Blog Post 3: Hyperlink- Garcia & Rodriguez

Translanguaging is a new terminology to me. I have heard of the meaning behind it but wasn't aware there was a specific name for it. The idea of translanguaging is to allow students to learn in their own first language. The use of their primary language and English can work together and the teacher can plan the classroom to allow the students to learn in two languages.


Reading Rodriguez story, I felt bad for the child who felt as though he couldn't speak Spanish at home because at school he was expected to speak english. He talks about how when she goes home she feels wrong referring to her parents as the "all-american" way. He explained it as a painful way, reminding how much his life has changed. Why should she feel he can't call her parents what she was raised to call them, what makes him feel like home and more comfortable. A part that stood out to me was "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home." (Rodriguez).  This is not a child should feel what it is like living between two languages. They should be able to eventually work together, not against. Garcia describes living with two languages as "action and practice". To help with understanding this better I found this video from Garcia where she further explains her logic. She goes into greater detail from her reading about how important it is for that child to use their primary language first then build on from that with a second. No child should feel as though they need to put Spanish to the side if that's what their family taught them and that is what they use in their everyday life outside of academics.


From working in a Head Start I have had multiple children who are bilingual or who were only Spanish speaking. As a teacher who only speaks English this was a challenge for me. I never wanted to make a child feel uncomfortable using a language they weren't familiar with. On my own, I researched best practices with Pre-k and involving two languages. I started doing games during circle time that taught every student something new about another language. I left that year with my Spanish speaking children being able to fully communicate with me and and that was such a good feeling. the parents were very thankful because they didn't know how to incorporate both.