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UN Celebrates Chic Chinese

On April 20, the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day and the second CMG Overseas Chinese Language Video Festival were celebrated with the theme of “China chic.” China chic, or guochao (国潮), started with the creation of trendy designs mixed with elements from traditional Chinese culture. It became widely known after the sportswear brand Li-Ning took the fashion world by storm with its Eastern-style designs at New York Fashion Week in 2018. That led to a growing number of Chinese brands creating a wave of China chic. “When we talked about China chic several years ago, it was just a kind of consumption trend created by brands. However, it has evolved into a cultural phenomenon favored by young people, a group proud of their culture,” said Ji Fangfang, associate professor with the Institute of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva, said that for over a decade, Language Days have been celebrated to encourage cultural diversity and strengthen multilingualism, and that the UN in Geneva sees the importance of supporting multilingualism as a key component in advancing its agenda of Sustainable Development Goals, adding that Chinese is one of the world’s oldest languages and so the legacy and wisdom it carries are an essential part of our collective humanity.

The festival highlighted China’s ancient culture and China chic—a modern take on traditional Chinese heritage is an opportunity to promote Chinese cultural diversity among the younger generation and to empower those for whom Chinese is not a first language. Mr. Shen Haixiong, president and editor-in-chief of China Media Group, said that Chinese Language Day is designed to celebrate the diversity of both language and culture, thus promoting multilateralism. He added that, as the flagship state media organization, China Media Group will continue to work to break down barriers and promote mutual understanding, creating a more peaceful world and building a community with a shared future for humankind. Haixiong believes that by bringing together thought, art, and technology, the festival can better share how traditional Chinese culture has developed and continues to innovate.

H. E. Mr. Chen Xu, ambassador extraordinary and permanent representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said in his speech that without understanding the splendid Chinese culture, it was hard to really understand the unique spiritual world of the Chinese people, and similarly, without understanding the developing trends of modern China, it was difficult to understand China’s present and future. The video festival showed original video works from nonnative Chinese speakers under the China chic theme, with a video contest called “Foreigners Look at China Chic” and an awards ceremony.

Nearly a thousand video entries from 45 countries and regions were received, and 14 works were selected for nine awards by a jury composed of people with various backgrounds in China and abroad.

I Am My Language


“I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.”
(Anzaldúa, 1987)

With these words, the noted scholar Gloria Anzaldúa challenges educators to affirm and accept a student’s unique characteristics, to accept the language variety the student brings from home, and to build on and honor their linguistic heritage. These words emphasize that language is at the heart of how we present ourselves and how others see us (Gonzalez, 2005). Yet while the days are long gone when teachers rapped children’s knuckles for speaking Spanish or changed their names from Yu Ling to Linda, the increase in linguistic diversity across the nation requires that educators be particularly sensitive and aware of the benefits and importance of validating student language because it is fundamental to student well-being.

Recognizing and Validating Students’ Native Languages

Linguistic diversity characterizes the US K–12 population today. In 2018, there were over five million K–12 English learners (ELs) enrolled in every state, ranging from 0.8% in West Virginia to 19.4% in California. Approximately 10% of the nation’s students bring a language other than English to class. While the majority of ELs are Spanish speakers, the top ten languages include Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Russian, Portuguese, Haitian, Hmong, and Vietnamese (NCES, 2021). What are the implications of this linguistic diversity for educators?
It wasn’t too long ago that this linguistic diversity was met with sanctions and prohibitions, formal and informal. These practices were illegal and unsound. Nevertheless, linguistic discrimination endured for generations. Today, ELs have inherited a legal framework which maintains their rights to access the core curriculum and to understand the language of instruction, yet depending upon the state in which they reside, teachers may or may not be allowed to use students’ native languages for instruction.

Linguicism

Linguistic discrimination, linguistic prejudice, and linguicism all refer to practices in which a negative judgement is made of a person based on their language. In 1988, the linguist Tove Skutnabb-Kangas defined linguicism as discrimination based on language or dialect (1988). Linguistic stereotyping refers to predefined negative perceptions imposed on English speakers based on their race, ethnicity, and nationality (Dovchin, 2020). Linguicism has had a long history in US English-only policy and, despite legal rulings otherwise, continues to underscore anti-immigrant rhetoric. Wiley (2019) has noted that language discrimination is often a proxy for racial animosity against immigrants.

