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Two Teachers’ Immersion Journey

10 December, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

Travel: The best way to build cultural appreciation, connect with people from far away and dive into a foreign language. And for language immersion teachers, traveling is essentially as much of a basic need as breathing is.

I haven’t met a single bilingual teacher who doesn’t love to travel! For us, traveling is win-win because aside from nurturing our soul, it allows us to walk in our students’ shoes, apply survival skills (just like they do in our classrooms!) and empathize with what it feels like to have limited or no understanding of your surroundings.

During our Spring Break, Laura and I had the opportunity to travel to Turkey – a land filled with vibrant colors, ancient history, natural beauty and a fascinating language. It was the ultimate language immersion experience and we planned to learn from it! Reflecting on our practice, we decided to keep the following questions in mind throughout our journey:

What is helping us navigate our surroundings AND what lessons can we transfer from our experience into our immersion classrooms?

We decided to jot everything down and here are the lessons we learned!:

Lesson #1: The First Language Anchors the Second Turkish, of altaic origin, is a highly phonetic and predictable language, just like Spanish. Thus, after the fabulous Ilker from Selçuk (our tour guide) gave us a short linguistics lesson, with key explanations on vowels pronunciation and other tricky letters, Laura and I were well on our way to read any sign with accuracy and precision. Even though we didn’t understand a word of what we read, it was still a win! We felt so accomplished reading random signs to each other while getting Ilker’s two thumbs up!

In our classrooms, when we receive new students into our immersion programs who are literate in just one of the languages, we wonder how to proceed with the second one. In cases where Spanish is the language to be learned, it’s incredibly helpful to begin by explaining the parallels and differences between the two alphabets and providing them with pronunciation tricks to easily decode any text in Spanish. With this knowledge, coaching them through vocabulary, fluency and comprehension becomes significantly easier. However, it’s always best to have this “alphabet bridge” lesson taught by the English component teacher, to keep Spanish language fidelity intact. This metalinguistic experience will become their first tangible connection between the two languages and will feel to our new students as a small (but very important) victory in a sea of language adversity.

Lesson #2: Cognate + Visual = Total Recall We know that cognates are powerful vocabulary tools in our classrooms. However, it is super important that cognates always go hand in hand with visuals to best aid memory. Images are not only needed for pre-literate children, but also fundamental for anyone acquiring new vocabulary, especially in a second language.

On our way to our hotel in Istanbul, this formula (present in a billboard ad) supported us in the learning of our first Turkish word: ceket! We immediately made morphologic connections with “jacket” and “chaqueta” and commented on the power of cognates in our classrooms. Laura and I are convinced that this metalinguistic moment, along with the attractive ad (because yes, the jacket was indeed gorgeous!), assisted us in remembering the word and meaning of “ceket” to this date.

Lesson #3: Let’s Try It Again! After walking all over town, we decided to use the metro and it was quite surprising to realize that the ticket machine instructions were only available in Turkish! We had to try out the transaction several times (crossing our fingers on every try) before we finally got the machine to spit out a ticket. Truly one of our trip’s most exciting moments!

In retrospect, we noticed that in our classrooms it is important to present students with potential success and failure experiences. Structures in series where our students can try out a task, a greeting, a oral participation, etc. in the form of a game are key. For example, board games, group dynamics and repeated turn and talk structures are excellent vehicles to create these spaces where children achieve important gains after multiple tries.

Lesson #4: The Power of Drama Exhausted after days packed with Istanbul fun, every night at our hotel we would turn on the TV to get another dose of Turkish culture immersion. And what did we tune in to? The soap operas of course! Or, as it goes in Turkish, televizyon dizileri. As is expected when it comes to soap operas, the over-the-top acting was incredibly helpful in us understanding the plot! Every expression of shock, jealousy, rage and mischievousness was a confirmation of the language content we were missing. Every night we went to bed pretty certain that we had understood every twist and turn of Aramizda Kalsin.

It is super important that with our students we act or have them act every time we can. An in-Spanish teacher is a actor on stage, all day long.

