Perspectives

Perspectives
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2013
A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E N AT I O N A L A S S O C I AT I O N F O R B I L I N G U A L E D U C AT I O N
STUDENTGENERATED
ALPHABET
A Tool for Language
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Contributing to Perspectives
GUIDELINES FOR WRITERS
NABE's Perspectives is published six times
a year on a bimonthly basis. We welcome
well written and well researched articles on
subjects of interest to our readers. While continuing to address issues facing NABE members, Perspectives aims to meet the growing
demand for information about bilingual
education programs and the children they
serve. It is a magazine not only for veteran
educators of Bilingual and English language
learners but also for mainstream teachers,
school administrators, elected officials, and
interested members of the public.
Articles for Perspectives must be original,
concise, and accessible, with minimal use
of jargon or acronyms. References, charts,
and tables are permissible, although these
too should be kept to a minimum. Effective
articles begin with a strong “lead” paragraph
that entices the reader, rather than assuming
interest in the subject. They develop a few
themes clearly, without undue repetition or
wandering off on tangents.
The Perspectives editors are eager to receive
manuscripts on a wide range of topics related to
Bilingual and English learner programs, including
curriculum and instruction, effectiveness studies,
professional development, school finance, parental
involvement, and legislative agendas. We also welcome personal narratives and reflective essays with
which readers can identify on a human as well as a
professional level.
Researchers are encouraged to describe their
work and make it relevant to practitioners.
Strictly academic articles, however, are not
appropriate for Perspectives and should be submitted instead to the Bilingual Research Journal.
No commercial submissions will be accepted.
TYPES OF ARTICLES
Each issue of Perspectives usually contains three or
four feature articles of approximately 2,000 –
2,500 words, often related to a central theme.
Reviews are much shorter (500 – 750 words
in length), describing and evaluating popular
or professional books, curriculum guides,
textbooks, computer programs, plays, movies,
and videos of interest to educators of English
language learners. Manuscripts written or sponsored by publishers of the work being reviewed
are not accepted. Book reviews and articles
should be emailed to:
Dr. José Agustín Ruiz-Escalante
jare21@yahoo.com
Columns are Asian and Pacific Islander Education
and Indigenous Bilingual Education. (If you have
other ideas for a regular column, please let us
know.) These articles are somewhat shorter in
length (1,000 – 1,500 words, and should be
emailed to one of the editors below:
Asian and Pacific Islander Education
Dr. Clara C. Park: clara.park@csun.edu Indigenous Bilingual Education
Dr. Jon Allen ReyhneR: jon.reyhner@nau.edu
PREPARING ARTICLES FOR SUBMISSION
Manuscripts to be considered for the
September/October issue must be received by
July 15. Manuscripts to be considered for the
November/December issue must be received
by September 15. Reference style should conform to Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (5th ed.). Articles and
reviews should be submitted electronically to
NABE’s Editor, Dr. José Agustín Ruiz-Escalante at
jare21@yahoo.com in a Microsoft Word file, 11
point, Times New Roman, double-spaced. Be sure
to include your name, affiliation, e-mail address,
phone and fax numbers.
Photographs and artwork related to the manuscript are encouraged. Please include the name
of the photographer or source, along with notes
explaining the photos and artwork, and written
permission to use them. Photographs should
be submitted as separate TIFF, or JPEG/JPG files,
not as images imported into Microsoft Word or
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dimension of 1200 x 1800 is required. (Images
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72 dpi in resolution and are generally not acceptable.) When in doubt, clean hard-copy images
may be mailed for scanning by our design staff.
Perspectives
Published by the National Association
for Bilingual Education
EDITOR
DR. JOSÉ AGUSTÍN RUIZ-ESCALANTE,
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS – PAN AMERICAN
CO-EDITOR
DR. MARÍA GUADALUPE ARREGUÍN-ANDERSON,
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
DR. EIRINI GOULETA
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER
COLUMN EDITOR
DR. CLARA C. PARK,
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY-NORTHRIDGE
INDIGENOUS BILINGUAL EDUCATION
COLUMN EDITOR
DR. JON ALLAN REYHNER,
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
DESIGN & LAYOUT:
WINKING FISH
Contents
■ Cover Story
Student-Generated Alphabet
A Tool for Language Development
in the Early Childhood Bilingual Classroom
María Guadalupe Arreguín-Anderson,
Iliana Alanís, Irasema Salinas González.............................................................5
■ Columns & Articles
NABE Book Review Series 2013 Happy Families
Stories by Carlos Fuentes Translated by Edith Grossman
Reviewed by Ellen Riojas Clark & Maria Eugenia Cossio....................................10
Culturally Appropriate Education
Denise O. Olivas, Northern Arizona University...................................................12
Models for Success Initiative (MSI): Raising the Bar
for Teacher Education in a Latino Community
PRINT AND EDITORIAL POLICY
Readers are welcome to reprint
noncopyrighted articles that appear in
Perspectives at no charge, provided proper
credit is given both to the author(s) and to
Perspectives as the source publication.
All articles printed in Perspectives, unless
written by an Association staff person or
a member of the current NABE Executive
Board of Directors, are solely the opinion
of the author or authors, and do not
represent the official policy or position
of the National Association for Bilingual
Education. Selection of articles for
inclusion in Perspectives is not an official
endorsement by NABE of the point(s) of
view expressed therein.
Edith Esparza-Young, Ed. D. and Mishaleen Allen, Ph. D....................................14
Becoming a Bilingual and Bicultural Self
A Personal Journey
Seonsook Park, Ph.D......................................................................................18
Paving the Way to Biliteracy
Lessons from the European Experience
Carolyn Rogers Papaletsos.............................................................................20
■ Departments
Contributing to Perspectives - Guidelines for Writers.....................................2
Letter from the President........................................................................................... 4
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J U L Y - S E P T E M B E R
2 0 1 3
●
V O L U M E
3 5 ,
I S S U E
4
Letter from
the President
NABE EXECUTIVE BOARD
2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4
Dr. Leo Gómez
NABE Board President
Dear NABE Members,
We are off to another exciting school year that brings challenges and opportunities! We face
challenges of aligning to common core standards, meeting accountability requirements, and
providing quality education to our students. We strive everyday to ensure that we are securing the future of the children we have been entrusted.
But opportunities this year are also there! We have the opportunity to change, to lead
reform, to do what is right for our children. NABE’s focus and theme this year is on leadership and advocacy through dual language enrichment! Together, we can change the current
dire situation that many of our students face in this country? Together, we can educate toplevel leaders at the national, state, district, and campus level on academic and linguistic benefits of dual language enrichment?
It is time for a large-scale reform in bilingual education in this country. It is time to act
upon the fundamental premise of bilingual education: that children receive a “bilingual”
education, an education in two languages. This is the promise of dual language enrichment programs. Compelling research clearly shows that one-way & two-way dual language
enrichment programs are the most effective instructional programs for dual language learners (DLLs). Dual language programs ARE enrichment bilingual programs that are closing
that academic gap, increasing graduation rates and securing the future of our children and
nation. We must embrace a paradigm shift toward enrichment versus remediation in the field
of bilingual education!
Join us at the 43rd Annual NABE 2014 National Conference - February 12-15, 2014,
San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. We are bringing together national experts
on bilingual and dual language enrichment sharing their knowledge through many concurrent sessions, featured sessions and keynote addresses. We are holding the 2nd Annual
Leadership Forum, inviting key administrative leaders from districts and schools, from
states and universities, and from state and federal government. The central purpose is for
successful dual language leaders to advocate, educate and share their experience and the
promise of dual language enrichment for DLLs! We must always advocate and educate on
behalf of our students. An educated leadership can effect large-scale change. Change is difficult, but change we must.
Together, we can lead this reform.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leo Gómez
NABE President
PRESIDENT
Leo Gómez, Ph.D.
PO Box 420
Edinburg, TX 78540
H: (956)-467-9505
lgomez2@aol.com
VICE PRESIDENT
Julio Cruz, Ed.D.
9715 Woods Drive Apt. 1705
Skokie, IL 60077
H: (773)-369-4810
TREASURER
José Agustín Ruiz-Escalante, Ed.D.
UT Pan American
3740 Frontier Drive
Edinburg, TX 78539
C: (956)-607-1955
jare21@yahoo.com
SECRETARY
Mariella Espinoza-Herold, Ph.D.
Northern Arizona University
P.O. Box 5774
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
W: (480)-897-2473
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MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Minh-Anh Hodge, Ed.D.
Tacoma School District
P.O. Box 1357
Tacoma, WA 98401
W: (253)-571-1415
F: (253)-571-1232
mhodge@tacoma.k12.wa.us
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Yee Wan, Ed.D.
Director, Multilingual Education Services
Santa Clara County Office of Education
1290 Ridder Park Drive, MC237
San Jose, CA 95131-2304
W. (408)-453-6825
F: (408)-453-3684
yee_wan@sccoe.org
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Eudes Budhai
Westbury Public School District
2 Hitchcock Lane
Old Westbury, NY 11568
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ebudhai@westburyschools.org
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Margarita P. Pinkos, Ed.D.
Executive Director
Department of Multicultural Education
3388 Forest Hill Boulevard, Suite A 204
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
W: (561)-434-8010
F: (561)-434-8074
margaritapinkos@gmail.com
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Josie Tinajero, Ed.D.
Dean College of Education
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX 79968
W: (915)-747-5572
F: (915)-747-5755
tinajero@utep.edu
PARENT REPRESENTATIVE
Maria Angelica Meyer
Director, 2nd Language Acquisition
& Adult Learning Center
Westbury Public Schools
2 Hitchcock Lane
Old Westbury, NY 11568
W: (516)-874-1833
F: (516)-874-1826
mariameyer03@gmail.com
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Santiago V. Wood, Ed.D.
8701 Georgia Ave, Suite 700
Silver Spring, MD 20910
W: (240)-450-3700
F: (240)-450-3799
drsantiagow@gmail.com
4
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
Student-Generated Alphabet
A Tool for Language Development in the
Early Childhood Bilingual Classroom
María Guadalupe Arreguín-Anderson, University of Texas at San Antonio
Iliana Alanís, University of Texas at San Antonio
Irasema Salinas González, University of Texas-Pan American
If you close your eyes and visualize the
physical environment of a kindergarten
classroom, what do you see? Perhaps a variety of learning centers with hands-on materials, or inviting spaces bursting with print
and visual resources? Most educators would
not conceive an early childhood classroom
without some type of colorful alphabet
prominently displayed on a bulletin board.
The common practice of displaying a commercially developed or student-generated
alphabet in the classroom is generally
rooted in the alphabet’s inherent value as a
practical artifact when learning to read and
write. In fact, three predictors of success
in literacy development include phonemic
awareness, concepts of print and knowledge
of the alphabet (Adams, 1990; Hammill,
2004; Torppa, Poikkeus, Laakso, Eklund,
& Lyytinen, 2006). Although alphabet
awareness includes “children learning letter
shapes, letter names, letter sounds, and letter
writing’ (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren,
2011, p. 341), initially the alphabet must
be introduced in the context of meaningful, playful, interactive, and culturally
relevant activities such as songs and alphabet-based games (Bradley & Jones, 2007;
Chaney, 1993; National Association for the
Education of Young Children, 1988). In
this article, the authors suggest that teachers
can enhance the alphabet’s meaning and relevancy by empowering children to generate
their own alphabet with words and images
that emerge from their social, cultural, and
academic spaces. The student-generated
alphabet will be dissected in terms of its
generative essence, the role of the teacher,
and its value as a tool for language development and acquisition of literacy skills of
young Latino learners. Additionally, the
authors provide practical ideas to link the
student-generated alphabet to alpha boxes
and alphabet books.
