José looked nervously to and from two corners of the room. The staff of Nuestro Mundo had gathered in the art room for a professional development at the start of the year. Teachers began exploring their own biliteracy profile, with three examples: 1)Elena, the normalista de México, 2)Monica, the U.S. born Latina, and 3)Susan, the adult Spanish learner, described in Chapter 3 of the Teaching for Biliteracy book. José ’s dilemma was that he could not follow the facilitator’s direction to choose only one profile with which he most identified.

Meet José

Born in El Salvador, José attended school for eleven years until he moved to Virginia with his grandparents. He attended public schools in the U.S. beginning in the fifth grade. Two of the key experiences that motivated José to become a bilingual educator were receiving himself no ELL services and not having any formal educational access to learn in Spanish. José seeks to provide others what he was denied. In this respect, Jose is able to relate to Monica’s experience and bilingual profile.

However, José’s experiences do not end there. Later on in his academic career, José began to feel passionate about developing his academic Spanish   and chose to study the Spanish language in an intentional way. He currently boasts a high level of fluency in Spanish in both social and academic settings, a quality that he shares with many Elenas. These experiences, and others, have led José to his passion for social justice, and his desire to instill this passion in his students.  He shares this value with his teammate Sarah.

Meet Sarah

Like Susan, the adult Spanish learner, Sarah was born and educated in the United States, and furthered her Spanish proficiency by living abroad as a young adult. Unique from Susan, however, Sarah was provided the experience of participating in a dual language immersion program in first grade, and was able to continue to develop her Spanish in after school classes and with neighborhood friends. Sarah has managed to incorporate her bilingualism into her professional, social, and family life to the extent that she might describe herself as bicultural. Though she learned to become an educator in the U.S., Sarah admits having limited knowledge in teaching literacy in English, as her professional experience has been almost exclusively in Spanish! Like José , Sarah’s experiences might not “fit” a particular profile.

Meet Chris

José and Sarah have another colleague, Chris, who teaches music at our school. Chris brings a valuable lens to our community, and he also falls into a different “type” of bilingual teacher. While Chris describes himself as a monolingual, he is working on improving his Spanish-speaking skills. Chris’s contributions transcend linguistic experiences. He believes music has powerful connections to language learning. He is currently adding an ESL certification to his master’s degree, where he is able to more intentionally draw upon these connections and offer insights the teams he supports. Chris’s story is that of a growing number of teachers who may not be bilingual, but who are able to embrace a multilingual perspective.

What are implications for coaches of bilingual teachers?

1)Be open-minded: It’s important that we recognize strengths in teacher diversity, and it’s also important that we don’t assume or overgeneralize. Just like our students, teachers come with a plethora of unique experiences in developing their language, culture, and professional practice. The best way to learn these is by asking questions.

2)Be inclusive: Many of us have members of our staff who are capable of embracing a multilingual perspective, and who might not be fluent in both languages. Let’s include these important members of the bilingual community in all that we do! Let’s create a profile they can identify with and honor their contributions.

3)Build off strengths: Chapter 3 in Teaching for Biliteracy has inspired our community to reflect upon our biliteracy profiles and consider unique strengths we bring to this work. A coach can be instrumental in leading this conversation with teams… first to honor each member’s experience, and then to learn how we can support each other. Consider the Self-Reflection Survey on p.45 of Teaching for Biliteracy as a start to facilitating this discussion!

Coaches: What ways have you found to capitalize on the diversity of bilingual teachers you support? What insights have you gleaned from applying the principles of TFB Chapter 3?