Despite the fact that English-only policies have driven instruction for ELs, educators are pivoting to a more asset-based and inclusive perspective. A new generation of research science stresses the importance of validating young children’s native languages and the benefits of multilingualism for the cognitive, economic, and social benefits to bilingualism/multilingualism (Bialystok, 2001). Toward this goal, two recent reports, from the National Academies of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, summarize and underscore the importance of students’ home languages and the benefits of bilingualism for the nation.

National Academies Support an Asset-Based Approach to Language

There is no support to sustain a deficit perspective on language. The National Academy of Sciences issued a report in 2017 stating that “scientific evidence clearly points to a universal, underlying human capacity to learn two languages as easily as one… Recent evidence also points to cognitive advantages, such as the ability to plan, regulate their behavior, and think flexibly, for children and adults who are competent in two languages… there is no evidence to indicate that two languages in the home or the use of one in the home and another in early care and education confuses DLLs or puts the development of their languages at risk” (p. 3). DLLs benefit from consistent exposure to both their L1 and English in early childhood settings.

The scholars at the National Academy of Sciences have proposed a comprehensive set of research-based recommendations toward a national policy which values bilingualism for all. They state that the “culture, language and experiences of English learners are highly diverse and constitute assets for their development, as well as for the nation” (p. 2). Those who become proficient in both a home or a primary language and English are likely to reap benefits in cognitive, social, and emotional development and may also be protected from brain decline at older ages.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences released a report in 2017 calling for a national strategy to improve access to as many languages as possible for people of every region, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background—that is, to value language education as a persistent national need similar to education in math or English and to ensure that a useful level of proficiency is within every student’s reach. Providing access to language education for all means that a national goal should be that all schools “offer meaningful instruction in world and/or Native American languages as part of their standard curricula” (p. 8). America’s Languages underscores the importance of multilingualism in a global society and states that knowledge of English is critical “but not sufficient to meet the nation’s future needs” (p. 6). Both reports stress the importance of understanding the social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of children as a means to achieve the condition of trust and respect necessary for effective instruction and, most importantly, to view the social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of English learners as assets. This research base provides the impetus for implementing an asset-based pedagogy for English learners.

Asset-Based Linguistic Policy

An asset-based approach to teaching requires that educators abandon a focus on the limitations of and weaknesses in students and expand understanding of the strengths, assets, and funds of knowledge that students and their families possess. This requires getting to know the complexity of the EL student and community as well as the values and aspirations that EL parents have for their children. Asset-based pedagogies view the diversity that students bring to the classroom, including culture, language, disability, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and sexuality, as characteristics that add value and strength to classrooms and communities (California Department of Education, 2021). Rather than seeking to overcome this diversity, an asset-based policy requires viewing students in a new light. Asset policy recognizes that the gifts ELs bring with them can be springboards for learning.

Toward an Asset-Based Pedagogy

Leadership in today’s multilingual/multicultural schools requires a vision of language equity for the school community. Principals, as the instructional leaders, provide the context for parents, students, teachers, and staff to recognize that English and the other community languages deserve equal value, status, and importance. The following provide a few examples of asset-based pedagogy for leadership, teachers, and the curriculum.

The Principal as Language Leader

It is fundamental that school leadership holds a philosophical stance that views linguistic diversity as an asset. From this stems a series of activities that set the stage for the school to reflect a welcoming linguistic environment for students, parents, and staff. Some features of a welcoming linguistic environment include:

  • The principal and their team conduct an informal linguistic landscape study to identify through community signage areas where different linguistic communities reside.
  • The school community’s linguistic landscape can be shared with staff and updated as the community shifts.
  • The leadership team provides professional development for teachers to develop their asset pedagogy.
  • The school leadership creates opportunities for parents to engage in school activities and decision making.
  • Information about the school, its curriculum, report cards, and parent outreach is available in multiple languages.
  • The school office staff is capable of offering information in various languages.
  • Information through print, internet, and community meetings is multilingual.
  • School events offer diverse linguistic communities for spelling bees, plays, and presentations, and guest speakers are offered in diverse languages.
  • On-site community meetings are translated.