Rationale for StudentGenerated Alphabet and
Theoretical Framework
A student-generated alphabet systematically
combines individual letters with words and
images that connect to student’s background
experiences and culture initially facilitating
knowledge construction as children learn to
read and write. We draw from Freire’s suggestion that in student-centered classrooms,
the topics which have come from the students, “return to them –not as content to
be deposited, but as problems to be solved”
(Freire, 1994, p. 123). With this in mind,
we assert that in classrooms where bilingual
Latino learners are present, two premises
are critical in the decision to pair up a letter
and a given image: (1) children will learn to
read “with ease words that are meaningful to
them” (Brown, 1987, p. 225) and in the case
of Spanish, (2) it should be relatively easy to
identify a list of words that are representative
of most syllables and sounds in the Spanish
Figure 1. Commercially developed alphabet.
language (Brown, 1987). The relevancy
of the initially selected words is crucial. A
clear connection with students’ background
knowledge helps children overcome the
mechanical difficulties they encounter when
attempting to decipher a word. In many
cases, “it is not the word that is difficult to
comprehend” Vygotsky would argue, “but
the concept denoted by this word, which the
child does not understand” (1986, p. 151).
What is important, Freire (1994) proposed,
is not the word per se, but the critical discussion of the concept it represents. Accordingly,
the International Reading Association and
the National Association for the Education
of Young Children suggest that early reading
and writing experiences should be meaningful and concrete and actively engage children
in problem-solving experiences and explicit
instruction of skills (National Association for
the Education of Young Children, 1988).
As young children spontaneously engage in
discussions or conversations related to words
that are meaningful to them they become
agents, or active problem-solvers and proponents of their own learning. That is, they
are ready to analyze their very own situated
reality. This analysis naturally leads them to
discuss who they are, how they live, what
they like or dislike, what surrounds them,
and what they perceive as important. It then
becomes the responsibility of the teacher to
extend and enrich children’s conversations
generating and designing additional opportunities to speak, listen, read, and write.
Student-Generated Alphabet:
Situating the Teacher as a
Researcher of Generative Themes
We draw from critical pedagogical perspectives to unpack the theoretical elements
inherent in a student-generated alphabet,
specifically the role of teacher and the use of
generative approaches. First, the development
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
5
and use of a student-generated alphabet
automatically impacts the role of the teacher
by transforming her/him into a researcher
of her/his students with the implicit goal of
adopting pedagogies in which teachers and
students learn from and with each other.
Critical teachers, Giroux (1988) contends,
recognize the inequities inherent in a system
that fails to dialogue with the student and
takes the easy route of imposing ideas and
materials. Commercially developed alphabets,
like much of the commercially developed
instructional materials, often presents images
and content that seldom create affective
connections with the learner, such as the
image of a blue zebra for letter ‘z’ or Queen
Elizabeth for ‘letter “q” (see Figure 1).
The disconnect that Latino children
often encounter between their background
experiences and the school culture has been
historically documented (Blanton, 2004;
Ruiz-Escalante & Arreguin-Anderson,
2013 in press; San Miguel, 1987; United
States Commission on Civil Rights, 1971).
Solving this mismatch requires that teachers
become researchers of their students identifying issues, topics, and themes that are
relevant to the local context and/or are generated by students themselves (Shor, 1992).
Venturing into the community, walking
down the streets in which students live,
visiting their homes, and dialoguing with
parents are ways in which educators can
research and discover local ways of knowing. (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005). In
their role as researchers and co-researchers
with their students and their families,
educators often find different ways to tap
into resources found in students’ familiar
spaces. These knowledges, or historically
accumulated traditions, are rich sources of
conversations in and out of the classroom
and provide educators with a repertoire
of words, concepts, and ideas that can be
connected to the curriculum (Yosso, 2002)
subsequently generating other conversations
and words for the alphabet.
The second theoretical element inherent
in the concept of a student-generated alphabet is the use of generative approaches to
teaching and learning. Images, or “codes” of
daily life as well as words that are representative of those images encapsulate children’s
lived experiences. In other words, not only
are these words generated within the context
of the community within which the learners lives, but the words allow opportunities
6
Figure 2. Syllables derived from the words semilla [seed] and retama.
sa
sese sosu
mamemimomu
llalle lli llo llu
ra
reri roru
tate ti to tu
mame mi mo mu
Figure 3. Alpha box or linking chart to capture words that emerge from
daily instruction.
A
amapola
B
burro
C/CH
correcaminos
D
dentista
E
epazote
F
feria
G
gallo
H
hamaca
I
iguana
J
jilguero
K
kiosco
L/Ll
loma/llanta
M
monarca
N/Ñ
naranjal/ñoño
O
oso negro
P
pulque
Q
queso
R
roble
S
sierra
T
té
U
ungüento
V
venado
W X
watt/Xalapa
Y Z
yoyo/
Zacatecas
for elaboration and extension (Frankenstein,
1987; Freire, 1994; Shor, 1992). For example,
A Spanish science lesson can simultaneously
enhance kindergarteners’ knowledge of life
cycle and alphabetic awareness through the
study of different words related to the topic
including seed, seedling, plant, flower, and
fruit when teachers purposefully connect students and parents’ knowledge of native plants
with images and key words in a text or story
being read and subsequently to the alphabet
letters representing those words. Following
an initial critical discussion and experiential
learning of the concept, words can be divided
into syllables. As syllables are introduced
and learned, they are combined to form or
generate a variety of other words (Freeman &
Freeman, 1996). Under this approach, trisyllabic words such as semilla [seed] and retama
hold great potential for discussions on healthy
eating, economics, traditions, etc. Teacher-led
discussions can dig into the superficial and
the substantial meanings of each image presented. Additionally, these words can generate
a chart such as the one shown in Figure 2.
After closely analyzing these syllables
students can identify other familiar words/
concepts that are generated from the syllables in retama such as mata, rama, ramita,
ruta etc., Eventually, meaningful classroom
discussions, authentic activities, and themes
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
generated from the student’s personal experiences in the home and community environment provide the context for mastery of all
the letters and sounds of the Spanish alphabet including 27 letters and 2 diagraphs.
From a Student-Generated
Alphabet to an Alpha box:
Practical Ideas
Once the student-generated alphabet has
been produced collaboratively, it is recommended that this tool be dynamically integrated into daily instruction. One suggestion
is to transfer all words contained in the student-generated alphabet to a letter size chart
(Pinnell & Fountas, 1998) or alpha box
to “help stimulate students to think about
and discuss key ideas” and to go beyond
being able to read the word (Morrison &
Wlodarczyk, 2009) as show in Figure 3.
An alpha box or ‘caja alfabética” can be
duplicated, inserted in the students writing
folder and/or laminated for durability and
connected to content area activities in which
students have an opportunity to use as a
reference guide when reviewing what was
learned the previous day or week and can also
engage in collaborative dyadic interactions
targeting key academic words. In pairs they
can engage in structured and semi-structured
pair activates as reflected in Figure 4.
Figure 4 Ideas to make
connections between Alpha boxes
and the content areas.
Alpha boxes across the
curriculum
Language Arts -Select two words
from different columns or rows in the
alpha box and combine them to form
meaningful elaborated sentences.
Example a: Té and Monarca- Mientras
tomaba una taza de té vi unas mariposas
Monarca posadas en un girasol [While
drinking tea, I watched some Monarch
butterflies sitting on a sunflower].
Example: Bee and nest: A swarm of bees
circled a humming bird nest scaring
away the mother bird
◗◗
Mathematics-Select 3 words from the
alpha box and use them to create
word problems in a mathematics lesson:
Example: soccer and uniform
Claudia needs a soccer uniform. The cost
of the uniform is $40 at the department
store. In how many weeks would she and
her family have enough money to purchase the uniform is they save $8 a week?
◗◗
Science-Select words that represent
living things and words that represent
non-living things. Then, students
select one living thing and describe
how it satisfies its basic needs.
Example with the word gallina: La gallina busca su comida en el patio. Ahí
encuentra una variedad de insectos que
incluyen grillos, hormigas, y escarabajos.
Su resguardo es un pequeño gallinero
donde pone sus huevos. [The hen looks
for its food in the patio. There, it finds
a variety of insects including crickets,
ants, and beatles. Its shelter is a small
henhouse where it lays its eggs].
◗◗
Social Studies- Select words that
name places. Then, discuss and write
any rules that may be followed in
those places.
Example with the word parque- Cada
que visitamos el parque de mi vencindario
seguimos reglas que incluyen: No empujar,
permanecer en la banqueta, y mantener el
lugar limpio. [When we visit the park in
my neighborhood we follow rules that
include: no pushing, staying on the sidewalk, and keeping the place clean].
◗◗
Through purposeful connections to the different content areas children are in a better
position to identify the interdisciplinary
nature of learning and the significance of
academic themes in connection to their own
lives. Therefore, we suggest that alphabet
linking charts or alpha boxes can be thematic. A thematic approach to student-generated alphabets opens new possibilities as
teachers and students transition from charts
to alphabet books.
Alphabet Books: Learning
Thematically
The life of words drawn from students’
social, cultural, and academic contexts continues with alphabet books. These resources
should reflect concepts and words that are
authentic and relevant at a personal and academic level. For example, in a dual language
classroom “ABC of Me” can be intertwined
with the use of descriptive words or adjectives such as “A is for my Athletic Aunt” “B
is for my Brilliant Brother” during a language arts lesson in English. Then, an “ABC
of What We Want to Be” (ABC de lo que
quiero ser) can include such sentences as “ A
is for Artist” “B is for Botanist” (A es para
artista y B es para botanista) during a social
studies lesson in Spanish that identifies and
discusses similarities and differences among
a variety of occupations. This topic allows
children to collaborate and perhaps work in
pairs while sharing ideas, expanding vocabulary, and getting to know each other.
As young children and teachers initiate connections between personal and academic
themes, the possibilities for student-generated alphabet books are endless for all content areas including science. For example,
after a unit on the life cycle of a mealworm,
students can create an alphabet book with
words such as chrysalis, metamorphosis,
stages, egg, etc. Ideally, words selected by
children hold meaning that connects them
to other words under all the letters of
the alphabet. Some of these creations can
become big books and can populate the
classroom with a balanced number of print
sources in both languages.
Additionally, alphabet books in English
and Spanish such as Coral y espuma:
Abecedario del mar by Alma Florada and A
to Z Book of Wild Animals by Peter David
Scott are examples of books that can be read
and shared with children, but then used as
a starting point to create original versions of
those titles (Jones, 19883). This open-ended
task raises the levels of complexity requiring
Figure 5 Alphabet books and suggested variations.
