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.

Embracing & Nurturing Three Languages

As I research the Internet for useful sites or literature about how to raise a trilingual child I am stunned with the simple fact that there is very little information available. I have found several parents blogging about their attempts to raise trilingual children all hoping to receive tips from others trying to do the same. I have to stop and ask myself, “What does this mean to me as a future parent? What does this mean to me as a doctoral student in bilingual and bicultural education? What can I do with this lack of information and how can I contribute to the missing pieces as a parent and researcher?” So many questions!

Luckily, I have a tentative plan. My husband and I will speak in Spanish to our baby. S/he will learn English because we live in the US, learning English should be inevitable, and s/he will attend French immersion schools. Done deal. Problem solved, right?

I wish it were that easy. As a bilingual teacher, I know it will take more than my tiny, tentative, and well-intentioned plan. I decided to start with what I know works best when learning two languages based on my experiences of growing up in a bilingual home.

As I prepare to register for my baby shower I plan on adding French and Spanish books for my guests to purchase to develop a multilingual book collection for my baby. My husband has promised to practice his conversational French by attending “French meet-ups.” I will continue to learn French the best way my schedule will allow me to: via videos and CD’s. My goal is to eventually attend beginning “French meet-ups.” These are some of our short-term goals.

Our long-term goals are much more adventurous and unpredictable at this point in our journey. We plan on taking advantage of my summer breaks by traveling to Spanish and French speaking countries for an extended period of time. This will allow the whole family to use and practice the targeted languages in authentic settings. In addition, we will also be exposed to French and Spanish-speaking cultures, which I believe is crucial in order to fully become multilingual.  It’s not enough that we just learn how to speak the language(s). Luckily, we have the best of both worlds living in North America. Mexico is a five-hour drive and Quebec, Canada is a lengthier “road-trip” away. One-day and six hours to be exact! In addition, I plan on gathering literature that will guide us in this trilingual venture as a family and meet other families in our local community who are trying to do the same.

My most recent search has led my to a book called, Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven (Parents’ and Teachers’ Guides) by Xiao-lei Wang. Dr. Wang is a professor at Pace University in New York City in their School of Education. What I love about this book, as simple as it may be, is that it was published in 2008, which means the ideas are current and that there is bound to be more literature in the making for parents and educators interested in raising trilingual children.

So, as I prepare to head off to the overly anticipated sonogram appointment that will determine whether our baby will be named Sebastian or Siena, both names we consider to be “multilingual,” my mind continues to stir as to how we will create lives that will embrace and nurture three languages.

The Trilingual Journey Begins…

I’ve decided to start the journey. The journey of becoming trilingual. I’m scared. I’ve come up with several excuses as to why I can hold off on starting my French classes: no time, too much money, how much could I possibly learn….the list goes on. I decided to start this HUGE endeavor because I’ve never taken a foreign language course. Sure, I took Spanish in highschool for the easy “A,” but it wasn’t a foreign language to me.

Mostly, I decided to do this because I envy & admire people who can speak 3, 4, or more languages. I envy their experiences. I admire the work and committment they put into acquiring a new language. I’m jealous that they can see the world through a different lense AND I know they can because I do when I speak Spanish.

Truthfully? It’s not all about being envious and admiring multi-linguals. I think it’s important to learn more than one language. I’ve stated it before in my blog that I believe the entire US should be bilingual…at least.  They should AT LEAST have the opportunity to become bilingual. As I have found my self saying this numerous times it dawned on me that I haven’t ever tried to learn an additional language. How can I say that everyone should learn a second language when I haven’t even done just that. I’m what they call in the bilingual education world a “heritage language learner.” I was lucky to live with parents who’s native language is Spanish. It was easier to “pick it up” as they say. So…..as I mentioned….the trilingual journey has begun.

The language of choice? It’s French. Why? Well it ultimately came down to logistics. At first I really wanted to learn Portuguese because I thought it could benefit me and any possible research I may one day do in South America. The more I thought about it, AND believe me this is something that has been stirring in my mind for some time now, the more I realized that it had to be French. It’s quite simple. My husband speaks conversational French. I don’t think he’s fluent, but then again it’s hard to tell when I have no idea what he’s saying, BUT based on what others and he have told me, he knows basic conversational skills, what we call BICS in the bilingual education world, which is fine with me! Since he speaks French I thought it would be a lot easier to teach our children French, Spanish, & English if the whole family spoke the same languages. See…purely logistics.

So, I’m now at a point when I have to pick a school to learn French. I’m leaning towards the “Alliance Francaise” in Austin because they have small class sizes and they’re pretty reputable. Another reason why I decided to take this on is because I wanted to get a students perspective when learning an additional language…one completely foreign to them, unlike what my “foreign language” experience was like in high school. I am realizing why many individuals do not learn a second language. There is a huge commitment, financial, and time component. There are also alot of “not so great” language schools out there.

All of the above being said, I’M EXCITED. I won’t actually believe it until I am sitting in class listening to French and slowly, but surely sharing a few French words with fellow classmates.

Wish me luck!

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.

Flying Stand-by

Have you ever flown “stand-by?” Well neither have I, but I’m trying to plan a trip to Europe this summer with the intentions of flying stand-by and boy is it…hmm whats the right word….phrase maybe….oh! I know like you’re in limbo. There are so many uncertainties, unpredictable events depending on where we land. Did I mention we are willing to take ANY non-stop flight? Well, as I began to try and think about what our 3-week adventure through Europe might look like I started to feel insecure about the trip and really simply not knowing how to negotiate costs. I felt a sort of uneasiness and you know what thats when it hit me! As a “native US bilingual” individual I have felt like I have been flying standby all my life between Spanish and English!!!