Teachers Build Classroom Environment Based on Asset Pedagogy

Teachers are crucial to the implementation of an asset-based approach that values the strengths of students’ identities and cultures. Creating a welcoming environment includes many activities, ranging from those as basic as learning students’ names to the complexity of developing project learning activities.

  • Pronunciation matters. Research has found that students’ socioemotional well-being and worldview can be negatively impacted by teachers’ failure to pronounce names properly and that this can even lead students to shy away from their own cultures and families (Kohli and Solórzano, 2012).
  • Classroom bulletin boards display student work in the appropriate languages.
  • The teacher provides a classroom library with selections representing different languages and cultures.
  • Students are encouraged to share pictures of themselves and artifacts from home.
  • Families are given the opportunity to visit the classroom and share stories, music, or skills.
  • Students get the opportunity to listen to other languages. Students learn greetings in each other’s languages.
  • Teachers design inquiry activities into students’ heritage languages and cultures.
  • Curriculum and Materials Support an Asset
  • Perspective
  • It is not sufficient to offer a welcoming school if the materials and curriculum are not challenging for all students. It is important to determine that emergent bilinguals have access to gifted and talented programs, and that they can participate in Advanced Placement classes. In addition:
  • Assessment practices need to be multifaceted and plurilingual.
  • Textbooks and supplementary materials should be of similar complexity and quality as those for non-ELs.

In today’s world of linguistic diversity, educators can turn away from deficit perspectives with a new view toward the benefits of bilingualism and a positive orientation toward the languages and cultures students bring. An asset-based pedagogy offers ELs a chance at a more equitable and accessible educational future.

M. Beatriz Arias is a senior research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics and an emeritus professor from Arizona State University. She has written and consulted extensively on educational policy and programs for English learners. Her most recent book is Profiles of Dual Language Education in the 21st Century (2018).

References

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Commission on Language (2017). America’s Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century. www.amacad.org/language.
Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Spinsters, Aunt Lute.
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy and Cognition. Cambridge University Press.
California Department of Education (2021). “Asset-Based Pedagogies.” www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ee/assetbasedpedagogies.asp
Dovchin, S. (2020). “The Psychological Damages of Linguistic Racism.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(7), 804–818.
Gonzales, N. (2005). I Am My Language: Discourses of Women and Children in the Borderlands. University of Arizona Press.
Kohli, R. and Solórzano, D. (2012). 
“Teachers, Please Learn Our Names!: Racial microagressions and the K–12 classroom.” Race, Ethnicity and Education,
15, 4.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017). Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24677
National Center for Education Statistics (2021). “English Language Learners in Public Schools.” In Report on the Condition of Education 2021. US Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. and Cummins, J. (1988). Minority Education: From Shame to Struggle. Multilingual Matters.
Wiley, T. G. “The Grand Erasure: Whatever Happened to Bilingual Education? And the Retreat from Language Rights.” In J. MacSwan (ed.), Language(s): Multilingualism and Its Consequences. Multilingual Matters.

Responding to COVID by Training Effective Early Childhood Educators


Like many states across the nation that serve a large number of English learners/dual language learners (EL/DLLs), California schools have faced a nested set of challenges stemming from the pandemic. EL/DLL children, their families, and their communities were more likely to live in crowded, insecure housing conditions and to have family members who are essential workers. Meanwhile, teachers struggled to keep their ELs and DLLs engaged and connected given language barriers and lack of access to technology and broadband. Despite these intersectional issues, the pandemic was also a time when many preschool-aged EL/DLLs experienced less language loss as a result of being in multilingual settings at home or with caretakers who speak their home languages. Children didn’t stop “learning” language while they were sheltering in place—on the contrary, the additional exposure allowed children to retain and develop their home languages, which can contribute to long-term life successes that are gained from bilingualism if our schools know how to leverage that important asset.