Lesson #5: Grapple Together There’s something fascinating about trying to problem solve together with a friend – it is drastically different from having our friend problem solve for us! In our classrooms, we tend to pair up advanced Spanish students with students who are new to the program in an attempt to support them. This creates a dynamic of dependency, where the student learning Spanish is getting all the answers without grappling for them; often feeling incapable and disempowered.

During our trip, Laura and I experienced the excitement of grappling together to understand the Turkish language. It was fun to problem solve together and connect the dots with the little bit of language we understood. To this day, we feel incredibly proud to have gotten as far as Selçuk without a guide, to have bartered hard and won in the markets, and, of course, to have gotten metro tickets all on our own! Thinking about our students, we are convinced that strategic pairings of students who are both in the early stages of second language acquisition can be, under the right circumstances, an ideal recipe for adventure and grappling. Consider this pairing when the time is right.

To travel is a learning experience. Now that the summer break is upon us, if you happen to travel and find yourself immersed in a foreign language, think about what lessons you can bring back to share or replicate with your students. The word immersion means “a state of being immersed, being deeply engaged or involved.” Thus, in our classrooms, we are indeed trying to create a foreign language world-within-a-world for our students. In our immersion programs, let’s try to recreate the fun, grit and excitement that we experience when traveling. It will be an awesome adventure!

Con cariño,

The Most Important Resource is… You

10 October, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

There is no more powerful testament to language inequity than “Spanish resources are really scarce!” We hear it all the time and it’s true, all the time. However, as time passes and dual language education continues growing in America, the market for Spanish resources also grows. The days of “scarce Spanish resources” are numbered because this industry is definitely growing. Therefore, in this blog post we won’t publicize Spanish resources, but rather invite you to invest in the most important resource of all: yourself.

A growing body of research suggests that teacher quality is the most important factor influencing student achievement. In a dual language program, this factor takes on an even greater deal of importance because students are doing double the work: learning content and a second language. Simultaneously.

Throughout the years, we’ve been able to determine which are the “superpowers” that dramatically elevate the quality of in-Spanish teachers. We invite you to take in this list with a pensive and self-evaluative mindset.

In-Spanish Teachers’ Superpowers

Master Mime – “I don’t speak Spanish, but I understood it all!” is a recurring comment from external folks visiting our dual language schools who step into the classroom of a master mime in-Spanish teacher. These experts of sheltered-instruction communicate through gestures and movements. They constantly model with great intentionality and perhaps even with dramatic flare what they want their students to do or learn. This is a crucial skill for any second language teacher. In the fabulous documentary Speaking in Tongues, we see Miss Chow exerting this superpower with her Kindergarten class.

Economy of Language – When we are learning a new language, it is extremely difficult to follow along when the speaker is blazing through an unnecessary abundance of words. When we say “economy of language” we refer to the skill of mindfully using precise, specific and succinct words, while appropriately enunciating them. In-Spanish teachers are Spanish language models ALWAYS. Let’s make sure that our dialogues with kids are powerful moments, reducing unnecessary teacher talking time and increasing learner participation.

A Literary Eye – Given the Common Core times we live in and the importance of Close Reading, it is a must to cultivate a deep understanding and a comprehensive mental lexicon of existing Spanish texts that can connect with our learning objectives. Browsing through Spanish books in your local or school library, soliciting catalogs from publishing companies and attending conference events like NABE or La Cosecha are key moves to keep ourselves at the vanguard of what quality materials the Spanish publishing market has to offer.

Visual Power – Of course we aren’t all born with the ability to beautifully draw in order to create visual anchors for our lessons, but we can certainly develop this skill! A great way to begin is by using circles and ovals to create figures – and in the meantime, just go for it and do your best. Your students will thank you because even if the drawing is “bad,” it still helps them. You can also use other resources like magazine clippings, the Internet or real objects to find visuals that make content more visible. ANY visual support is better than no visuals at all.

Pattern Power – A song’s chorus, a book’s pattern – the predictability of all repetitions are captivating hooks for any child, especially during the early years. When a child is learning a second language, patterns are essential to create a safe and comfortable environment with repeated opportunities to make language comprehensible. The classrooms of highly skilled in-Spanish teachers are spaces where routines are sacred and children always know what will happen next. It is in the context of these routines where children test the waters with new vocabulary and take risks in using their Spanish.

