Note to readers: This is a letter that I read aloud to my class on the first day of the course and have since edited and worked on for future semesters. It was the first full semester after the election of Donald Trump.
Before reading this letter to the class aloud, I had already introduced myself, and everyone in the room had already introduced themselves (with their names, program affiliations, where they teach / do their practicum, and a “six word story” about them).
Dear Foundations of Bilingual Education class members:
Welcome to Foundations! I hope you find this class as rewarding and worthwhile as I do. Before diving into the content and material, I wanted to tell you a little bit about my values and where I am coming from as a way to begin establishing our classroom community.
- I want to first recognize all of the incredible mostly Latina women who have encouraged me and helped me become a bilingual person — from my inspiring Spanish teachers in middle and high school, to mentors and friends of mine in Argentina and Mexico, to my fellow teachers at the schools where I taught, professors at Hunter like Carla España, who was my professor for this course, colleagues at CUNY-NYSIEB and my adviser Ofelia García.
- I am conscious of the fact that I am a white educator in this space, teaching about bilingual education. I am someone who did not grow up speaking multiple languages at home. I spoke English in a way that was school-sanctioned and approved. I had the choice to learn a language other than English as enrichment. Growing up, my bilingualism was celebrated and encouraged. That is not everyone’s story. I am working to recognize where and how my racial, class, gender, linguistic, and other forms of privilege shape my work and actions, and to take steps to interrogate and disrupt the systems that enable that privilege.
- Part of our job in this class is to consider the factors that shape teaching and learning for all young people, especially emergent bilinguals. Education is interpersonal and political. The kind of body you walk into the classroom with shapes your experience. Many students that we serve, especially students of color and immigrant students, and perhaps some of you, did not have the choice to learn another language other than English due to the racism in our systems and institutions. Language has been a tool for many things — bridging divides, promoting cultural understanding, but also oppression, and it is important we view our work through that lens.
- Our work has ALWAYS been political. That takes on new and different shades of meaning today, as the values that this course stands for: multiculturalism, multilingualism, affirmation of difference, critical thinking, are under attack. Many of the students in our public school system are members of groups whose rights are being eroded. No matter if you consider yourself active in democratic politics, or not, this is our political context as educators and counselors today, and in this course, we’re going to unpack our present moment in the context of history, theory, and practice of bilingual education.
- My perspective on these issues — as a white female who became bilingual in the ways I’ve described — is not enough. Which is why you’ll see with the readings and projects and activities, the idea is to bring in many voices: scholars, educators, young people.
- As bilingual people, and/or people interested in the teaching and learning of language, we all have unique and important experiences. I invite you to contribute your personal experience and voice in this course, and hope that we can all work together to build a critical but supportive space for the exploration of these ideas.
- Next week, we are going to talk more about the kinds of discussion norms we want to put in place that will allow us to have the supportive and critical conversations at the heart of this course. For now, feel free to bring up any ideas or thoughts you might have about this. You can do so during our class session, right after I read this letter, or via email or in private after class.
Here’s to a fruitful, impactful semester,
Sara V.