Alphabet Books in Spanish
and English
Suggested versions of Studentgenerated alphabet books
Coral y espuma: Abecedario del mar by Alma
Florada
Encino y tepocate: Abecedario del río
Animales de la A a la Z by Joao Coutinhas
Organismos vivos de la A a la Z
Abecedario Nutritivo by Yanitzia Canetti
Nuestro abecedario nutritivo
Marimba!: Animales from A to Z By Pat Mora
Nuestro Corrido: Abecedario de las caricaturas
que nos gustan
El bosque de mi abecedario by Pedro Villar
Sanchez and Miguel Cayatalud Cerdan
El cerro de mi abecedario
A is for Ant by Jennisse Conley
M is for “Monarch”: Exploring and Learning
about Monarch Butterflies
Alphabet of African Animals by Laura Gates
Garvin
Alphabet of Texas Animals
A to Z Book of Wild Animals by Peter David
Scott
A to Z of Wild Animals in the Rio Grande Valley
Jungle ABC by Luana Mitten
Hill Country ABC
Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet (Nature) by
David LaRochelle
Texas’s Hidden Alphabet (Nature)
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
7
Figure 6 Student-generated alphabet located next to the ceiling.
not only that children comprehend but
make connections to prior knowledge.
Other alphabet books shown in Figure 5
include books that can encourage children
to generate their own ideas.
Student-Generated Alphabets:
Physical location and Print Size
A key question when displaying a studentgenerated alphabet or any instructional
material relates to its perceived impact on
students’ learning and whether its location
and print size make it accessible. The location of the English and Spanish alphabets
conveys messages about the status of these
languages in the classroom, their value as
instructional tools, and the teachers’ intentions to extend their instructional life. An
alphabet that is centrally located and at the
students’ eye level tacitly invites children to
continue making connections. Easy access
facilitates integration of the student generated words into their conversations, their
writings, and general instructional activities. A student generated alphabet that is
placed close to the ceiling on the other
hand (see Figure 6), greatly diminishes
the opportunities to engage children not
only in the review of discussed words, but
makes it physically impossible for them
to manipulate it, change, it or add to it .
Students need access to the letters, words,
and images if they are to incorporate these
8
into their reading and writing activities.
For example, as a student is writing a story
about his cousin’s birthday party he may
need to confirm his spelling of the word
“bolsa” when discussing the bag of candy he
received. Student-generated alphabets that
are closer in proximity facilitate this process.
Placing the student-generated alphabet in a
central location,--perhaps the bulletin board
next to a rug in which children carry out
their daily morning routines—encourages
systematic use during the writing process. In
some classrooms, teachers prefer a portable
version of a student-generated alphabet and
like the idea of moving it to a specific spot
of the classroom as needed (see Figure 7).
This enhances opportunities for classroom
conversations when teachers are engaged in
mini-lessons or read-alouds.
After thoughtful consideration of the alphabet’s location in the classroom, decisions
regarding size of the alphabet letters and the
words representing each one of the images
must be based on each classroom’s particular
context. Print size must be dictated by students’ needs, physical characteristics of your
classroom and resources available. Although
students’ handwritten words and letters are
valuable, they loose all instructional appeal if
students’ print is not, legible, visible at a reasonable distance and accessible for instructional purposes (see Figure 8). The essence
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
Figure 7 Portable version of a
student-generated alphabet.
Figure 8. Student-generated word.
of a student-generated alphabet does not
reside in the mechanics of its writing, but
in the ideas, concepts, and cultural richness
reflected in the words that children’s words
generate. Therefore, in the early grades when
children are in the process of mastering a
variety of fine motor skills it is suggested
that teachers enlarge the words using a
copier or add a printed version of the word.
In the upper grades and as students’ progress academically they can participate in the
entire production and display process.
Conclusion
References
Student-generated alphabets in bilingual
environments are essential to the development of literacy skills for bilingual learners.
Not only do they convey the message that
the goal of literacy is to read the world
more than reading the word, but they add
relevancy to the content by connecting to
students’ prior knowledge. The home-school
connection is vital to the validation of learners as makers of culture and as agents of
their own learning.
Literacy efforts that revolve around a
student-generated alphabet provide a bridge
between informal knowledge (what children
learn at home) and scientific knowledge
(what children learn formally in school).
This intentional integration of both worlds
democratizes classroom dynamics, that is, it
allows teachers and learners to become pedagogical partners in the learning process.
There is no fixed formula or static steps
to follow as students and teachers generate an alphabet in their classroom. What
we have instead are the guiding principles
that prompt teachers to become researchers
of their students; dialogue and deliberately
identify generative themes; and communicate with parents to generate more authentic
themes and words. Ultimately, the studentgenerated alphabet must become a dynamic
tool that synthesizes not only the concepts
that emerge from students’ realities, but
serves to connect with academic terminology that emerges within the dynamics of
daily instruction. ★
Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning
about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Journal.
Blanton, C. K. (2004). The strange career of bilingual
education in Texas, 1836-1981. College Station, TX: Texas
A&M University Press.
Bradley, B. A., & Jones, J. (2007). Sharing alphabet books in
early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 60(5),
452-463.
Brown, C. (1987). Literacy in 30 hours: Paulo Freire’s process
in Northeast Brazil. In I. Shor (Ed.), Freire for the classroom:
A sourcebook for liberatory teaching. Portsmouth, NH:
Boynton/Cook/Heinemann.
Chaney, J. H. (1993). Alphabet books: Resources for
Learning. The Reading Teacher, 47(2), 96-104.
Frankenstein, M. (Ed.). (1987). Freire for the classroom: A
sourcebook for liberatory teaching. Portsmouth, NH:
Boyton/Cook-Heinemann.
Freeman, Y. S., & Freeman, D. E. (1996). Teaching reading and
writing in Spanish in the bilingual classroom. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
San Miguel, G. (1987). Let all of them take heed: Mexican
Americans and the campaign for educational equality in
Texas, 1910-1981. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Shor, I. (1992). Empowering education: Critical teaching for
social change. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Torppa, M., Poikkeus, A. M., Laakso, M. L., Eklund, K., &
Lyytinen, H. (2006). Predicting delayed letter knowledge
development and its relation to grade 1 reading
achievement among children with and without familial
risk for dyslexia. Developmental Psychology, 42(6), 11281142.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. (1971). Mexican
American educational series, Report II. The unfinished
education: Outcomes for minorities in the five southwestern
states. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Boston: MIT
Press.
Yosso, T. J. (2002). Toward a critical race curriculum. Equity &
Excellence in Education, 35(2), 93-107.
Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York:
Continuum.
Giroux, H. A. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals: Towards
a critical pedagogy of learning. Granhy, MA: Bergin &
Garvey Publishers.
Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of
knowledge. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hammill, D. D. (2004). What we know about correlates of
reading. Exceptional Children, 70(4), 453-468.
Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2011).
Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in
early childhood. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Morrison, V., & Wlodarczyk, L. (2009). Revisiting readaloug: Instructional strategies that encourage students’
engagement with text. The Reading Teacher, 63(2), 110118.
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
(1988). Learning to read and write: Developmentally
appropriate practices for young children. Young Children,
53(4), 30-46.
Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (1998). Word matters: Teaching
phonics and spelling in the reading/writing classroom.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Reyes, I., & Azuara, P. (2008). Emerging biliteracy in young
Mexican immigrant children. Reading Research Quartely,
43(4), 374-398.
Ruiz-Escalante, J. A., & Arreguin-Anderson, M. G. (2013 in
press). La opresión lingüística y la desconexión hogarescuela en la literatura chicana. Bilingual Research
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
9
NABE Book Review Series 2013
Happy Families: Stories
by Carlos Fuentes
Translated by Edith Grossman
Reviewed by Ellen Riojas Clark & Maria Eugenia Cossio
Ellen: What a relief to read a well-written
book, to enjoy it from different levels, and
to relish in the subject area and style. I have
thoroughly enjoyed this relatively small book,
Happy Families: Stories by Carlos Fuentes,
for it has history, poetry, social commentary,
political analysis, and familial stories. Rather
biblical in nature with its parable-like style,
it is based on Tolstoy’s classic observation
that “happy families are all alike; every
10
unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Covers the gambit of family relationships,
tormented ones and loving ones, mothers,
fathers, and children, yet most of the stories
are about father/son relationships. I guess one
writes from the perspective that one knows
best or has been affected by the most.
The very first story “A Family Like Any
Other,” is provocative, are they happy or
unhappy and why? In this one,
in a tiny house, in a seemly ideal
family, each member of the
Pagan family lives and thinks in
isolation and their critical
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
interpretations of events is always from a
singular view. In reading, it forced me to
think of the economic situation, the way of
conducting political and business affairs in
Mexico and the influential Mexicans I read
about to understand the vignette. All the
stories, of course, are set in Mexico, historical and contemporary Mexico with all its
upheavals, tragedies, turbulence, and its
unique character of joy in living. I loved the
poetry that followed each vignette for it provoked reflection in a different manner. What
did you think? Did you read it in Spanish?
Ma. Eugenia: I did read it in Spanish,
which I prefer as Fuentes’ use of language is
more precise and much more poetic in his
mother tongue. Reading works in translation is always a handicap, but since most of
us do not speak several languages, we have
no choice. We need, however, to be aware
that we are not reading the original work.
As the Tolstoy quotation explains, the
title of the book is ironic since most of the
stories recount how unhappy each family is.
The stories explore the intricate and endless diversity that characterizes relationships
between spouses, lovers, gay couples, parents
and children or siblings. Fuentes is masterful
in analyzing the complexity of his characters’
feelings and psychology. He gives enough
information about the historical context in
which they are inserted for the reader to
understand their motivation and why they
are reacting in such a way.
However, I was on the whole disappointed with the book. Although I find it
interesting, I think it is an embittered and
harsh work. To some extent it saddens me
that Fuentes at his age doesn’t seem to be
hopeful about human relationships or about
life in general and sour toward Mexico. And,
frankly, I was disappointed that in so many
stories he seems to be depicting the Mexico
of 50 years ago. In “The Official Family,” for
instance, he depicts the relationship of the
President of Mexico with his wife and son,
as well as the way he solves his beleaguered
relationship with the Congress and the citizenry just by an act of machismo. This may
have been the way of solving conflicts years
ago, when uneducated men were in power,
but not now when the technocrats have taken
over and the political landscape has changed
so radically. Ellen, I am curious to know your
opinion of the “Chorus,” which follows each
story? What do you think their function is?
Ellen: Well, a chorus always follows a tragedy,
commenting on the action though the voice of
the people. I think that in this work, Fuentes
is doing a Mexican epic, using all the legends,
the history, the myths to build the characters/
heroes of the past and present. It is an ambitious task. Like reading a mystery novel, you
have to figure out all the components
to flesh out the meaning and figure out the
thrust that forces the direction of the reader.
In “Sweethearts”, Fuentes makes a revealing statement: “But the past is a mist that
moves invisibly over our heads without our
realizing it. Until the day it rains.” Whoa.
As he puts it, we “peel away” through all
our memories, usually positive ones, until
the now, the culmination of it all stares at
us point blank. I do think that this book
is a Homeric reflection on his years as an
observer and actor in the worlds he has
lived in. I wonder how the loss of his only
children affects the reflective lens though
which he is now viewing life events. Rather
heavy material but the interjection of the
choruses, builds the transition from one family to another. The “Chorus of the Naked
Honeymoon” was hilarious, why worry about
losing your suitcase on your way to Acapulco
when you aren’t going to need any clothes.
What I also found myself doing for
fun as I read, was to translate the names to
Spanish, for I loved a previous book where
he did these humorous yet barded translations: Matamoros is Kill the Moors, Piedras
Negras, Black Rocks and Fuentes does some
of the same in this one.
Ma. Eugenia: Don’t get me wrong; Fuentes
is a fabulous writer and a thinker. I have the
outmost respect and profound admiration for
his outstanding literary career and opus. He
has been fearless in experimenting with different literary genres and most of the time he has
done it successfully. I love several of his novels
and consider him one of the best essayists of
the last century. However, these stories
seem to me dated, although there are nuggets of brilliancy and wisdom throughout.
