How I Fit In…

Hola.  I feel like singing, “One of these things is not like the other!  One of these things just doesn’t belong….”  See, I am a non-bilingual (is that a word??) contributor to an organization focusing on and educating about bilingual education.  So, really, what do I have to offer?

Well, I’m hoping a lot. 

  Full disclosure.  I’m not completely monolingual.  I have a couple of years of exposure to Spanish through my high school and college education, but my training was presented as a world language focus.  I’m definitely not fluent.  But I wish I were!  I start sweating and visualizing conjugation charts any time a Spanish-speaking parent asks me a question, and I end up not hearing more than three words they say because I’m so focused on what I’m supposed to say and how I’m bound to butcher it.  Yeah, not quite fluent.  

I have always admired people who are bilingual and biliterate, and it has been a goal of mine to live internationally in a Spanish speaking country so as to acquire the language and achieve my dream of having a bilingual household.  Still a dream….

However, I am getting closer.  I am now the English side of a 50/50 Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program in a pretty awesome school in Reno, Nevada.  I sought out this position because of my beliefs in what bilingualism does for children and for our society. 

I transferred here from a school where 80% of our population spoke Spanish at home, and where it was my job to get them speaking and reading in English before heading to first grade.  I liked to think I was good at it.  With my ELL Endorsement and a respect for language and cultural differences, I did my best to be welcoming to families with my broken Spanish and my piñata celebration before winter break.

When I became the English teacher in a two-way dual language program, I totally thought I had this in the bag.  I just had to do what I’ve been doing, right?  Except the kids learn in Spanish half the day?  Totally got this.  I love teaching English Learners.  I love language.  I want this for my own children.  I want this for myself.

…I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I am not an EL teacher getting kids to speak, read, write, and listen in English.  I am a teacher for BILITERACY.  I am an advocate and teacher for BILINGUAL education.  This was a surprise to me; one that came as a unexpected, mandatory perspective shift after my first meeting with Cheryl Urow, from whom I have learned quite a bit about how to teach effectively during the last handful of years, whether or not I’m teaching for biliteracy. 

Regardless of your level of Spanish (or any language, for that matter), there is so much we “English-only” speakers can do as part of a dual language program.  For example, we can advocate for biliteracy and bilingualism in the U.S., in our communities, and at our individual sites.  And we can effectively be a part of the process of supporting developing bilinguals from the English side of things, even if we are not fluent in the second language.  Just adding, “When we read in English” to the front of my sentences when teaching reading strategies constantly reminds my learners that they are bilingual and learning the skills of biliterate citizens.  It makes a difference.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  We just have to be willing.

Look for my blog contributions about life on the English side of creating bilinguals mid-month.  In February, I’ll go into more details about “The Shift” from teaching for English to teaching for biliteracy.  Until then, adios!