

I didn’t realize I was of Mexican descent until I moved from a majority Latino city in Southern California to a majority white city in Southern California. I grew up in Santa Ana, California where my elementary school was pretty diverse. We had white, Asian, Latino, and Filipino students, although my nuclear family was part of a close-knit Latino community through our Catholic church. My parents were involved with helping “at-risk” youth get through all of their trials and tribulations. They were also involved in grass roots activities, like protesting against negligent apartment owners where many of their “at-risk” youths lived. I can remember one time participating in one of the protests and seeing Jorge Ramos interview some of the grass-roots organizers like my parents. That experience is part of the reason why I decided to read his most recent book called, Lo Que Vi.

My parents immigrated to Brownsville, Texas from Tamaulipas, Mexico in the late sixties. They came here legally, although my maternal grandmother came to work in Texas many times as an illegal immigrant in order to make ends meet. My paternal grandfather brought his family to the U.S. as a bracero worker. My paternal grandmother was born in South Texas, but moved to Mexico without a birth certificate, so when she came back to the States she had to get “papers” proving her citizenship, which ended up being Mexican due to lack of proof that she was born in the U.S.A. My mother was 13 when she immigrated and my father was 16 years old. Four years later they married and by the time my mother was 22 years old she had her third child. I lived in Brownsville until I was two years old and in California until I was 18 years old.

Language gurus state that after a certain age an individual will speak in the language that is considered to be their mother-tongue. This was the case for my parents. In our home they always spoke in Spanish to each other and as the years went by they spoke in Spanish to us less and less. I remember constantly hearing Spanish in my home, from the radio station, television, and friends that would come over. My parents never forced us to speak Spanish, they just always spoke it. To this day my mother speaks to me in her beautiful Spanish, while I speak to her in my “educated English.” As I grew older and realized that I understood two languages; my interest in improving my Spanish also grew.

I was tracked in high-school partially because I probably didn’t do well on standardized assessments and partially because the counselor knew my mother was raising three daughters alone. I guess you can say she knew her statistics. After my father passed away we moved to an “all white” city. I got asked many ignorant questions like, “Where do you tan?” to “Does your mom know any good sewers?” This is one of the ways I realized I was different, other than the fact that the only Latinos I could see in our community were the ones mowing the lawn or cooking food in restaurants.

The only other language experience I had, other than my exposure to Spanish at home, was my two years of high-school Spanish, both if which I passed with an easy “A.” I know my story is very much a cliché as a first generation born and raised in the U.S., but I like to think that it is somewhat unique, at least the years beyond high-school. We moved to Texas, where I started taking classes at a community college. I was forced to take remedial reading and writing. Ok, so maybe the few years after high school are still a little common amongst first generation Chicanos.

At 20 years old I experienced two events that changed the course of my life forever. I traveled outside of the USA for the first time, visiting my maternal grandmothers’ home state of Jalisco and I transferred to a four year university, the same one I am attending for my Ph.D. In Guadalajara I realized that I was American and at UT I realized that I had had a horrible education. I was put on academic probation after my first semester!

In December of 1996 I knew that I had to make a deliberate decision to continue my studies, while at the same acknowledging that I was walking a fine line of being a part of a stupid statistic that apparently was very clear to high school counselor, which ultimately meant dropping out of college and working at a hourly paid job for years on end. The following semester I tested out of all four Spanish classes, required to graduate, which helped my G.P.A., but also made me realize that I know Spanish, not as well as a native speaker, but I knew what sounded correct and what did not. After that strenuous year, I focused on making it through my studies and improving my Spanish by reading anything I could find that was written in Spanish. Since my trip to Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1996 I have traveled every summer to a different Spanish-speaking country in efforts to improve my Spanish. I have spent anywhere from a week to a month and a half each summer in another country. After twelve years of trying to speak Spanish eloquently and without an English accent I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be as fluent or close to fluent as a native speaker until I at least live in a Spanish-speaking country.