Storytelling Power – There is nothing more charming than to be drawn in by the skills of a great storyteller. In the Spanish classroom, stories really come to life when teachers use an extensive range of intonations, pauses, gestures, movements, and artifacts (realia) that contextualize the plot. This is the space where teachers can incorporate rich and new vocabulary. However, it is important to keep narrations short and to have a good mix of actions and dialogues. Also, there is no better cure for kids’ boredom and disinterest than a good show! Ana Lomba has done good research in this matter and offers lots of resources to elevate the quality of teacher-storytellers.

Game and Music Power – Highly-skilled in-Spanish teachers have a repertoire of traditional games and songs that embody Hispanic cultures while attracting, teaching and entertaining children. Among other reasons, games and songs are powerful vehicles in dual language classrooms because children have an innate attachment to them and they alleviate the stress associated with learning a second language.

Laugh When it Gets Tough – To teach in-Spanish is very, very difficult. Accomplished in-Spanish teachers are highly flexible and see themselves as pioneers of the dual language movement. They understand that resources are scarce and see opportunities in this lack of wealth. These teachers are resourceful in overcoming obstacles: they will translate a book on their own just to be able to use it, they create their own resources and they laugh while they learn to “make it work.” Successful in-Spanish teachers understand that language learning and teaching is full of stumbles and they find humor in tough situations.

Be a Beacon of Happiness – In general, successful teachers are people who have fulfilling and meaningful lives outside of school that keeps them balanced. Since we are already doing one of the toughest jobs in education, let’s bring our happiness to our classrooms and be a beacon of this positive light for our students. When we are satisfied with our lives, it is easier to deal with obstacles at school because we understand that these challenges do not define us as people and this happiness propels us forward to keep going.

We hope that this entry becomes a practical tool for you to determine where you are at in collecting, using and refining your superpowers. In identifying an area of need, focus and be patient. Invite other colleagues to collaborate; solicit their help and support one another in developing or refining these skills. The simple fact that you have taken the time to read this entry with hopes to always be better and invest in yourself is the first step. Keep going, we are here to help.

Con cariño,

High-Quality & Authentic Spanish Books

10 September, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

In our last blog entry, we defined what an authentic book in Spanish is and we offered some alternatives to find these books in the US. Now, an authentic book is not synonymous with a great book. Even though it’s wonderful that it was written in Spanish first, we still have to evaluate its quality and determine its place in our classrooms.

Some authentic books in Spanish are fantastic, necessary and unforgettable while others are… average. As teachers, we take a glance at a book and in less than a minute we have an almost visceral and assertive assessment about how good it is. However, the following questions can really help us fine tune our critical eye and determine what place we give to each book in our classroom and in our heart:

It the book relevant to our content? Often our bookshelves resemble our closets! Just as we have lots of clothes on hangers and somehow “nothing to wear,” we also have lots of books and “nothing to read to our kids” relevant to the content we are teaching them. It’s such a success when we find an authentic book in Spanish that is at the heart of a teaching point.
Is the language and message of the story aligned with my school’s social-emotional culture? Authentic books are like windows for our students to peek through and see the colors and flavors of hispanic cultures. However, there are some authentic books that can be considered “edgy” in our school contexts. Such as, for example, the Mexican bestseller La peor señora del mundo by Francisco Hinojosa. As a rule of thumb, if we are shocked by the content of a book or have doubts about its place in our classrooms, we should at least take it to our school’s administration and request their take/approval on the title.
How much “front loading” should I employ for my students to access the vocabulary and/or context of this book? Some authentic books are extremely tied to their regional or local contexts, as is the case of La calle es libre or Imágenes de Barquisimeto; books that we can personally adore, but whose stories are born from local contexts. These types of books can have a place in our classrooms but they need to be very well contextualized for our students to gain significant meaning from them.
And lastly, am I emotionally connected with this book? Even if a title passes the previous three questions, we may still not feel emotionally tied to it and write it off. In this case, remember that our kids’ reading tastes are diverse and it is possible that this title may still find its way into a student’s heart. On the other hand, if we love a book, we can work hard to find connections with our instruction. Reading a book that we love to our kids is magical!