In order to unlock and accelerate the learning of EL/DLLs, it is critical that educators be knowledgeable about dual language acquisition. Educators who work with EL/DLLs need the depth of understanding and skills to bring asset-based practices to life in their classrooms and to understand how to partner with families in culturally and linguistically affirming and relevant ways. These are practices that Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL), a nonprofit organization dedicated to centralizing the needs of EL/DLLs and their families, has advocated for since the institution of the pilot program in 2008, continuing to do so after it was spun off from the Sobrato Family Foundation and achieved independent nonprofit status in 2019.1 A component of SEAL’s mission to combat education equity gaps is to provide teachers and school communities with effective research-based strategies,2 tools, and professional development resources.3 If education equity advocates are to deliver on the promise of quality early learning, they must make sure children’s language and culture assets are able to flourish in their early learning settings.

It is only in recent years—with Proposition 584 effectively repealing the English-only requirement of Proposition 227—that California’s policy context has truly shifted in favor of bilingualism. California lawmakers have since taken steps to invest in professional development training for early childhood educators as an extension of these efforts. In 2018, the California Department of Education’s Early Learning and Care Division awarded a Dual Language Learner Professional Development Grant to five professional learning providers, including SEAL, to address the growing desire and need for training and professional development of early childhood education teachers.5 SEAL’s learnings from participating in this grant program are documented in “Building an Effective Early Childhood Workforce: The Need for Professional Development for Educators of Dual Language Learners.”6 The COVID-19 pandemic makes these learnings ever more relevant.

In California, 60% of children age five and under are DLLs,7 which means many teachers lead diverse, multilingual classrooms, yet there is a lack of structural long-term support for multilingual professional learning in the early childhood sector.

The DLL grant program was offered with the purpose of addressing this concern. California allocated $5 million to high-quality professional development for early childhood educators to increase their knowledge about DLLs and their use of effective instructional practices for all students. The specific professional development series developed by SEAL was offered in partnership with four county offices of education, 20 school districts, and one community-based organization in California. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, more than 360 early childhood educators and administrators across California took part. These educators collectively served almost 4,000 children and continue these efforts to this day.

SEAL provided two types of professional development trainings: a Deep Dive professional development series and the Learning Community Networks (LCNs). Both experiences were designed to teach language-intentional strategies through thematic instruction to support DLLs’ language development and content learning. Training and resources emphasized the importance of home-language development alongside English. Participants learned how to support this via integrated curriculum units and a series of trainings on developing complex oral language, analytical language, and thought; connecting early literacy to learning about the world; and cultivating joy in learning.

Educators praised the results of the trainings. “I’ve seen a tremendous difference in the teachers who are participating in SEAL. It’s almost like they had the training and the next time they were back in their classrooms, everything changed,” said one San Bernardino early childhood administrator whose teachers participated. “The parents were involved, the teachers were overly excited, which I loved, and the students were really learning. I heard from one of the teachers that [students] were going home and explaining insects to their parents.”

What was discovered throughout these training sessions was that investing money into long-term professional development for educators did three things:

1. Deepened their understanding of and increased their use of effective instructional practices for DLLs. SEAL fostered regional capacity and infrastructure to support DLLs. Not only did educators report having learned useful instructional strategies for supporting DLLs’ development, including their oral language development, but they also felt more confident in their ability to teach DLLs. Similarly, the training proved to have a positive impact on the children served as well. The policy brief noted that children in the participating classrooms, including DLLs, became more engaged in active learning and expressed themselves more comfortably in their home languages.

2. The demand for professional learning is high, but there are structural barriers to providing effective professional development for early childhood educators. SEAL regularly encounters institutional barriers such as difficulties finding substitute teachers, difficulty traveling to other sites for training, and admin being stretched too thin in duties. Across California, there are logistical challenges stemming from the fact that early learning education is under-resourced. This makes it difficult to develop infrastructure around supporting professional learning. According to the policy brief, SEAL regularly encountered logistical difficulties in providing professional learning to educators in the K–12 system, but especially to early childhood educators. Issues that frequently came up included finding substitute teachers, identifying a common day for training within a given region, difficulty traveling to other sites for training, and administrators being too overstretched to coordinate grant activities.

3. There is a great need for professional learning that is multilingual and that frames biliteracy as an asset. Unlike K–12 teachers, who tend to be considerably less ethnically and linguistically diverse than the students they teach, California’s early childhood workforce is predominantly non-White and more closely resembles the population of children it serves. Due to outdated sentiments regarding multilingual classrooms, many early childhood educators were misled to see bilingualism as a deficit when they first began working with children. Many were raised during California’s English-only education era and received powerful and inaccurate messages about the dangers of teaching or even speaking Spanish in educational settings. Now we know better: bilingualism and biliteracy as an asset should be nurtured and celebrated.