He depicts a contemporary Mexico and
the characters now use cell phones, but
they think and act in the same way other
Fuentes’ characters have
done in the past. The stories are interesting because
they illustrate a philosophical principle or a
myth but are cerebral and lack emotion. We
understand the relationships but don’t feel for
the characters, partly because most of them
are not likable or worthy of empathy. They are
not convincing as human beings since their
function is to embody what Fuentes wants
to point up, nothing more. Also, there is a
bitter sarcasm at work in this book because if
there is a culture that emphasizes the value of
family above all is Mexico. What Fuentes is
telling us is that most families in Mexico are
not only unhappy but actually destructive as
violence permeates the whole book, which
ends precisely with those words: “the violence,
the violence.”
Ellen: I do think characters are presented differently from his other works, so fully fleshed
in their consciousness that they prickle. To
me, love was reflected throughout the complexities of life the characters presented. I see
the collection as hopeful and with a strong
moral; our children and the generations to
come will reap what we have sown. Ma.
Eugenia, maybe that is the message; for the
last line of the last story is “She is the heir.”
But I can’t figure it out what the last chorus
title means - Choruscodaconrad.
Ma. Eugenia: I don’t see the hope, but only
the darkness. However, I can throw some light
on the Choruscodaconrad. It is an ode to
Joseph Conrad, whose Heart of Darkness ends
with the words, “the horror, the horror.” ★
Previously published in the San Antonio
Express News.
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11
Culturally Appropriate Education
Denise O. Olivas, Northern Arizona University
My experience, or lack thereof, with culturally appropriate curriculum as a student has
influenced my own teaching philosophy
and approach. A culturally appropriate
education, as outlined by Singh (2011),
“melds instruction to better fit the expec­
tations and cultural patterns of the group
being served. The group’s language, culture, and its worldview are built into the
routines, curriculum, and structure of
the school” (p. 14). Based on
this definition, I would
argue that I did not
have a culturally
appropriate
education
12
growing up. For the most part, I had excellent teachers who did not allow me to use
negative social expectations as an excuse for
failure; frankly, if it wasn’t for the dedication of a few, I would not be writing this
paper right now. Although I am academically successful, I wish my culture had been
incorporated and celebrated throughout
my studies. I went through the various
stages of ethnic minority identity development and naturally spent time in the “I
don’t trust white people” stage. (That’s not
the technical term of the stage, but for a
while I was consumed by discovering my
heritage and purposely sought connections
with other Latina students.) Eventually, I
realized that I could be Mexican-American;
I could maintain relationships with people
of all cultures and that would be okay.
Maintaining diverse relationships didn’t
detract from my identity as Mexican
or as American. If anything, diverse
relationships have shaped me for
the better. Now, as a teacher, I
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hope to share the same view with my own
students.
I see my students’ cultural pride and
conflict. They’re proud to be Mexican;
they don’t want to relinquish their Spanish
or culture-based values and traditions.
They’re ashamed to be Mexican; no one
wants to stick out for being too Mexican
and risk being asked for documents they
do not possess. In the classroom, this conflict can spread from internal to external
because as Singh (2011) points out, “conflict between classroom culture and home
culture may make it difficult for children
to participate in class or force children to
deny their family and heritage in order
to succeed in a culturally alien school”
(p.13). This cultural conflict adds stress to
a student and could even impact whether
or not he or she finishes high school. As a
minority teacher and member of my students’ culture, I feel a sense of obligation
to use our culture in everyday teaching
and curriculum. In my English Language
Learner (ELL) classes, for example, I
urge newcomers to participate in Spanish
then I even encourage Spanglish. Before I
know it, pre-emergent students are initiating conversations, reading out loud, and
submitting written work in English. In
American Literature, I try to keep a diverse
syllabus of texts. Admittedly, this can be
hard with the pressures of high-stakes
testing and limited resources, but I know
that when I am passionate about a piece,
they are also more invested in their own
learning. Ultimately, student investment
translates to student success—including
success on standardized tests. Providing my
students with a culturally appropriate education is one of my top priorities.
It is important to expose students to
a culturally appropriate education for a
variety of reasons. Singh (2011) highlights
that a culturally responsive education
is able to liberate the students from the
teaching that a “single version of ‘truth’
is total and permanent” (p. 17). Students
grow up being taught, whether explicitly
or indirectly, that the mainstream culture
is the correct culture and even the only
culture. Consequently, this makes teaching
one sided and one dimensional; it fails to
acknowledge the experiences and contributions of all cultures involved. In my opinion, the most important result of a culturally appropriate education is empowerment. It is through empowerment that students develop “academic competence, selfefficacy, and personal initiative” (Singh,
2011, p. 17). Academic competence leads
to success after high school. Self-efficacy
leads to positive self-image and overall
well-being. Personal initiative is marked by
perseverance and grit. When one considers the obstacles minority and low-income
students are battling, empowerment is
what will break the cycle of stereotypes
and submission to failure. Empowerment
will also help students develop into effective progressive group leaders that can
positively impact our national and
global society. ★
Reference
Singh, N. K. (2011). Culturally appropriate education:
Theoretical and practical implications.
In J. Reyhner, W.S. Gilbert & L. Lockard (eds.), Honoring our
heritage: Culturally appropriate approaches for teaching
Indigenous students (pp. 11-42). Flagstaff, AZ: Northern
Arizona University.
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13
Models for Success Initiative (MSI)
Raising the Bar for Teacher Education
in a Latino Community
Edith Esparza-Young, Ed. D. and Mishaleen Allen, Ph. D., Texas A&M University San Antonio
Models for Success Initiative:
Evidence Based Learning in a
Latino Community
For past two decades, Texas has been an
economic anomaly marked by the oil and
gas boom and the rise of the Latino population, who has shifted from being a minority to a growing majority presence in south
Texas. According to the latest reports from
the United States Census Bureau (2010),
the “U.S. Hispanic population surged 43%,
rising to 50.5 million in 2010 from 35.3
million in 2000. Hispanics now constitute
16% of the nation’s total population of 308.7
million”(Reddy, para.1). The unprecedented
existence and establishment of the two largest
higher educational institutions, the University
of Texas and Texas A&M systems, make
the historical city of San Antonio a natural
selection for educational opportunities for
the Latino community. In fact, Forbes listed,
“The Best and Worst Cities for Jobs Right
Now,” and highlighted that, “the metropolitan area with the most optimistic forecast of
all for hiring this fall is San Antonio, Texas”
(Smith, 2011, para.1) where “Latinos now
account for about one in four people under
age 18” (Reddy, 2010, para.3).
In regards to education within the community, the recent National Center for
Educational Statistics (2012) Condition
of Education reported that since the early
1990s, the Hispanic-white achievement gap
for public school students has not narrowed
for fourth- or eighth-graders on the NAEP
in either reading or mathematics, nationally and for almost every state. Additionally,
in the 2009-2010 school year reported data
showed 21% of the children living within
families with income below the poverty level
with Hispanic children (34%) being nearly
3 times the percentage of White children (12%) and 4.7 million (10%)
of public students in the US were
English Language Learners. According
14
to the Texas Education Agency (2012) the
state experienced a 9% increase enrollment
of Hispanic students (39.6 to 48.6% respectively) compared to the 6.5 percent increase
across the nation between 1999-2009.
During 2011-2012 school year students
within the Bilingual or English as a second
language instructional programs constituted
approximately 16% of the total population
within the state (809,854 of the 4,998,579
students). Given the increasing demands of
teachers serving a culturally and linguistically
diverse community, research supports that
programs across the country are looking at
teacher preparation in light of the ever changing student demographics and seeking new
ways to educate, train, and certify pre-service
teacher candidates (Ardasheva & Brown,
2011). This article describes the Models for
Success Initiative; describes the field experience model; and ways in which this initiative
addresses the needs of the Latino community.
Deep in the southernmost part of the
city lies what is well-known as the remote,
South Side of San Antonio and where one
of the newest A&M System campus houses
the Models for Success Initiative (MSI), a
pre-service teacher program, birthed in an
effort to serve those communities which
traditionally have remained on the wrong
side of the railroad tracks, literally. Founded
in 2009 and identified as one of the fastest
growing public universities in the state, Texas
A&M University-San Antonio (TAMU-SA)
is committed to providing quality postsecondary education to the Greater San
Antonio Area. Established to
bring affordable, accessible higher
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education to its historically underserved
region, the university serves approximately 4,512 students (Fall 2013),
with 66% identifying themselves as
Hispanic and over 70% as firstgeneration students. In the School
of Education, a revolutionary
teacher preparation program
partners with local school districts and community colleges
producing highly sought
after graduates that are
“Ready from Day One” to
meet challenges of the modern
classroom within San Antonio
and across the State.
TAMU-SA’s vision to
transform higher education
in an EC-20 initiative combined with a strong commitment to the culturally
and linguistically diverse
educational community
it served and university
administration launched
partnerships to develop
and implement the
“Blueprint” for
Success (later
termed “MSI)
with key
stakeholders. The TAMU-SA leadership
team, and the School of Education faculty,
in collaboration with the surrounding school
districts and community college partners,
identified the following vision, mission and
goals which formed the foundation of the
initiative and became the driving force for
the Model for Success Initiative supporting the paradigm shift across stakeholders’
organizations.
Vision – To prepare early childhood to
grade 20 (EC–20) educators to positively
impact underserved students, to meet
21st century goals.
Mission – To produce the best educators
with the knowledge, skills and abilities
necessary for increasing the academic
achievement of all students.
Goals – (a) Establish long-term collaborative partnerships with local EC-12
school districts and community colleges
to jointly develop and implement TAMUSA’s Model for Success; (b) Identify the
essential knowledge, skills and abilities
necessary for all educators to increase the
academic achievement of all students in an
aligned education system that seamlessly
bridges EC-12 academics to post-secondary and career ready knowledge and skills;
(c) Highlight the success of the College of
Education faculty; (d) Enhance educator
preparation programs by offering the most
current evidence-based undergraduate and
graduate level courses integrating a common set of core values and beliefs regarding educator preparation; (e) Implement
collaborative field experience internships and developmental demonstration
research schools through evidence-based
program implementation, and (f) Serve as
a model for other colleges and universities
in the nation (The Global Institute for
Language and Literacy Development, p.
3).
The multiagency initiative of key educational stakeholders in the Greater San
Antonio area produced two significant
changes within the way TAMU-SA prepares
pre-service teacher candidates for diverse
classrooms within a predominantly Hispanic
community: 1) the curriculum used for
teacher preparation and 2) field experiences
offered to pre-service candidates. Developed
during 2009-2010 MSI processes and refined
during 2010-2011 administrative implementations, the Pyramid for Teaching and
Learning Success (PTLS) shown in Figure
1 has become the standard for individual
course and program alignment addressing
knowledge and skills developed during varied
levels of pre-service teacher candidates’ career
(lower level, upper level, and student teaching coursework and experiences).
Figure1. Pyramid for Teaching and Learning Success. (TAMU-SA, 2010)
The PTLS pyramid depicts how skills of
an effective teacher begin even when they
are in EC-12 communities of learning and
systematically develop and refine during their
teacher preparation program. Curriculum
revisions within the certification degree plans
as well as corresponding course content provided increased opportunities for students
to develop and refine skills identified within
the pyramid throughout their teacher preparation training at TAMU-SA. Within the
Bilingual Education certification program
significant revisions were made in the areas
of field based methods coursework as well as
field experience placements and supervision
supporting the expectations of oral/written
language proficiency for teachers and effective methodology for bilingual classrooms.