As we can see, determining the quality of an authentic book and finding its ideal spot in our classrooms is hard work. That is why America Reads Spanish (ARS), an initiative aimed to increase the use and reading of our language in the US, is supporting this effort. In collaboration with Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez – specialists in Hispanic literature – ARS has created an essential guide to Spanish reading for children and young adults. This list includes: the title, ISBN code, publishing house, reader’s age and summary of over 400 titles!

Here is the guide, enjoy!

Lastly, we’d like to share some of OUR favorite authentic books in Spanish! These classics have accompanied us for years, elevating the status of Spanish in our primary classrooms and creating a strong Hispanic cultural connection.

In general, when evaluating an authentic book in Spanish, consider all you know about your students, the questions above and your educator’s gut. And remember, you already have an excellent critical eye! So tell us, what are your favorite authentic books in Spanish?!

Con cariño,

Authentic Books in Spanish

10 August, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

In our last blog post, we discussed how to motivate children to speak in Spanish and balance the language inequity between English and Spanish in dual language programs. This time, we’ll tackle another big challenge: how to address the absence of authentic Spanish texts in our classrooms.

But first, what is an authentic book in Spanish?

To start off, it’s important to define what we mean by “authentic” in this context. We believe that beyond a book being written by a hispanic author or with traditional folklore or historic content, an authentic book in Spanish is a book that was written first in Spanish with a Spanish-speaking audience in mind.

Why are these books important for in-Spanish classrooms?

From a very technical perspective, when a book is written in the language in which it is intended to be read, the author has total freedom to use a wealth of words to fit his ideas without compromising the message of the story. For this same reason, when we write these blog posts, we write them in Spanish first. We know that Spanish is our audience’s dominant language, thus we think through the content in Spanish first to better communicate our ideas.

From a more cultural perspective, authentic texts in Spanish carry settings, expressions, slang and ideas that provide readers with a sense of place and belonging. For those of us who teach in Spanish in the US, these texts are powerful tools in supporting the cultural immersion that we want to create in our classrooms; since we cannot use our outside environment as a consistent model for Spanish language or culture. Furthermore, these books serve as windows into the cultures that we want our students to identify with and become immersed in. Either way, the acknowledgement of these cultural nuances, brought to our classrooms via authentic texts, validate and highlight the importance of Spanish in a realistic context.

So, how do we get our hands on authentic texts?

Understanding that we could go on and on about why these books are critical to our programs and inviting you to carry on providing reasons, we want to go ahead and offer a few ways in which you can satisfy this need in your classroom.

Option #1: The Big Players

In the United States, there are many book distributors that carry titles in Spanish. However, we believe that the big players in providing authentic texts in Spanish are Fondo de Cultura Económica and Lectorum. The former is a real giant in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, where one can find their enormous bookstores in almost every city. In addition, they have bookstores in Washington, DC and San Diego. You can contact their offices directly to get recommendations about authentic texts, shop from their catalog and even coordinate a books fair for your school with just Spanish books!

Option #2: Busy Bee Search

For the US market, Amazon has increased its text offerings from Hispanic publishing companies, and therefore, increased its selection of authentic books in Spanish. The challenge is how to find these books, and we say challenge because it is not an impossible task and can be easily achieved by working through Amazon’s search filters. Here is our formula:

Once you are in the Amazon website click on “Shop by Department”and then on “Books”.
From there, click on the option that says “Advanced Search”
Now here is the most important step, in the book search fields, make sure that these are set: Subject: “Children’s Books”, Language: “Spanish” and select the Reader Age you are looking for. Then, under Publisher, write the name of a Hispanic publishing company. And yes, you have to go through each publisher one by one. That’s why we call refer to this option as a busy bee search! It’s pretty labor intensive!
If you don’t know the names of any Hispanic publishers, we are offering you here two juicy lists to keep you busy for a long while: Spanish and Latin American publishing companies!

