Suzanne Garcia Mateus is the proud mami of a one-plus-year old little girl whom she is ambitiously trying to raise with three languages. Her research interests as a doctoral student in bilingual and bicultural education and life experiences growing up with Mexican immigrant parents inspired her to create a blog, Interpretations of a Bilingual Life, in order to better understand the rich nuances that living with multiple languages offers.
Twitter: trilingualbaby
Who gets to be trilingual? The situation always seems to present itself as such: one parent speaks one minority language and the other parent another minority language and they live somewhere, where the majority language is spoken. What about those parents who are monolingual? What about parents who are both what they call heritage speakers of a minority language, like myself? What about parents who would LOVE for their children to speak more than one language, but can’t afford toRead More ...
As I typed out the title of this posting I could not help but form a smirk on my face. Here’s the deal. The further I delve into the work of identity construction in my doctoral program, the more I realize that individuals take on multiple identities depending on the context they are in, including several other elements that come into play. Even in the previous sentence I wrote there are several words I would have to define to explainRead More ...
In my family Christmas celebration traditions have come and gone, just as they may evolve with any family. My mom has mentioned how before they immigrated from Mexico she and her brothers would celebrate Christmas differently than how it had changed here in the US, but then again a lot changed as they made a life on the other side of the border. The one part of our Christmas celebration that has remained the same throughout our upbringing is ourRead More ...
“If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language.” –Gloria Anzaldúa (Scholar of Chicano Cultural Theory) “We don’t use Tex-Mex here.” —Those were the words that were uttered to me (and Sabrina) at one of the pre-school centers I was checking out for next fall. As the woman continued to tell me about their wonderful school and the taught curriculum I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “How can she say that? She doesn’t even know me. WhatRead More ...
I was at a Dual Language Education conference a few years ago when the keynote speaker mentioned something very intriguing about phonological development in babies. He said that the gibberish babies’ express could very well come from a multitude of languages. In other words, infants are literally taking in every sound they hear! He went on to explain that while parents are cooing back at their baby, their baby could actually be reiterating bits and parts of the Farsi theyRead More ...
One of the first signs of assimilation, in first and second generations of Latinos in the U.S., is the loss of one’s native language. Those of us whose parents were immigrants or who are immigrants ourselves remember that minute fact a little more clearly than our counterparts whose relatives immigrated several generations ago. Acculturation has been happening to immigrants from various countries for decades. Just go visit the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City and see for yourself.Read More ...
Ana
Roxana
Just two mamás raising bilingual kids