Field Experiences:
An Innovative Model
In terms of field experiences offered to
pre-service teacher candidates, students
at TAMU-SA now have an option of two
models for their teacher preparatory field
experiences and student teaching placements within the MSI program: “flex”
(traditional model with students matched
each semester to available mentor teachers
in their certification area) or “cohort” (field
residency model with students partnered
with a mentor teacher on one campus and
university faculty mentor for both semesters
of program targeted coursework, field experience and student teaching). In Fall 2010
TAMU-SA and five local education agencies
entered Memorandum of Understandings
for teaching undergraduate preparation
courses in the field with select faculty who
taught the course working as mentors for
the students & liaisons for the teacher
mentors while providing field supervision
during an 18 month commitment to the
MSI cohort model. Success of the program
encouraged additional school districts to
request the model and has transformed
delivery of field residency and student teaching expectations in twelve school districts
within the Greater San Antonio Area to
date. The following presents information
specifically designed for the bilingual educator preparation program component within
the MSI Cohort Model.
Through elements of the MSI Cohort
pre-service teacher model, the creation of
a new dynamic in the induction period of
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15
novice bilingual educators has accelerated the learning curve for inductees
into the teaching profession. The
MSI Cohort offers a three
semester placement for bilingual education pre-service
majors to provide a
strong mentoring
element and linguistic support
for a longer
period than
the traditional one semester
student-teaching placement experience. Bilingual
pre-service teachers are
placed with one mentor at
the same school as part of
a cohort group to receive
additional professional development and training from
the campus. Additionally,
the same university bilingual
faculty member is assigned
to the student for the duration of the three semester
placement for program specific coursework as well as
university field supervision.
The move by Texas A&M San
Antonio (TAMUSA) extends
the student teaching experience from 14 to 52 weeks and
insists on the commitment
to the model by local public school superintendents, a
cohort of professors, seasoned
veteran teachers and energetic
and over-enthusiastic university
students (Pyramid for Teacher
and Learning Success, n.d.). The
mentoring component within
the MSI Cohort of two professional bilingual educators (campus based mentor teacher and
university based faculty mentor)
increases the number and duration of mentors for the pre-service
bilingual teacher candidate for
intensive support and relationship
building during the 18 month
field residency. Additionally, as
the student spends scheduled time
weekly within the mentor’s classroom as well as attending campus
professional development opportunities, the relationship develops and
16
comfort levels of both the mentor teacher
and pre-service bilingual teacher candidate
increase allowing the student to transition smoothly from beginning candidate
through student teaching into a beginning
teacher of bilingual students.
Dr. Velma Villegas (personal communication, March 2012), Department
Chair for Curriculum & Kinesiology and
educational consultant to the president
for the initiative, refers to MSI as a metaphorical umbrella which pivots the entire
future of all programs under the School
of Education (SOE) at TAMUSA. As
Villegas states, “no one person or one
program is MSI, everyone is MSI”. The
underlying premise is that MSI will be the
norm and expectation for all of the future
education majors enrolled at TAMUSA.
This can be shown by the integration
of key components of the Pyramid for
Teaching Learning and Success (PTLS)
previously discussed within teacher preparation coursework, practices, and policy.
Likewise, the relationship developed
between the university faculty mentor,
mentor teacher, and pre-service bilingual
teacher candidate within the cohort model
supports needs of the pre-service bilingual
teacher candidate as they grow and mature
as a professional educator during the
induction process.
Surrounding school districts are convinced that teachers have a large impact
on student performance (Lloyd, 2011).
Among the multiple factors giving rise to
MSI, part of the impetus came as a result
of teacher attrition and retention statistics
across the nation and in Texas. In a review
of literature by the Harvard Graduate
School of Education (2005), several studies suggest
Students at lower-performing, lowerincome, higher- minority schools are
more likely to have inconsistent staffing from year to year and to be taught
by a greater number of inexperienced
teachers than their counterparts are at
higher-achieving, more affluent, and
predominantly white schools (p.9).
Kaiser (2011, p.3) reports in the most
recent national and longitudinal study of
retention and attrition during the induction period that, “Of the teachers who
began teaching in public schools in 2007
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
or 2008, about 10 percent were not
teaching in 2008–09, and 12 percent
were not teaching in 2009–10”. The
table below shows differences between
participants based on the assignment
of a mentor during their first year of
teaching and overall retention rates
during their 2nd and 3rd years of
teaching.
Table 1. National Center
for Educational Statistics
(Kaiser, 2011; p. 3)
Beginning Teacher Attrition
and Mobility: Results from the
First Through Thirds Waves
of the 2007-2008 Beginning
Teacher Longitudinal Study (NCIS
20110-318)
Assigned
Mentors
Not
Assigned
Mentors
8% not
teaching in
2008-2009
92%
retention
rate
10% not
teaching in
2009-2010
90%
retention
rate
16% not
teaching in
2008-2009
84%
retention
rate
23% not
teaching in
2009-2010
77%
retention
rate
Additionally, a key component for the
MSI model includes eleven participating
school districts and the promise to not
only provide quality mentors, but a vow
from superintendents to place MSI program graduates at the top of the applicant
pool for teaching vacancies (Performance
Fact, 2011). Initial reports from school
district personnel offices within the
TAMU-SA MSI support that TAMU-SA
graduates are “rising to the top” of new
teacher hires giving credence to the dedication and value of all stakeholders and
participants within the initiative.
The impact: Addressing the
Needs of the Latino Community
The current program consists of several
cohorts which are now in place in multiple
school districts, including Harlandale and
San Antonio ISD among several others,
with nearly a 100% retention rate of participating bilingual education candidates.
The majority of the bilingual pre-service
teacher candidates are women, Latinas,
and working mothers. As the program
continues to grow with greater number
of students progressing through the flex
(i.e., traditional) and cohort models of the
MIS program further research opportunities regarding evidence based practices in
teacher education will provide an excellent
opportunity to take a snapshot of teaching practices in the Latino community.
According to Latino Voices (2011),
While there’s little definitive research
linking student performance to teacher ethnicity, the sense that shared cultural backgrounds is a bellwether for classroom motivation is making the U.S. government and
influential education organizations seriously
examine the disparity between the exploding number of Latino students in classrooms
and the small number of Latino teachers
leading them (para. 10).
The existing MSI cohort model follows
the cohort system which has a documented
successful use in multiple higher education settings (Guidry, 2012). It is anticipated that the MSI model for pre-service
teacher education will make a significant
impact on the culturally and linguistically diverse community given the present
outlook of educational attainment among
the Latino community, and in particular,
among Latinas. Ayala (2012) explains the
following about Latina women, “They’re
anomalies. While the nation has almost 50
million Latinos, according to 2011 census
data, it can boast only 174,000 who have
Ph.D.s, less than 1 percent of all Latinos
of all races” (p.4).
Higher education entities are engaged
in the job of educating with a purpose
and ultimately meeting the needs of those
individuals universities serve. Valenzuela’s
(1999) research on the failure of Mexican
Americans to connect with their respective
school environments and their teachers
only highlights the need to constantly reassess the success of pre-service teacher programs. The demand for teachers has grown
and given rise to alternative academic programs, such as Teach for America (2012).
However, the production of teachers in
under-served communities poses problems
as well. As noted in Education Week by
blogger, Skoolboy (2008),
But TFA’s [Teach for America] practices
create an interesting tradeoff: the recruitment process may select novice teachers
who are predisposed to engage in the kind
of caring teaching practice that Angela
Valenzuela champions, while simultaneously parachuting these teachers into settings where they have little understanding
of the cultural practices and values of the
local community”(para.3).
The innovative multiagency collaborative for pre-service teaching intends to
address the needs of the Latino community by integrating needs of key stakeholders (i., local school districts, community
colleges, and university teacher preparation
programs). The undertaking of this Models
for Success Initiative consists of lofty goals,
however, the potential to provide welltrained, well-prepared bilingual teachers
in an under-served community provides
an opportunity to, in turn, impact the
quality of education for the south side of
San Antonio, Texas and ultimately transform pre-service teacher candidates within
the Texas A&M University-San Antonio,
School of Education, Department of
Curriculum and Kinesiology. ★
Kaiser, A. (2011). Beginning Teacher Attrition and Mobility:
Results From the First Through Third Waves of the
2007–08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (NCES
2011-318). U.S. Department of Education. Washington,
DC: National Center for
Education Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/
pubsearch.
Latino Voices (2011). Latino Teachers Needed for Classroom
Role Models.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.
com/2011/08/12/latino-teacher-shortage_n_925440.
html
Lloyd, J. (2010). Districts’ teaching disparity persists.
Retrieved from http://www.mysanantonio.com/
news/education/article/Districts-teaching-disparitypersists-710976.php
Models for Success for Success Initiative (2011).
Performance Fact pamphlet.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). The
Condition of Education Report. Author: Washington, DC.
Pyramid for Teacher and Learning Success. (n.d.).
Texas A&M San Antonio. Retrieved December 5,
2011, from http://www.tamusa.tamus.edu/university
communications/newsletters/winter-2011/article1.html
Reddy, S. (2011, March 25). Latinos fuel growth in decade
[Newsgroup message]. Retrieved from Wall Street
Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274
8704604704576220603247344790.html
Skoolboy. (2008, October 29). Where do teachers come from?
Other than the stork. [Web log comment] Retrieved from
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2008/10/
where_do_teachers_come_from_other_than_the_stork.
html
Smith, J. (2011, September 13). The best and worst cities for
jobs right now. Forbes.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/
jacquelynsmith/2011/09/13/the-best-and-worst-citiesfor-jobs-right-now/
Teach for America (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.
teachforamerica.org/
The Global Institute for Language & Literacy Development.
(2010). Blueprint for the Model for Success (MSI):
Enhancing Educator Preparation and Increasing Student
Achievement Project. Texas A&M University-San Antonio:
San Antonio, TX.
Texas A&M University-San Antonio. (2010). TAMU-SA’s
College of Education Blueprint for Success Initiative.
Author: San Antonio, TX.
Texas Education Agency (2012). Enrollment in Texas Public
Schools 2011-2012. Author: Austin, TX. Retrieved from
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/acctres/enroll_index.html.
Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S. Mexican
youth and the policy of caring.
New York. State University of New York Press.
References
Ardasheva, Y., & Brown, S. L. (2011). Content-area teachers
seeking ELL Preparation: What motivates them? Career
Educator, 1(2), 17–41.
Ayala, E. (2012, May 12). Latinas blaze trail to doctoral
degrees. San Antonio Express News
Retrieved from http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/
local_news/article/Latinas-blaze-path-to-doctoraldegrees-3553158.php
Guidry, A. (2012, June). Working smarter, not harder: Using
academic and advising cohorts to achieve positive change
in one small program area. The Mentor.
Retrieved from http://dus.psu.edu/mentor/2012/06/
working-smarter-not-harder/
Harris (2009, February). A preliminary look at using evidence
based practice to teach about cultural competence.
Proceedings from the 2009 DEOMI Research Symposium.
Retrieved from http://www.deomi.org/EOEEOResources/
documents/Slides_Preliminary_Look_at_Using_
Evidence-Harris.pdf
Johnson, S., Berg, J., & Donaldson, M. (2005, February).