As you carry on this search, you’ll become familiar with the publishers and their products. This laborious task will get a lot quicker and you will be incredibly proud of all of your newfound knowledge about these publishers!

Option #3: Trip to the Bookstore in Latin America or Spain

Another alternative to obtain authentic texts is to reach out to family members and friends who are taking a trip to Latin America or Spain, and kindly ask to pick up authentic books at the local bookstore!

Even though, at first, this option may seem unsustainable, we know plenty of in-Spanish teachers who have made this practice a habit and currently have enormous collections of authentic texts in their classrooms.

When it comes to purchasing books for your classroom, we realize that not everything is under your control. However, in your school, before the approval of next year’s budget, make sure that the point person in charge of purchases has access to this information, and levers the purchase of authentic texts for Spanish classrooms.

We hope that these options help you fill your classroom library with authentic texts in Spanish, supporting our battle against language inequity. If you have other ideas about how to get authentic texts in your bookshelves, please share them in our comments section below y ¡que viva nuestro amor por el español!

Con cariño,

Love for Spanish

10 July, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

“In my classroom, most kids can talk in Spanish…. but they don’t like to. I talk to them in Spanish always and their first instinct is to reply in English.”

“It’s shocking to see students that talk Spanish at home, talking to each other in English… the power of English is incredible”

“In the mornings before coming into the classroom, sometimes I hear them complaining about having a Spanish day and… it hurts.”

Does this sound familiar? Well, you are not alone.

These quotes are excerpts of our conversations with in-Spanish teachers from different parts of the US. Their voices describe our ongoing battle against language inequity in most dual language programs. We face this reality every day, yet the question remains: How do we solve this inequity?

For many years, Dr. Julie Sugarman (co-author of the book Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education) has studied this inequity. Sugarman has discovered that Spanish faces four inequity challenges:

Motivation
English-only assessments
Shortage of Spanish resources
Lack of authentic texts in Spanish

In this blog entry we will discuss our students’ motivation for speaking, reading and writing in Spanish. In upcoming posts, we will dissect the other challenges.

In an exclusive interview for the Acento community, Dr. Sugarman addressed this lack of motivation.

A: Acento

JS: Dra. Julie Sugarman

A – We’ve talked to in-Spanish teachers from different parts of the country and they all report a lack of motivation in their students towards Spanish. What is the cause of this?

JS – There are a number of reasons why students might not be motivated to learn Spanish, often having to do with students’ sense of identity and with the status of Spanish as compared to English in the United States. But in some cases, a critical factor is students’ lack of experience with Spanish as a true language of communication. I know one classroom where the teacher said that her third graders had never had a chance to read authentic Spanish texts, so they came to the conclusion that “people don’t write in Spanish.” I can really sympathize with those students. So far, all they’ve seen of Spanish is that it’s just one extra hurdle for them to jump over to engage with academic content in Spanish, and they don’t encounter Spanish being spoken or written with an authentic purpose.

A – Can you speak more about this lack of authentic purpose?

JS – Well, our students can communicate in English and they don’t understand why they have to do it in Spanish. As a result, they may not see Spanish as a language that’s used for meaningful communication. It would be like being in a class where I had to write with mittens on and the kids in another class didn’t have to. I’d wonder, if there was no real-world purpose to learning to write with mittens on, why are our teachers making us do this extra hard thing for no good reason when we can write perfectly well without mittens on?

A – Right, so it’s about making these reasons meaningful to our students; which can be a real challenge. How could we accomplish this?

JS – Unlike English in the U.S., which students are strongly motivated to learn, Spanish dual language teachers sometimes have to create opportunities for students to experience authentic written and spoken Spanish in a variety of settings, even if they have native Spanish speakers in their classrooms.

A – Let’s talk about native Spanish speakers for a minute. What’s happening with them and this lack of motivation?

JS – Well , unfortunately, we know that even in two-way programs where you do have native Spanish speakers, by the second or third year of the program, even the native Spanish speakers often choose to speak English outside of instructional conversations (and sometimes even during instructional conversations). I think we need to remember that even native speakers need to have some extra encouragement to see Spanish as a vital and living language, that’s not just for academic purposes and spoken by those unhip parents and grandparents in their house.