I can remember as a child being stunned after watching my abuelita smoke a cigerratte AND in our own house! My parents never allowed anyone to smoke in our house and there she was smoking a cigarette with a beer in the other hand. As I stood there in disbelief the words couldn’t come out of my mouth fast enough. I wasn’t sure how to say “to smoke,” but I worked around it by shouting, “Abuelita, tu smokas!!” Y en ese momento nadie pudo aguantar las carcajadas/And at that moment no one could hold back their laughter. I was utterly embarressed I chose the wrong word….sort of, right.

So, as I was saying all my life I have felt as if I were flying standby between English and Spanish. There were always so many uncertainties like am I making up a word or should I say the adjective first in a sentence and then the noun? There were also so many unpredictable events especially when my parents Spanish-speaking friends would come over. I would always think, “Oh great! Not only am I going to have to kiss their cheek (and ALL of them), but Im also going to have to use Spanish.” Believe it or not it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I felt a little less insecure about using Spanish. As I mentioned earlier, flying standby can be hard to negotiate costs, events, and planning for that matter. This is how I have felt about being bilingual for many, many years. So, how do I feel now? Better. Now I feel like I at least know which country I’m landing in and that Ill be able to get around, but know that every once in a while there may be a word or two I don’t know AND when that does happen Ill resort to the most appropriate language variety for that particular context.

Ciao, Au’revoir, Adios, Good-bye, and Adieus.

Speakin’ like a Texan/Tejana!

When I first moved to Texas 14 years ago I swore that I would never, absolutely never, speak like a Texan. Guess what? I kinda, sorta am! In fact, I swore that I would never speak like a “Texan” or a “Tejana.” I didn’t for many, many years up until I moved back  for the second time about 2 years ago. I guess it took TWO moves to Texas to get me to assimilate just a little bit.

What’s even more interesting or obnoxious depending on who is reading this posting is that it took pursuing a doctoral degree in bilingual & bicultural education to convince me that it was okay to speak like a Texan or Tejana! Lately, I find myself saying y’all and code-switching left and right and I feel more comfortable with my use of all the language varieties I speak.

In an earlier posting I mentioned that I was tired of speaking Spanish. After taking a deep breathe and reflecting more on my readings about the use of language varieties I am more and more comfortable with code-switching when I don’t know the word in Spanish. Or if I can’t remember the word in English I’ll just reference the Spanish one. It’s great!

All of this has led me to research what most of Texas uses to teach English: The Transitional Bilingual Education Model. I’m curious as to how teachers balance the use of language varieties in the classroom. More specifically, I’m curious to see how students fair in terms of standadrdized test scores after being exposed to multiple language varieties (e.g. Standard English, Standard Spanish, constant code-switching, borrowing (a.k.a Spanglish)

Bueno…haber lo que resulta….we’ll see what comes of this!

Saludos!

Second Language Acquisition for the Masses!

There’s a song by Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa (but of course you already know that) that repeats the following phrase, “Sin Clave No Hay Son!” This song explains perfectly to me as to why the US is still one of those countries where many individuals are not bilingual. We haven’t found the KEY to set the rhythm in creating a bilingual nation. I wanted to include a small part of this song, but couldn’t resist including a little more from the Queen of Salsa.

Throughout the song she goes on to describe our world and how some things can’t exist without the other:

Es que hay verdades sin discusión
Sin clave no hay son
La vida existe si no hay pasión
Sin clave no hay son
No hay esperanza sin ilusiones
Y no hay engaño sin decepción
Amor sincero sin corazón
Y sin clave no hay son
No hay mal que no haga ven mal
No hay destierro sin dolor
Injusticia sin final
Enseñanza sin error
No hay calma sin temporales
No hay barco sin madrigal
No hay tirano sin temor
Hay millonarios sin plata
No pecado sin perdón
No hay mercenario sin paga
No hay santo sin religión
No hay astilla sin mulata
Hay novia sin serenata
Pero sin clave no hay son
Es que hay verdades sin discusión
Sin clave no hay son
La vida existe si no hay pasión
Sin clave no hay son

If you have read parts of my blog you will know that my mind is always in “language mode” in every imaginable way. After discussing the work Paolo Freire (well known Brazilian educator in my literacy and culture course), this idea dawned on me. Maybe one reason the masses haven’t been convinced about learning addtional languages is because we haven’t found the right key to convince them or maybe the most suitable methodology to teach them how to speak, say Spanish. Maybe we need to start somewhere else? Maybe we have been putting together all the wrong pieces. Afterall, como canta la reina de salsa “sin clave no hay son!”

What is it that we need to consider? Is it something like what Freire did with literacy? He, and I know very little about this (I’m eager to research it some more), basically used the vocabulary words the individuals learning how to read knew the meaning of in order to teach reading. In other words, the words they knew the meaning of became their foundation for learning how to read. I’m considering this idea because one of the arguments of the opponents of bilingual education is “Why should we teach children to be bilingual if they come to our schools with language deficiencies? Shouldn’t we just teach them in English, the language they need to be successful?” Research has proved that statement wrong, BUT still what if there is another way of teaching a second language that may attract/convince the masses about the value in acquiring a second language?

I’m not saying that there aren’t effective teaching methods. I’m just curious as to whether or not there’s a teaching method that may convince the masses about learning additional languages.

Maybe I’m totally off here???

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