Harvard Graduate School of Education: Who stays in
teaching and why: A review of literature on teacher
retention.
Retrieved from http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/
articles/NRTA/Harvard_report.pdf
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
17
Becoming a Bilingual
and Bicultural Self
A Personal Journey
Seonsook Park, Ph.D., New Mexico Highlands University at Rio Rancho
Current literature and approaches to bilingual and bicultural education often
underemphasize the important process that the late bilinguals undergo and its
results in their identity construction. This autobiographical narrative presents
how education, English discourse, and American cultures affect the identities
of a Korean-English bilingual. One might argue why studying “late” bilingual
students’ identity matters? McCarthey and Moje (2002) emphasize that
identity matters because it is a way to understand “how humans make sense
of the world and their experiences in it” (p. 228). By sharing the language and
cultural journey, I wish to better-understand my own self and make sense of
the changes in my worldviews, and from this understanding, help those who
struggle to understand their own identity transformation.
Narrative
Nearly ten years ago, I was in a car heading toward the Southwest United States. I
started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and my
destination was Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I knew little about my destination. My relatives and friends in Korea wondered why I
had decided to leave my home country for
a foreign country to study for a graduate
degree at such a late age – I was in my early
30s. I had left a fairly successful career, my
family and close friends, my comfortable
native language and culture, and my late age
behind in Korea. My decision to come to an
unknown place in the United States required
a certain degree of boldness and curiosity on
my part about my future. From landing at
O’Hare International Airport in Chicago,
to driving through gigantic Texas ranches
and wondering where all the people lived, to
passing the “Welcome to the State of New
Mexico” sign, I had never imagined myself
living in a country other than my native
country of South Korea. When I arrived at
my destination, I felt I was in the middle
of nowhere. I meant nowhere not because
of my arrival in a desert, but because of my
feelings of isolation. My parents and siblings
were across the Pacific Ocean and back in
Korea. It was my emotional and psychological nowhere.
18
At my age, most women do not go back
to school in Korea. Their place is either
working outside the home or in the home as
a wife, mother, or daughter-in-law. However,
I suddenly became a student at my late age. I
started building a new life in this new town
and new country. Years of experience at an
American university have moved me, quite
remarkably, from a feeling of being nowhere
to now being somewhere. In terms of language and cultural experiences, studying at
a university in New Mexico was an awakening of sorts. My exposure to the existence of
multiple American cultures and languages
challenged my assumption that everyone
speaks Standard English. It was a surprising
moment when I discovered that Spanish
monolinguals could live in Albuquerque
without any real inconvenience due to
their lack of English. It was a strange, but
comforting discovery because my imperfect
English, along with my thick accent, did not
seem to generate any unwanted attention, so
I felt I had found a place to settle in.
The opportunity to live and study in
a culturally diverse American university
environment exposed me to a wide range of
cultural norms and perspectives. As I went
through my graduate programs, I realized
that I would have to re-examine my Korean
worldview. This, in turn, has changed the
way I view my own values and roles as a
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
Korean woman. I discovered new expressive
power and roles via my bilingual persona
(Pavlenko, 2001). To live and study in New
Mexico has also been an opportunity to
expand my viewpoints to accommodate an
understanding of other people, cultures,
belief systems, values, and perspectives.
The cross-cultural and linguistic contacts I
experienced made a real impact upon me for
“becoming who I am” (Hall, 1996).
Throughout all these experiences I
started wondering why I felt like a different
person. At the same time, I was thinking,
I am who I am. These self-reflections were
driven in part by the discovery that some
people viewed me as a conservative typical
“Asian” woman; others saw me as a liberal
outspoken “Americanized” woman. My
curiosity about myself caused me to wonder
why I was being viewed differently. Why am
I viewed as a submissive woman or a feisty
woman? I am both. I am neither. Have I
developed a personality disorder in America?
Have I created a chameleon-like personality
while studying in America?
In retrospect, re-examining my preexisting Korean woman’s worldview and its
priorities was the greatest challenge. The
characteristics of Korean language and social
norms which had shaped me for more than
30 years were inhibiting and perhaps interfered with the expansion of my worldview
when I came into contact with new people,
languages, and cultures in the United States.
The challenges also came from the conflict
among my Korean worldviews, my exposure
to English, and my desire to absorb American
social and cultural practices. Korean cultural
practices and language are much more overtly
hierarchical in nature and practice. It took me
time to adjust to the less hierarchical social
structure I discovered in the United States. I
did not take the identity transition in the host
country for granted. The process of reexamination associated with my discursive practices
helped to create my expressive voice and
resulted in my transition from first language
identity to second language identity (Dixon
& Durrheim, 2000; Young, 2009). My efforts
to survive second language challenges and
institutional and cultural differences created
my second language strategic identity. The
construction of my bilingual and bicultural
self was a result of English discourse inside the
American institutional space.
In conclusion, I do not seek to make
generalizations based solely on reflecting
upon my own bilingual and bicultural experiences. Making generalizations can lead to
the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes and
an inability to see important individual differences. The process of theorizing my own
journey of becoming who I am in the host
country is one way of better-understanding
other late bilinguals. I think it can also be
used as a catalyst for theorizing about the
students themselves. I believe that when we
make sense of changes in our worldviews
through a research paradigm, we can betterunderstand and accept the different worldviews that others have. This can help free us
from being locked in our own small world,
and free from our own cage of epistemology.
Implications for Educators
The personal journey presented in this
narrative has a number of implications for
educators of “late” bilinguals enrolled in
American colleges and secondary schools.
Educators are urged to (a) pay attention to
what is happening to the students inside
and outside the classroom, (b) establish relationships with the students, (c) realize that
female students in particular value the “selfin relation to others” (Hesse-Biber & Yaiser,
2004), and (d) think of the function of their
own classroom space for students. In all four
of these areas, my emphasis points to the
need for educators to be open and receptive
to understanding late bilingual students.
If they create and open-up the space, they
can potentially empower their students to
develop positive identity and therefore positive learning outcomes. The development
of open, flexible, and individualized subject
spaces will allow educators to connect with
students and narrow the gap between the
educators’ and the students’ subject positions. A smaller positional gap between
educators and students through the active
engagement would allow educators to avoid
treating their students as “objects” and allow
them to give everyone equal treatment.
A good educator treats his or her English
language students as full members of the
academic community while helping them to
be more successful in negotiating the complicated process of adopting new priorities
and practices both in and outside class.
In the opened-up space it is critical for
educators to provide sufficient time for late
bilingual students. The students’ physical
and global movement from one country to
another is often an important catalyst for
the construction of their identities because
their movement signifies a material change
as well as a shift in language and culture.
When these students build knowledge as a
second language speaker in a host country,
they increase their academic knowledge as
they advance their proficiency in English.
More advanced English competence may
bring them a greater degree of language
power, which allows them to fully articulate their voices. However, learning a new
language and using the language within the
second language community is a “conscious”
process (Gee, 1990; Krashen, 1985). Late
bilingual students’ personal enrichment and
development through their second language,
therefore, takes time. The classroom should
be seen as an embodied place but should not
be intimidating due to a lack of given time.
It is not an easy task for educators to
redesign and re-conceptualize their classrooms explicitly for late bilingual students.
It requires a certain degree of awareness and
background knowledge about the students
and a willingness to open themselves up to
the students. My discussion about identity in
bilingual contexts can be a resource for educators to know who their students are, not
only for the purpose of designing curriculum,
but for providing the best assistance possible.
If educators think of their classroom as an
open space, they have a way of theorizing
their classroom because in this open space,
both educators and students construct knowledge through a reciprocal relationship, which
helps educators avoid making inaccurate
judgments about their students.
In conclusion, it is critical to note that
educators opening the space will help them
to move beyond their academic boundaries
and allow them to truly hear their students.
Meaningful teaching is more likely to occur
within the context of a benevolent relationship between the teacher and her student.
Institutions should not be a place where
these linguistically challenged students feel
badly about themselves. Educators who
create spaces for late bilingual students
will allow the students to feel good about
themselves and enjoy the learning process,
whether the subject be linguistic, cultural, or
social in nature. ★
References
Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2000). Displacing place-identity:
A discursive approach to locating self and other. British
Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 27-44.
Gee, J. P. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in
discourses. London: The Falmer Press.
Hall, S. (1996). Who needs identity? In S. Hall & P. D. Gay
(Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1-17). London:
Sage Publications.
Hesse-Biber, S., & Yaiser, M. L. (2004). Feminist perspectives
on social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Krashen, S. (1985). Inquiries and insights. Hayword, CA:
Alemany Press.
McCarthey, S. J., & Moje, E. B. (2002). Identity matters.
Reading Research Quarterly, 37(2), 228-238.
Pavlenko, A. (2001). “How am I to become a woman in an
American vein?”: Transformations of gender performance
in second language learning. In A. Pavlenko, A.
Blackledge, I. Piller & M. Teutsch-Dwyer (Eds.),
Multilingualism, second language learning, and gender
(pp. 133-174). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Young, R. F. (2009). Discursive practice in language learning
and teaching. West Susses, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Dr. Seonsook Park is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Curriculum and Instruction at New
Mexico Highlands University where she teaches courses
in Literacy and Reading Education. Her research focuses
on sociocultural paradigm in a range of settings
including second language literacy, identity, bilingual
education, and professional development. She received
her doctorate in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural
Studies from the University of New Mexico.
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
19
Paving the Way to Biliteracy
Lessons from the European Experience
Carolyn Rogers Papaletsos, Consultant Multilingual/Multicultural Education and Digital Learning
Introduction
Is biliteracy important? Considering the
audience of this publication, one would
suppose a resounding “of course” is the
response. But, why is biliteracy important?
What are the broad educational advantages? Apart from the cognitive benefits of
bilingualism, language shapes our experiences, thinking, understandings and how
we relate to others. In fact, biliteracy and
bilingualism impact every aspect in society: academic, economic, social and political. In the US, the virtues of bilingualism
are beginning to gain in publicity and,
occasionally, there are strong calls from
Washington.
“For the United States to get to where
it needs to be will require a national commitment to strengthening America’s foreign language proficiency. It’s clear to all of
us that schools, colleges, and universities
need to invest more and smarter in linguistic instruction.” C.I.A. Director Leon
E. Panetta, 2010 (Central Intelligence
Agency, 2010)
However, in spite of these pleas, U.S.
schools fall short of producing high numbers of academically biliterate students.
This reality was aptly summed up by the
white paper for the conference “Languages
for All: the Anglophone Challenge”
by University of Maryland Center for
Advanced Study of Language, “The
demand for languages other than English
has dramatically increased over the past
decade to the extent that the current education system can now be seen as failing
to provide a critical skill to the majority of
this country’s youth.” (September, 2013)
In the overwhelming majority of US
schools, little emphasis is given to biliteracy. While there are a few dynamic
bilingual programs such as Dual Language
(DL) increasing in popularity, almost
all stop at 5th grade. In fact, the 2013
statistics from the Center for Applied
Linguistics list only 11 High schools and
39 middle schools for 332 DL elementary
school programs in the nation (and 35 elementary through middle school) and the
20
Figure 1a
Figure 2a
Figure 1b
Figure 2b
U.S. Two-Way Immersion
EU Schools with CLIL:
Elementary
Grades 1-5................................. 332
Secondary
Grades 1-12................................... 2
Grades 1-8................................... 35
Grades 6-8................................... 39
Grades 6-12................................... 1
Grades 9-12................................. 13
Elementary
Grades 1-5................... 8654 schools
Secondary
Grades 1-12................. 2812 schools
Grades 1-8..................... 492 schools
Grades 6-8..................... 632 schools
Grades 6-12................. 3628 schools
Grades 9-12................. 2796 schools
*Data from Center for Applied Linguistics, 2013
*Data from Eurydice network, 2012
Figure 1c
U.S. Foreign Language Immersion
Preschool...................................... 97
Elementary School..................... 337
Middle School............................ 128
High School................................. 41
*Data from Center for Applied Linguistics, 2011
numbers are similar for foreign language
immersion programs (see figure 1).
