Document Types
Individual Presentation
Start Date
2-24-2024 10:20 AM
End Date
2-24-2024 10:40 AM
Track
Culture and Pedagogy
Abstract
About one-third, 17.9 million, of the nation’s Latina/o/e population is younger than 18 (Krogstad & Gonzalez-Barrera 2018), being the majority bilingual (Krogstad & Gonzalez-Barrera, 2015), with no access to quality bilingual education to address their strengths and needs (García 2014). Questions about this group’s future capabilities to speak Spanish are central to current theoretical and pedagogical inquiries, efforts, and research. The linguistic dynamism between Spanish and other languages that characterizes this group also raises essential questions about the intergenerational continuity of Spanish and its meaning for young Latina/o/e identities (Valdés 2015).
Many families experience interactions in Spanish with sentimientos encontrados (Valdés 2015, 266; Showstack & García-Mateus 2022): on the one hand, Latina/o/e children and parents identify Spanish with their heritage pride, identity, social justice, solidarity and recognize its economic value for the marketplace; on the other, they have internalized negative ideological messages that undermined their use of the language, generating feelings of linguistic insecurity.
From a developmental point of view, intergenerational connections in the family language are critical components of children’s well-being (Parra 2023). At the same time, these connections are also essential for maintaining and expanding the family linguistic repertoires in Spanish (Fishman 1991). However, many families (and schools) struggle to find proper resources to engage with children in meaningful Spanish interactions that also allow for literacy development in the language.
In this presentation, we introduce the project “Yosoy: Language education through culture” which aims to form an intergenerational community of practice in Spanish through engaging Latina/o/e adults and children of all ages with creative cultural and academic content, activities to develop Spanish literacy skills, and exploration of the community. The project is based on a theoretical understanding of languages as social practices and bilingualism as a dynamic use and deployment of all the resources from children and parents' linguistic repertoires (García &Wei 2014). The project hopes to strengthen children's ethnolinguistic identity and family and community ties.
References:
Fishman, J. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
García, O. (2014). U.S. Spanish and Education: Global and Local Intersections Review of Research in Education. 38, pp. 58-80.
García, O., & Li Wei. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism & education. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Krogstad, J.M & Gonzalez-Barrera, A. (2015). A majority of English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S. are bilingual. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/03/24/a-majority-of-english-speaking-hispanics-in-the-u-s-are-bilingual/
Patten, E. (2016). The Nation’s Latino Population Is Defined by Its Youth. Nearly half of U.S.-born Latinos are younger than 18. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2016/04/20/the-nations-latino-population-is-defined-by-its-youth/
Showstack, R., & García-Mateus, S. (2022). Latinx Parents Raising Bilingual Children. An Exploration of the Monolingual Norm and Translanguaging in Family Language Practices. In A. Sánchez-Muñoz & J. Retis, Communicative Spaces in Bilingual Contexts. Discourses, Synergies and Counterflows in Spanish and English. New York: Routledge.
Parra Velasco, M.L. (2023). The home–school connection, the development of Spanish repertoires, and the school adaptation process in Latino children: a dynamic ecological understanding. Journal of World Languages. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2022-0052
Valdés, G. (2015). Latin@s and the intergenerational continuity of Spanish: The challenges of curricularizing language. International Multilingual Research Journal 9(4). 253–273.
Recommended Citation
Parra, Maria Luisa and Fritzler, Marcela, "Yosoy. Language education through culture: A project for Spanish-English bilingual children and families." (2024). 11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language. 2.
https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/heritage_spanish/SCHEDULE/Saturday/2
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons
Yosoy. Language education through culture: A project for Spanish-English bilingual children and families.
About one-third, 17.9 million, of the nation’s Latina/o/e population is younger than 18 (Krogstad & Gonzalez-Barrera 2018), being the majority bilingual (Krogstad & Gonzalez-Barrera, 2015), with no access to quality bilingual education to address their strengths and needs (García 2014). Questions about this group’s future capabilities to speak Spanish are central to current theoretical and pedagogical inquiries, efforts, and research. The linguistic dynamism between Spanish and other languages that characterizes this group also raises essential questions about the intergenerational continuity of Spanish and its meaning for young Latina/o/e identities (Valdés 2015).
Many families experience interactions in Spanish with sentimientos encontrados (Valdés 2015, 266; Showstack & García-Mateus 2022): on the one hand, Latina/o/e children and parents identify Spanish with their heritage pride, identity, social justice, solidarity and recognize its economic value for the marketplace; on the other, they have internalized negative ideological messages that undermined their use of the language, generating feelings of linguistic insecurity.
From a developmental point of view, intergenerational connections in the family language are critical components of children’s well-being (Parra 2023). At the same time, these connections are also essential for maintaining and expanding the family linguistic repertoires in Spanish (Fishman 1991). However, many families (and schools) struggle to find proper resources to engage with children in meaningful Spanish interactions that also allow for literacy development in the language.
In this presentation, we introduce the project “Yosoy: Language education through culture” which aims to form an intergenerational community of practice in Spanish through engaging Latina/o/e adults and children of all ages with creative cultural and academic content, activities to develop Spanish literacy skills, and exploration of the community. The project is based on a theoretical understanding of languages as social practices and bilingualism as a dynamic use and deployment of all the resources from children and parents' linguistic repertoires (García &Wei 2014). The project hopes to strengthen children's ethnolinguistic identity and family and community ties.
References:
Fishman, J. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
García, O. (2014). U.S. Spanish and Education: Global and Local Intersections Review of Research in Education. 38, pp. 58-80.
García, O., & Li Wei. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism & education. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Krogstad, J.M & Gonzalez-Barrera, A. (2015). A majority of English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S. are bilingual. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/03/24/a-majority-of-english-speaking-hispanics-in-the-u-s-are-bilingual/
Patten, E. (2016). The Nation’s Latino Population Is Defined by Its Youth. Nearly half of U.S.-born Latinos are younger than 18. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2016/04/20/the-nations-latino-population-is-defined-by-its-youth/
Showstack, R., & García-Mateus, S. (2022). Latinx Parents Raising Bilingual Children. An Exploration of the Monolingual Norm and Translanguaging in Family Language Practices. In A. Sánchez-Muñoz & J. Retis, Communicative Spaces in Bilingual Contexts. Discourses, Synergies and Counterflows in Spanish and English. New York: Routledge.
Parra Velasco, M.L. (2023). The home–school connection, the development of Spanish repertoires, and the school adaptation process in Latino children: a dynamic ecological understanding. Journal of World Languages. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2022-0052
Valdés, G. (2015). Latin@s and the intergenerational continuity of Spanish: The challenges of curricularizing language. International Multilingual Research Journal 9(4). 253–273.