This SEAL policy brief exposes the gaps in necessary professional development in our school systems and showcases the importance of investing in training and resources for early childhood educators, especially those working with EL/DLLs. With proper coaching, training, and equity-based policies enacted, teachers are able to strengthen their capacity to support their students.

The success of California’s school systems is dependent on the state’s ability to develop strong structural support for teachers, children, and their families. Only through these measures will we be able to strengthen the capacity of early childhood educators to support EL/DLLs and ensure the long-term success of California’s youth. The COVID-19 pandemic has only raised the stakes on the importance of getting this right.

Links
1. https://seal.org
2. www.nap.edu/catalog/24677/promoting-the-educational-success-of-children-and-youth-learning-english
3. https://seal.org/resources
4. https://edsource.org/2016/prop-58-initiative-puts-bilingual-education-back-in-spotlight/570654
5. www.cde.ca.gov/re/di/or/cdd.asp
6. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pudx7I6o16L-4gdGUEDpb_ys8bOIABLQ/view
7. https://earlyedgecalifornia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Approaches-to-Supporting-DLL-in-CAs-Early-Learning-and-Care-Programs.pdf

Dr. Anya Hurwitz is the executive director of SEAL, an educational nonprofit dedicated to centralizing the needs of dual language learners. In the early part of her career, she worked as a teacher, school leader, and district administrator in NYC. She joined SEAL in 2014 and became executive director in 2017.

Take Action for World Language Advancement and Readiness Grant Program

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) is leading a Dear Colleague letter that urges the Senate Appropriations Committee to support funding the World Language Advancement and Readiness Grant Program (WLARA) at $15 million in Fiscal Year 2023. We are thankful for Senator Booker’s leadership and commitment to world language education. 

We need your help to attract as many bipartisan co-signers as possible to the Dear Colleague before the May 18th filing deadline. Please send an email to your Congressional Senate members to urge them to add their signature to this Dear Colleague as soon as possible. 

Take Action

This new competitive grant program seeks to help eligible schools establish, improve, or expand world language programs for elementary and secondary education students.

This program was originally authorized in December 2019 as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It was based on the World Language Advancement and Readiness Act, which was introduced during the 116th Congress (H.R. 1094 and S. 2307) in response to reports highlighting the shortfalls in language and cultural skills in the United States military and intelligence communities.  

“We must address our language skills gap to ensure our national security, promote economic well-being and job growth, and develop every student’s potential. This new grant program is one way for the United States to combat existing world language and international education deficiencies in our citizens,” said Representative David E. Price. “I encourage all eligible schools to take advantage of this application to expand opportunities for our next generation of students to lead on the world stage.”

“We should be doing all we can to ensure that America’s students are equipped to become global leaders in business and civic life, which makes foreign language education critical,” said Congressman Don Young, Co-Chair of America’s Languages Caucus. “It was my great honor last Congress to work alongside my friend and America’s Languages Caucus Co-Chair David Price, to not only create this grant program, but to secure the funding needed to implement it across the nation. I am very pleased to see that our work, alongside the work of countless advocates, has now come to fruition. With applications now open, I encourage all eligible schools and language programs to apply for the World Language Advancement and Readiness Grants. I look forward to seeing everything this funding will accomplish as America’s students go on to become world leaders.”

“In a global knowledge-based economy, the most valuable resource our country has is the genius of our young people, and it is imperative for us as a nation to expand world language programs in our schools,” said Senator Booker. “This grant program is an essential step toward boosting our education system and ensuring that our students have access to quality language programs that will benefit them educationally, culturally, and professionally in the long run.” Issues: 

Renaissance Launches Art Contest to Honor Bilingualism in America

Renaissance today launched the “Shine a Light on Bilingualism” art contest to celebrate Hispanic culture and bilingualism.