Theory and research support that
continued dynamic bilingual education
throughout secondary school is necessary
to ensure the cognitive and linguistic benefits of biliteracy. Cummins’ (1981) theory
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
of cognitive academic language proficiency
(CALP) states that academic language
skills take five to seven years to develop.
Furthermore, Cummins’ (2000) threshold
theory holds that in order to benefit cognitively from bilingualism an individual
must be able to engage in complex social
and literary practices in both languages.
The truth in these theories is evident in
Thomas and Collier’s multiple longitudinal studies in North Carolina. Their
findings show that as DL students’ scores
rise at increasing rates as they progress in
the program. From third grade onwards,
all students, regardless of background,
outperform their mainstream counterparts in reading and math (Collier &
Thomas, 2009; Thomas & Collier, 2012).
Consequently, the termination of most DL
programs after the first five years seems to
not only defeat the mission of bilingual
education, but also an insensible interruption of a successful program for all.
In tandem with the academic advantages of bilingual programs, research
points to the development of positive
learning, cross-cultural attitudes and lasting personal relationships. Many studies
show that students form friendships free
of stereotypes across ethnic and linguistic
lines in DL programs (Cazabon, Lambert
& Hall, 1993; Feuerverger, 2007; Genesee
& Gandara, 1999). However, the power
of DL education and its significance in
the lives of secondary school students is
best exemplified in Lindholm-Leary and
Borsato’s (2001) findings. One third of
the Latino heritage English speakers and
almost half of the native Spanish speakers
out of 122 high school students surveyed,
felt that their participation in the elementary DL program kept them from dropping out of school by building academic
competence and pride in bilingualism.
So, why are there so few programs?
And why are they discontinued after elementary school, just when students are
beginning to reap the myriad academic
and social benefits of biliteracy and pluriculturalism? An objective outsider might
say that US programs do not aim for biliteracy. Rather, they are additive transitional
programs for English language learners of
the minority DL language and enrichment
programs for native English speakers.
Nevertheless, if the challenge of high level
biliteracy is to be met, a concerted effort
to evaluate the holistic scope and methodology of US bilingual education is needed.
In order to unify stakeholders with this
goal in mind and revitalize the vision for
dynamic bilingual programs, I propose
that other successful approaches should be
examined. One such approach is Content
and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL),
which was coined in 1994 by the The
European Platform for Dutch Education
in The Netherlands and University of
Jyväskylä in Finland. Thereafter, scholars
from across Europe have collaborated to
define a more comprehensive understanding of the various types of CLIL, an
umbrella term to describe programs that
have the dual focus of teaching language
and content by using language sensitive
methodologies. Usually beginning in late
elementary and intensifying throughout
secondary school, CLIL is a comprehensive
and rapidly spreading framework for
dynamic bilingual programs. (Marsh,
Maljers & Hartiala, 2001).
Figure 3 K-12 CLIL
in Europe (Eurydice)
CLIL and the European
Path to Biliteracy
Influenced by the Canadian and US
research and practices in Second Language
Acquisition (SLA), CLIL is the European
method of dynamic bilingual education.
Using a new name for an old concept,
CLIL has revitalized bilingual education
in Europe by emphasizing principles of
student- centered learning. The approach
has been successful in unifying European
policy-makers and scholars to support its
principles that are inextricably linked to
methodology in order to foster student
motivation, interaction and dialogue in
learning both, content and language,
through inquiry-based, collaborative and
active learning tasks (Coyle, Hood &
Marsh, 2010).
The foundations of CLIL were laid
after The European Union (EU) issued the
White Paper on education and training in
1995 which proposed that all EU citizens
should be trilingual: proficient in their
native language, a neighboring country’s
language and a language of high international status. In 2005, CLIL received
formal endorsement from the European
Council when it was recommended that
all member states should adopt CLIL.
Since then, CLIL has been implemented
in around 30 EU countries in varying
degrees. In most schools where offered,
CLIL starts in late elementary and by
middle school, may include up to three
subject lessons, usually in science, social
science or elective courses in addition to
the required language class. In the most
intense programs, CLIL can account for
up to 50% of the curriculum continuing
until the end of high school. A second foreign language also begins at the secondary
level. The first CLIL language is usually
English, but French, German and Spanish
are also popular. Also, CLIL could be in a
neighboring language. Pre-school as well
as vocational and professional training
programs have also been implemented
(Coyle, et al., 2010).
Official EU endorsement has fostered a
cooperative, goal oriented environment in
which scholars across Europe collaborate
in order to define the CLIL approach in
terms of its principles, methodology and
pedagogy as well as conduct research in
the field. The culmination of these efforts
resulted in The European Framework for
CLIL Teacher Education (2010).
Apart from the dual goal of content and
language learning, the driving philosophy
behind the approach is what makes it stand
out. CLIL is about installing a ‘hunger to
learn’ in the student. It gives opportunity to
the student to think about and develop ways
of communication in general, even in the
first language (Marsh, Marsland & Stenberg
2001). In order to bring about this hunger
to learn, CLIL has built its theoretical
foundation by incorporating concepts from
many of the most prominent educational
thinkers of our time, including: Krashen’s
theory of comprehensible input (1982)
and Swain’s comprehensible output (1985)
in second language acquisition, Vygotsky’s
sociocultural theory of learning (1978,
1986) and Wells’ dialogic inquiry(1999),
Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004)
systemic functional linguistics, Piaget’s
cognitive constructivist theory (1963) ,
Cummins’ language development theory
(1981), and Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences(1983). From these, CLIL has
built a conceptual framework emphasizing
content, cognition, communication and
culture (the four C’s) (Coyle, et al., 2010;
Llinares, Morton & Whittaker, 2012).
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21
The CLIL Lesson and the 4 C’s
Each CLIL lesson is planned according
to the four C’s framework, which interconnect to form the lesson. Specifically, content is taught in terms of the knowledge
skills and understanding we wish learners
to access. This is accomplished by building
on background knowledge, using authentic
materials and real-life situations to facilitate a naturalistic atmosphere for content
acquisition. Cognition is emphasized by
engaging higher order thinking skills. This
is done by planning activities which are
cognitively challenging, requiring both
problem solving, collaboration and reflection. Different learning styles are also considered when devising tasks as is Bloom’s
revised taxonomy, which provide essential
tools for planning lessons(Anderson,
Krathwohl & Bloom, 2005). Culture is
woven throughout by presenting the topic
through a pluricultural lens. The goal is to
promote empathy by examining content
through multiple perspectives and fostering
a sense of otherness which will lead to a
deeper understanding of ‘self ’. This can be
accomplished through choice of curricular
materials and cross cultural communication, either within the physical learning
community or through one established on
the internet. Finally, communication is the
conduit through which content, cognition
and culture are facilitated. CLIL aims to
increase student talk time while reducing
the teacher’s. Dialogue is a central component in the lesson. Thus, planning must be
done so that students have the necessary
linguistic tools for optimal understanding
and learning (Coyle, et al., 2010; Llinares,
Morton & Whittaker, 2012).
The CLIL Lesson and the
Language Triptych
Essential in communication planning
is the “Language Triptych” (Coyle, et al.,
2010, p.36). This shows the three perspectives of the target language as the language
of learning, for learning and through which
learning occurs. This tripartite framework
of language is similar to what The Calla
Handbook describes as “language functions”, but the Language Triptych has a
wider scope of how language might be used
in different learning situations (Chamot
& O’Malley, 1994). In examining CLIL’s
language framework, the language of
learning refers to the linguistic functions
necessary for understanding and using language appropriate to the content. For the
language lesson, this means the progression
Figure 4: 4 C’s Lesson framework
Communication
◗◗ More student talk
◗◗ Scaffolding to help students expression
◗◗ Focus on content rather than language form
to foster spontaneous oral participation
◗◗ Translanguaging for depth of expression
◗◗ Activities which facilitate student dialogue
Culture
Topics presented through pluricultural lens in order to promote:
◗◗ Empathy
◗◗ Understanding of content from
multiple perspectives
◗◗ Deeper understanding of self
◗◗ Critical thinking
Content
Creating a naturalistic environment
for understanding through:
◗◗ Inquiry and project based learning
◗◗ Multi-modality
◗◗ Building on background knowledge
◗◗ Authentic materials
◗◗ Real life situations
◗◗ Experiments and hands-on learning
22
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
Strategies to accomplish this:
◗◗ Choice of curricular materials
◗◗ Cross- cultural communication
◗◗ Involvement with the community
◗◗ Involvement with a community
established online
Cognition
Tasks based on engaging higher
order thinking skills:
◗◗ Problem solving
◗◗ Peer collaboration
◗◗ Hypothesizing
◗◗ Creative projects
◗◗ Strategic open-ended questions
Reflection through:
◗◗ Self-assessment
◗◗ Peer assessment
◗◗ Portfolio creation
Figure 5: The Language Triptych
Reconceptualising Language Learing
Language of Learning
Language of
Learning
Linguistic
functions
necessary for
understanding
content such
as vocabulary,
grammatical
structures,
academic
register, etc.
Foreign Language
Learning
Language for Learning
Language through Learning
The Language Triptych
Language for
Learning
Language
needed for
classroom
activities, such
as pair/group
work, debating,
inquiring,
chatting,
describing,
evaluating,
drawing
conclusions.
Language Through Learning
New language used when articulating ideas, thoughts or understandings from the lesson. This might happen in peer assessment or
group work. Peers, the teacher, reference materials of translanguaging can support this dynamic language
of the linguistic learning in tandem with
classroom content. For the subject lesson,
the teacher should be sensitive to the grammatical, lexical and syntactical demands
of the content. Also, students should
become aware of language register or vertical discourse in the material and how they
use this type of language. Language for
learning refers to the language needed
for classroom activities such as pair work,
cooperative group work, debating, enquiring, chatting, describing, evaluating, drawing conclusions, etc. Thus,students must
acquire the language which enables them to
learn and support one another in the process. Horizontal discourse or basic communication skills as well as language from the
content make up the language for learning.
Finally, language through learning refers
to articulating ideas, thoughts and understandings which have been reached through
the acquisition of knowledge in the classroom. For example, this might happen
through dialogue or group project work
when language is used in different ways
to express new ideas which are not found
in lesson resources—peers, the teacher or
reference materials could support students
in this. Additionally, CLIL seeks to draw
upon students’ language and cognitive
skills holistically in a dynamic approach to
bilingual education. Within the classroom,
translanguaging, the full use of one’s language resources for deeper comprehension,
may be used in communication. (Coyle, et
al., 2010; Llinares, et al., 2012).
CLIL methodology lies in student
centered learning. Lessons are meant to
be learning laboratories where there is no
lecturing. Instead, the teacher leads the
class to discover concepts through strategic
questioning and whole class discussions.