A – Can you give us some specific examples of how this encouragement might look in the classroom?

JS – Yes, gladly. For example:

Having pen pals or video-conferencing with students from a Spanish-speaking country.
Reading authentic children’s literature (with appropriate background-building so that American-born students can understand the cultural nuances).
Listening to stories told by students’ parents or grandparents.
Older students might even compare a translated piece of writing to an authentic piece and discuss how the authentic piece sounds different (in terms of vocabulary, rhetorical style, etc.)

And again, these strategies have to have a clear and convincing purpose for students to engage. Otherwise, they won’t help our cause.

A – Agreed. With some strategic planning, ideas like these sound doable. So, how can the rest of the school support these initiatives?

JS – Well, a critical aspect of students seeing Spanish as a language for real communication is how the language is used throughout the classroom and the school. As a dual language practitioner, I’d want to ask myself the following questions:

How do adults use Spanish with each other and with students outside of the classroom? Does Spanish have a visual presence outside the classroom?
Do the adults in the school and the community act like Spanish is important to know?
Does the school invest time and resources into Spanish at least equivalent to what they have for English (if not, more so)?
Are students held accountable for expressing themselves appropriately in Spanish during content time?

A – These are great self-assessment questions for any dual language teacher, prompting us to reflect and begin with leading by example.

JS – Right. In authentic activities, students see the use of Spanish as integral to the activity itself, not just an activity that could be done in any language that happens to be done in Spanish. We want to maximize opportunities for students to use Spanish to engage in meaningful conversation, reading, and writing, not solely as a medium through which to complete academic tasks. So, Spanish being regarded by our students as a language of meaningful communication is incredibly important.

A – Yes, that sounds like the first step!

Hopefully, Dr. Sugarman’s insights can spark conversations in your school about even more ways to increase students’ motivation to use Spanish.

During the month of February, we invite you join us in a “Love for Spanish” campaign, creating experiences for students in support of Spanish as a language of meaningful communication. And, we want to hear from you! Please share your ideas and experiences with the rest of the Acento community in our comment box below.

¡Que viva nuestro amor por el español!

IN Spanish

10 June, 2015/0 Comments/in Education /by Acento Learning

We are Laura and Berenice, two bilingual educators from Washington, D.C. Over the years, we have used our academic knowledge, intuition and creativity to carry out one of the toughest tasks in education: to teach in Spanish in the United States. If you are a fellow “in” Spanish teacher, you probably get the bolded letters, as often times we are confused with our cousins, the teachers of Spanish.

In our context, confusing these two prepositions generates all kinds of trouble! While explaining our scope of work, it becomes essential to highlight this difference. We often find ourselves saying, “Well, I am a 4th grade teacher and I teach literacy, science, math, etc… but IN Spanish.”

Even websites that offer educational resources fail to recognize the difference between “in” Spanish teachers and teachers “of” Spanish. When searching for resources, we go through product after product targeted to teachers “of” Spanish in an attempt to fit our needs. At times, we must search among lists of Spanish verbs and vocabulary practices to find something that “might” just work – if tweaked, of course.

This “of” vs. “in” difference is a pretty simple one, yet requires elaboration when addressing an audience unfamiliar with bilingual education. First, one has to explain what bilingual education is, which is critically different from language education.

Teachers “in” Spanish teach content and academic skills, using the Spanish language as the vehicle for instruction.

Teachers “of” Spanish teach Spanish as a second language.

The fact that we have to repeatedly explain this difference with such intentionality speaks volumes of bilingualism’s infancy stage in America, and highlights our role as pioneers in the bilingual movement. In 2011, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) only registered 239 Spanish immersion programs in the US. Even though this report is outdated, we know that this number has exponentially grown in the last four years. However, we’ve all worked in isolation from one another or collaborated in small local pockets. It’s time to become united, communicate and excel in our unique mission; lifting our “IN” Spanish motto up high.

Acento invites you to join this united space and grow as a learning community. Through this blog, we will explore “in” Spanish education challenges, learn together and collaborate.

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