All students in grades K–12 are invited to create and submit a painting, drawing, or mixed media piece on the theme of “celebrating Hispanic heritage and bilingualism.” Entries are due on June 30. On July 15, a winner will be selected for each grade band of K–3, 4–8, and 9–12. Each winner will receive a $500 Visa gift card and have their art featured during Renaissance’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place between September 15 and October 15.

Research shows that bilingualism and biliteracy have benefits beyond academics, including cognitive, employment, and societal benefits. By 2025, 85 percent of English Learners in US schools will have Spanish as their dominant language. Renaissance is excited to celebrate this group of students and support the educators who honor the knowledge and skills a child has in their home language and seek to build upon those skills to promote learning.

“Bilingual students enrich our classrooms in so many ways every day,” said Doris Chávez-Linville, Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation at Renaissance. “We’re honored to showcase students’ perspectives on what it means to be bilingual and the wonderful impact Hispanic heritage has had on communities and schools in the US.”

Although the art will be created by students, the work must be submitted by an adult, such as a teacher, parent, guardian, or other family member. To enter a K–12 student in the contest, an adult must upload a photo of the art to Renaissance.com/bilingual-arts-contest, or mail the original to Renaissance. Questions about the contest should be sent to [email protected]. For complete terms and conditions and to submit student art to the contest, visit Renaissance.com/bilingual-arts-contest.

Uganda Considers Making Students Study Kiswahili and French

Politicians in Uganda are currently debating whether or not to make Kiswahili and French compulsory subjects in the country’s school system. As two of the official languages of the East African Community (EAC), both languages play a prominent role in neighboring countries. However, according to some Ugandan politicians, the country lags behind its neighbors in terms of linguistic unity, as neither language is a mandatory subject in Ugandan schools.

Adopting a policy of compulsory French and Kiswahili education could help the country become better equipped to navigate international affairs, according to Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda’s minister in charge of East African Community affairs. Uganda is home to several dozen Indigenous languages, but English and Kiswahili are the only languages with official status in the country. Following the country’s independence from the UK in the early 1960s, English was adopted as the country’s only official language, partly because the nation’s vast linguistic diversity made it difficult for politicians to agree on any other official language. Kiswahili gained official status in 2005—the language plays a particularly prominent role in surrounding countries, where it had been adopted as an official language much earlier.

Currently, the Ugandan census does not include linguistic data, so it can be difficult to estimate how many fluent and/or native speakers of the country’s official languages there are. In the 1970s, however, roughly 35% of the country spoke Kiswahili fluently. Each language serves as a lingua franca for the numerous ethnic and linguistic communities residing in the country; however, Indigenous languages like Luganda are most prominent at the local level. The EAC, an organization of seven countries located in East Africa, recently adopted French as an official language, reflecting the language’s widespread use throughout the region, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. While Uganda was not colonized by any French-speaking countries, politicians like Kadaga argue that the language maintains an important role across the African continent, where it is spoken by more than 140 million people (who are mostly concentrated in West and Central Africa, however).

Kadaga will propose mandatory French and Kiswahili education in an address to the cabinet of Uganda before it can be considered by the country’s parliament. Currently, Kiswahili is a mandatory subject in secondary schools but not at the primary level. French is also a common option for students in the country but is not mandatory at any level.

Before adopting any policy that would make the two languages compulsory subjects, some politicians in the country would like the EAC to fund training centers to ensure that the country’s educational infrastructure is fit to teach students both languages adequately.

First Full-Time ASL Interpreters Join White House Staff

For the first time in American history, two full-time American Sign Language interpreters have joined the White House staff.

Elsie Stecker and Lindsey Snyder began working as the official White House ASL interpreters in late March. The pair will interpret press briefings and other forms of official communication from the White House in order to make such information more accessible to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The White House hired the interpreters following a 2020 court case involving language access during the COVID-19 press briefings.

“I have to remember why this position was created and the goal of access—access to information shared by the government, decisions that are being made, policies that are being passed that will have impacts on people’s daily experiences and lives,” Stecker told National Public Radio in April.

In 2020, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sued the White House, noting that the lack of ASL interpreters at COVID-19 press briefings violated deaf individuals’ right to access important public health information in a timely fashion. After a court ruled in the NAD’s favor, the White House began providing ASL interpreters for its press briefings, but it wasn’t until this year that interpreters were hired as full-time staff members.

“Deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans deserve the same access to information from the White House and the president that everyone else gets,” said Howard Rosenblum, the CEO of the NAD, shortly after the organization won the lawsuit.

When watching White House events and press briefings on television, viewers most likely see Stecker signing alongside the speaker. Snyder, who is not deaf or hard of hearing, interprets speech off camera in real time for Stecker, who is deaf. As a native speaker of ASL, Stecker then signs the message off camera, polishing and editing the utterances as needed. This way, deaf individuals who use ASL natively can more easily understand the message.

“Deaf people who are ASL users can watch and identify that it’s a deaf person signing on the screen,” Stecker told CBS. Andrew Warner

Australia Helps Community Language Schools

The Australian Labor Party has made early childhood language education a key part of its platform this election cycle, proposing an investment of $15 million AUD ($10.7 million USD) in community language schools across the nation.

Under the party’s proposal, more than 700 schools throughout the country would receive up to $30,000 AUD ($21,300 USD) to go toward expanding their programs’ offerings. Currently most community language schools in the country enroll elementary school–aged children, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Proponents of the funding believe it could allow schools to enroll younger children, helping the students to make early progress in their second languages.

As has been widely documented in the field of second language acquisition, young children tend to achieve very high learning outcomes when they begin learning another language, especially when compared to adolescents and adults.

“The younger someone starts learning another language, the easier it is to pick it up,” Tanya Plibersek, a spokesperson for the Australian Labor Party, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“That’s why we’ve made sure this funding can help more community language schools open their classrooms to preschoolers.” While the Labor Party mainly emphasizes the importance of extending community language school offerings to preschoolers, once a school has received the funding, it would be able to put it toward other programs and endeavors to improve their performance. For example, Plibersek noted that the funding could also help schools to improve their distance learning practices or simply increase class sizes.

A little over 100,000 students are enrolled in community language schools throughout Australia, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. In Australia, these programs—typically consisting of weekend or after-school classes that cater to the children of immigrant parents—often rely on volunteer teachers to lead classes. Proponents of the funding say that additional funding from the government could also allow the nation’s community language schools to hire staff. Andrew Warner

May 12 is the deadline for Ellevation Scholarship Program applications

Ellevation Education is accepting applications for its 2022 Scholarship Program for English learners (EL) wishing to pursue a higher education. 

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must:

  • Be a high school senior who has been enrolled as an English Language Learner (ELL) at some point during their K-12 education
  • Plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the 2022-2023 academic year

Eligible students are encouraged to apply through the online application portal. The application deadline is May 12, 2022.

Ellevation Education is a mission-driven company whose goal is to help English learners achieve their highest aspirations. The organization constantly seeks opportunities to support English learners and the educators who serve them through innovative products and ongoing advocacy work.

Since the inception of its scholarship program in 2017, Ellevation Education has awarded scholarships to 20 ELs or former ELs to help support their higher education. These students come from diverse backgrounds, speak different languages, and have unique goals for the future, but share the common goal of leveraging educational opportunities to better themselves and their communities. 

To learn more about the 2022 Scholarship Program, visit https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/ellevationeducation/.

The Power of Cultural and Linguistic Connections

For Haitian Heritage Month this year, my heart swells with pride and joy that my American-born son will be participating in the Haitian Day Parade. His father and I registered him for the Mattahunt/Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy in Boston, as we are both Haitian immigrants who graduated from Boston Public Schools. We love the city of Boston and are extremely proud of the educational experiences that helped us grow and become who we are today. There were many factors that led us to say yes to the dual language program: the school was minutes away from our home; our child would be taught by teachers and cared for by staff whom we either grew up with or with whom I had developed a deep relationship as a part of the team that established this program. The evidence of deep care, commitment to excellence, and stirring up of intellectual curiosity of the students at the school had been clear for the many years we had collaborated with the school. Trusting our son to their care has proven a well-made decision. Watching our son blossom as he gets formally acquainted to his mother tongue through song, play, and social interactions has been an experience for the whole family.

Randomly, while at home, driving, or speaking with family members, our little one will break out in song or repeat a story he learned in Haitian Creole. He will sing the new ditties that he has learned at school, taught either by his music teacher or by his classroom teachers.