Playing the role of classroom director, the
teacher guides learners to acquire knowledge through research, group projects and
collaborative problem solving. Multimodal
scaffolds such as visuals, graphic organizers, media and digital tools help to facilitate
these collaborative and discourse based
learning activities (Coyle, et al., 2010).
CLIL and the Research Findings
Much CLIL research mirrors that from
North America, as do the results. The
majority of both CLIL and US bilingual
studies are aimed at English language
acquisition, albeit from opposite perspectives. English is the most popular CLIL
language and much research focuses on
the approach’s efficacy in foreign language
acquisition in comparison with traditional
language classes. Results from studies
comparing content learning in CLIL with
students learning in their L1 show no negative effect (Lasagabaster 2008; Lorenzo,
Casal & Moore, 2009; Stohler, 2006;
Zydatiß, 2007), while a few have shown
positive effects in History, Geography
and Math (Dalton-Puffer, 2011; PérezCañado,2012). However, perhaps the
most exciting findings concern oral participation and motivation. Studies report
longer negotiation sequences (for concept
comprehension), oral collaboration by
using turns more cooperatively, often
embedding by contributing to another
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
23
speaker’s ongoing turn and dialogue in
problem solving (Dalton-Puffer, 2011;
Gassner & Maillat, 2006; Moore, 2011;
Nikula, 2007; Pérez- Cañado, 2012). In
fact, Nikula found that CLIL students
took speaking English very seriously in
Finland while in the classroom, even
speaking to their teacher and peers socially
in English outside of lesson time. This is
an interesting contrast to Potowski’s 2004
and 2007 findings in DL classroom observations, as well as my own observations
in New York City DL classrooms. Many
DL students in the U.S. prefer speaking in English, regardless of their home
language. Admittedly, some may explain
this juxtaposition by pointing out that
language learning is more appreciated in
Europe because of its multinational and
multicultural nature as well as the functional need for communication across
populations. However, this fact should not
discount the success of CLIL programs,
nor detract CLIL as an exemplary model
of dynamic secondary bilingual education.
Considerations and
Recommendations for
Strengthening Biliteracy
in the United States
Complementing US Dual Language learning with CLIL principles and methodology could provide momentum for creating secondary programs in the United
States. An exciting proposal would be for
DL students,
as well as native speakers
of the represented language, to take two
bilingual education programs in countries
to three CLIL type subject courses and
with high PISA scores. Many speak of the
perhaps a language arts class from middle
Finnish model, but none refer to their
school through the end of high school.
strong and comprehensive CLIL programs,
Online resources could be used for finding
as well as those of the other top scoring
authentic content in the CLIL language as
PISA countries. This is odd, considerwell as tools for language learning, social
ing the wave of news articles lately toutcollaboration and networking with other
ing the cognitive benefits of bilingualism.
students who speak the CLIL language.
(Chan, 2013; Kluger, 2013; Merritt, 2013;
This would provide language activities
Roitman,2013; Society for Neuroscience,
and resources for the DL/CLIL content
2013; Bhattacharjee, 2012; Cuda-Kroen,
teacher. The other classes in English could
2011; Dreifus,2011; Schwart,2011) The
be taken with non DL students.
marginalization of bilingual programs needs
Nonetheless, in order to move towards
to be challenged also among fellow educathe CLIL example, thinking in the maintors. Bilingual educators in the U.S. have
stream needs to change. To achieve this,
been virtually left out of discussions about
educators, scholars and policymakers should
classroom innovation using technology such
create a unified vision for bilingual education. as flipped learning methods, digital games,
Instead of the confusion of various program
tools or curation of authentic materials.
terms--transitional, immersion, two way
Bilingual educators and advocates
immersion, DL, ESL, Foreign Language (FL)
have the mammoth task of promoting
-- scholars need to agree on one name for
and justifying programs that many in
language learning programs which promote
the mainstream do not understand. DL
bilingualism. An important step in changing
teachers have multiple jobs wrapped-up
monolingual mentalities
and reaching this
in one –from resource gatherer, translator,
goal is the Seal of Biliteracy, which has been
parent-counselor to advocate to a teacher
passed into law by
the
states
of
California
and
with dual task. With their double work New York. The Seal of Biliteracy is an official
load, bilingual educators deserve to be the
recognition on High
School diplomas for stu- first trained and assisted in these methods.
who have
dents
attained proficiency in two or Many scholars have already called for secmore languages. The next step might be more ondary school dual language programs as
CLIL Scaffolding stringent language qualifications for higher
well as revisiting DL methodologies and
Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010 (Adapted from Cummins, 1984)
education and the inclusion of language
models (de Jong & Bearse, 2012; Lyster &
learning in vocational programs.
Ballinger, 2011; Menken & Kleyn, 2010;
An additional way to influence main
Tedick & Cammarata, 2012). It is high
stream thinking would be to publicize
time we heard their call! ★
Figure 6 CLIL Scaffolding Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010 (Adapted from Cummins, 1984)
v
v
v
v
v
v
Visuals
Graphic organizers
Manipulatives
Multimedia
Modeled language structures
Meaning negotiation through dialogue and translanguaging
(Many activities are similar to those in the SIOP and CALLA models)
v 24
v Visuals
v Graphic organizers
v Manipulatives
N A B E P E R S P EvC T I V
E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
Multimedia
v Modeled language structures
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APPENDIX A: CLIL Resources
CLIL in action Video clips from The
Netherlands: Scroll down the web page to
find the categories of links: a. Activate prior
knowledge, b. Provide lesson input, c. Guide
understanding, d. Encourage speaking, e.
Encourage writing, f. Evaluate learning and
give feedback. Each category link has a list of
video clips according to activity and course.
http://www.leraar24.nl/dossier/3035
Slide shares by Shelly Turrell on CLIL
using blended learning techniques:
CLIL: Teaching Science to Language Learners
http://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/
clil-teaching-science-to-language-learners
CLIL: Teaching Math to Language Learners
http://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/
clil-teaching-math-to-language-learners
CLIL: Teaching History to Language Learners
http://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/
clil-teaching-history-to-language-learners
CLIL: Teaching English to Language Learners
http://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/clilteaching-english-to-language-learners
General information:
CLIL Cascade Network: resources, networking and information about CLIL:
http://www.ccn-clil.eu/index.
php?name=Content&nodeIDX=3488#!
Latest CLIL Research from the University of
Aberdeen involving 11 secondary schools:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/italic/
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/italic/research/
UK website with many links, including one to
a shared resource bank of classroom materials:
http://clil4teachers.pbworks.com/w/
page/8427859/FrontPage
Catalan ministry website:
http://phobos.xtec.cat/cirel/cirel/index.
php?option=com_content&view=article&id=
46&Itemid=74
European Network of Language Teacher
Associations
http://www.real-association.eu/es/node/1683
PDFs
Eurydice/ Eurostat: Key Data on
Teaching Languages at School in
Europe Education 2012.
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/
documents/key_data_series/143EN.pdf
J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 ★ N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S
25
UK National Guidelines for CLIL:
http://www.languagescompany.com/images/
stories/docs/news/clil_national_statement_
and_guidelines.pdf
Pluricultural Competence:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/SourcePublications/
CompetencePlurilingue09web_en.pdf
Profiling European CLIL Classrooms:
http://m.lakk.bildung.hessen.de/netzwerk/
faecher/bilingual/Magazin/mat_aufsaetze/
clilprofiling.pdf
Additionally: Manuel Lara’s scoop.it pages
are full of useful resources
http://www.scoop.it/u/larabep
CLIL Teacher Education:
PDF of European Framework for CLIL
Teacher Education:
http://clilcd.ecml.at/LinkClick.aspx?fileticke
t=C0kUO%2BvEc6k%3D&tabid=2254&la
nguage=en-GB
PDF document of SOCRATESCOMENIUS 2.1 project: CLIL across
Contexts: A scaffolding framework for
teacher education:
http://clil.uni.lu/CLIL/Project_files/CLIL_
Project_Final_Report.pdf
Informative Books:
Bentley, K. (2010). The TKT Course CLIL
Module. Cambridge University Press.
Coyle, D., Hood, P., Marsh, D. (2010).
Content and Language Integrated Learning.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dale, L., & Tanner, R. (2012). CLIL
Activities with CD-ROM: A Resource for
Subject and Language Teachers. Cambridge
University Press.
Llinares, A., Morton, T. and Whittaker,
R. (2012). The roles of language in CLIL.
Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
26
APPENDIX B: Digital resources
for language teaching
Spanish social learning site where students
ask others questions about school subjects: http://misdeberes.es/
http://lingua.ly/ is a tool used through
google chrome which translates words from
any page opened in chrome when double
clicked and adds them to a flash card system. This is a great tool for self-directed
learning or for assigned articles to be read
from individual computers. This tool translates words from English, Spanish, French,
Hebrew or Arabic into English, Spanish,
French, Hebrew, Arabic, Portuguese,
Russian, German or Italian.
Another chrome extension similar to this is
: http://readlang.com/. The difference is that
this tool imports the article to its own page
rather than translating directly on the webpage and also offers more languages.
http://www.memrise.com and http://quizlet.com/ are free tools teachers can use to
use ready- made digital flashcards in many
languages or teachers can create their own
into an individual or competitive classroom
game. Memrise will remind students when it
is time to practice.
http://www.duolingo.com/ is a fun way
to learn Spanish, English, Italian, French,
German or Portuguese grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking and translation in
a game-like leveling manner. Students can
play individually or in competitive teams
and data analytic technology has been incorporated to strengthen skills and remind
students when to practice. Duolingo uses
crowdsourcing to translate articles.
Free digital books in a number of languages.
Here is the link for Spanish: http://www.
childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCateg
ory?ids=&pnum=1&cnum=1&text=&lang=
English&langid=61
http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/ A
blog formerly known as ‹Actualidades› but
currently called Zambombazo: A blog with
resources from current Spanish language
pop-culture media like music videos, short
clips of TV shows, pictures, news stories etc.
There are also little units on the materials
N A B E P E R S P E C T I V E S ★ J U LY – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3
found in the blog.
http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/ A site
with many resources and links to different
topics in Spanish
http://newspapermap.com/. A great tool to
find newspapers in any language from any
country
http://www2.ku.edu/~spanish/acceso/ a
site in Spanish with resources about the
culture and language in the Spanish speaking countries of the world
There are two free games, Los Aztecas and
El Camino de Santiago. They are at www.
miraflores.org under More Free Resources.
Many free online games, such as “Age of
Empires Online”, “Grepolis” and “Ikariam”
can be played in Spanish and other languages and students can learn about
Ancient Greece, economics, strategies, alliances, social skills, etc. while building their
civilization.
This link has some resources for literature in
Spanish: http://www.shmoop.com/
http://www.textivate.com/ This site is interesting-- you copy and paste the text and
“textivate it”. It will create exercises such as
putting paragraphs or sentences in the correct order or putting spaces between words.
More Spanish lesson sites:
http://aprenderespanol.org/index.html
http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/boldtkatherine/SpanishforKids.htm
http://www.miscositas.com/index.html
And free teacher lesson sharing sites with
Spanish lesson material (sister sites--one in
US and the other in UK, , actually.
http://www.sharemylesson.com
And its sister site in the UK, which seems to
have more Spanish lessons:
http://www.tes.co.uk
Data bases organized by subject and grade
with web resources that include some in
Spanish:
http://educade.org/
http://www.graphite.org/#fb2
http://www.powermylearning.org/
https://www.edsurge.com/products/
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