After I graduated in 1999 with my Bachelors of Arts degree I sought after several different job opportunities. No one would hire me. I had spent the last five years just trying to stay afloat. All of my time went into studying, all of it. I wasn’t involved in any clubs, nor did I venture abroad to study. I didn’t have the funds nor did I have the time to waste because I was too busy literally studying. As I was applying and sometimes interviewing for positions with different companies, an idea dawned on me. Not only was not being prepared for college detrimental to my “student life”, it was also detrimental to my post-graduation life. No one would hire me because I didn’t have a well rounded college experience nor did I have a degree that would allow me to do a specific job, like accounting.

I realized that the education an individual receives prior to college can have a huge impact on what their life in college and beyond is like. I ended up resorting to what I was doing to help me eat and live while in college, which was dental assisting and the pay sucked! In 2002 I was utterly sick of being a dental assistant. I had tried working my way up as a bank teller and as a recruiter’s assistant, but both jobs were unfulfilling nor interesting to me for that matter.

During the summer of 2003 I was reflecting about some of the volunteering experiences I had had abroad; one was in Honduras and the other in the Dominican Republic. Both revolved around teaching children. That’s when I had an epiphany; I remembered that when I started community college I wanted to teach English Literature at the college level, somewhere along the way I got distracted with my pursuit of becoming a dentist. It dawned on me that all of my volunteering experiences revolved around teaching children either about dental hygiene or English. This is when I decided to apply to be a bilingual teacher for the Austin Independent School District and in 2004 I got accepted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for a Masters in Elementary Education. It was during that year that I realized how much more I could learn and grow after acquiring the skills to study as an undergrad.

Since 2003 I have worked as an inner-city bilingual educator. When I first started I thought I had a lot in common with my students, but as the years go by I realize we have less and less in common. The only common factor we have is the language we speak.

Through the combined experiences of my personal education as a Latina in the USA and the opportunities I have had as a teacher; I have gained an interest to advocate for learning additional languages in public and private school settings. I have also acknowledged that my expertise and strengths lie within research and advocacy rather than actually teaching in a classroom or teaching teachers. I think I am good at what I do as a bilingual reading specialist/writing coach at a local elementary school, but I believe research and advocacy come more naturally to me.

There are several research interests I have, all of which stem from interpretations of experiencing a “bilingual life,” but also from what I have observed amongst children who are learning an additional language. They include, but is certainly not limited to how the language an individual speaks can define the identity they perceive of themselves. I wonder how the identity they perceive of themselves plays out in the different facets of their lives. I also believe that most individuals who come from lower class upbringings have what I call a *language deficiency, especially if they speak something other than Standard American English. I wonder if having a language deficiency affects their pursuit of higher education, certain jobs, and social status. Lastly, as I delve into research and advocacy for bilingual/bicultural education I hope to develop a sense of clarity in my writing and in the manner in which I speak about my work. This is one of the reasons why I am an avid reader of books by authors like Jorge Ramos whom write about what they see.

**A language deficiency is when an individual has limited vocabulary and lacks the knowledge of proper pronunciation of words or use of phrases.

Language Instinct-it’s not just the title of the book I’m reading.

It’s something that invigorates all of my senses…..I was having lunch with someone I did not know at all at Las Manitas. She was interviewing me for a Spanish teacher position. As we were discussing our experiences with language she mentioned a book called, The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. I was intrigued simply by her brief summary of the book. In a nutshell, the writer of the book claims that “language” is something we all possess, it’s an innate characteristic amongst humans. One of the over-arching questions I have as I am delving into the first chapter is, “What about those individuals who can’t speak?” I am thinking of someone I know who cannot utter a word. She makes sounds, but has never uttered a word. Maybe Pinker’s deifinition of “language” is a very broad one. Maybe it’s anyone that can make a sound, even if its a single phoneme coming out of their mouth. If that’s true then our instincts have varying strengths…

*I declined the teaching position. My other instinct was telling me to venture towards something else or maybe something less time consuming.