Bel lekol mwen (My beautiful school)
Ti lekol mwen (My little school)
Mwen renmen l anpil anpil (Which I love very much)

This was sung in the car while driving from a family get-together. It took me by surprise, as we were at the beginning of the academic year. The clarity of the phrasing and confidence as he sang while staring nonchalantly out the window caused a sense of elation to wash over me.

Haiti cherie
Pi bel peyi pase ou nan pwen
Fok mwen te kite ou
Pou mwen te kapab kopran vale ou
Fok mwen te lese ou, pou mwen te kap apwesye
Poum santi vreman tout sa ou te ye pou mwen

This one started out as a low hum during the nighttime routine, with my son looking sheepishly at me. He was still feeling out the words and the sounds, so it took me some additional time to recognize the tune. I lightly hummed back what I heard from him and re-sung the words with greater emphasis to support his pronunciation. His confidence grew and he began to sing it louder. I’d sing a line, he’d sing the next, and we’d end the stanza together. “I learned this song when I was little too,” I shared with him. The next day, in a call to his grandmother, I had him sing the tune. It brought much joy to my mom, who joined along. “Mwen se Ayisiyen?” he asked. I replied that both his father and I were born in Haiti; we are Haitian. He was born in the US—he is both Haitian and American.

In the American context, where Anglo-European cultural norms and practices are intrinsic in everyday experience, we sometimes forget how subsumed the cultural identities of Black immigrants can become, lost in the noises of normalcy. My son has been provided an oasis to just be himself in the plurality of his identities. He is growing up fully experiencing his identity as a multilingual Black boy. In the songs we teach the students to sing, in the fairy tales we choose to express to them, we provide our children the foundational vocabulary and reasoning skills to make sense of the world around them. These become the foundational experiences to help them develop literacy skills, reasoning, and communication practices. There is an assumption that Mary’s little lost lamb is universal, when in the Haitian culture it is the story of Bouki and Ti Malice that are our Aesop’s Fables. The nuances referenced in the more evolved literature of a community require familiarity with their basic frameworks.

Having his school learning connect to his home and cultural life has energized his appetite to learn more about his Haitian roots and about other cultures. He bridges between Haitian Kreyòl and English at the house all the time. When he sees or hears a bird chirp outside of his room window, he’ll say “Ti swazo” and then go into the song that he has learned at school. I, having forgotten most of the lyrics in Kreyòl, can only finish that famous line of the song “nan bwa ki tape koute.” These interactions have also reignited my passion to unpack my cultural assets through his experiences.

Finding the language to tell him about who he is and helping him grow confidently in his identity is a precious gift for him as a Black bilingual. His language skills are giving him the necessary fortitude to not feel lost nor be a part of a missed generation, but to confidently walk the plurality of his identity without fear. In his online perusal of toddler-focused videos, he has been exposed to Spanish and Korean while browsing. His confidence at knowing that he can learn other languages has him counting in Spanish, repeating Korean phrases from the countless Squid Game parodies on YouTube, and wanting to immerse himself more in learning Haitian Creole phrases for different contexts.

My little one feels empowered about his capability to be a learner because he feels in control. He knows he has support at home and at school and that he is setting the learning pace. As an immigrant parent who went through bilingual education in the US, I can see that my son is having the experience that I desired for myself and for others.

Language learning is a skill set that transcends the classroom and pollinates across subjects. It provides students with concrete skills for the process of learning that they can apply to different concepts. I would say that my son’s experience is atypical, but it is something that I have seen countless times in different settings. I have seen how urban American students thrive when exposed to Latin or Ancient Greek. The skills developed in learning these historical languages strengthen their cognitive and processing skills in a way that supports their academic learning in other subjects. I am a strong proponent for language access for all as a tool to create equity and rigor across the educational divide. Investment in this opportunity should be required as much as investment in other innovative areas.

Daphne Germain is an eleven-year veteran of the Boston Public Schools Office of English Learners, leading program planning and implementation. She has in-depth experience in how collaborative relationships with Black immigrant communities can develop to create new and innovative programs such as the first-in-the-nation Haitian dual language program, formally named the Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy. She is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Haitian Parents.

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