Tell me you haven't ever had this conversation: You are casually chatting with someone about what you do and explain that you are a teacher, a dual-language teacher. The other person acts interested but a bit confused. They ask, "So is that like ESL?"
"Well," you answer, "It is ESL but it is much more. How much time do you have?" As you launch into explaining the complex and intricate details about how you actually do Dual Language, you are likely to receive one of two reactions: 1) "That sounds so cool! I wish that I (or my children) could have had that type of education!" or 2) "But doesn't that just confuse them? How can they possibly learn subjects like science or math in another language? Isn't this generation's English bad enough as it is? Shouldn't we just focus on improving one language?"
At these moments, don't you wish you could invite this acquaintance to sit down and watch this documentary with you? The clip below is one of 11 free short videos supplementing the hour-long documentary Speaking in
Tongues. You can see more of these short videos at this link.
From The Language Educator, November 2010:
This hour-long documentary follows four American students whose parents placed them in schools where, from the first day of kindergarten, their teachers speak only Chinese or Spanish. It was shown at the 2009 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in San Diego, CA, and can be used in advocacy efforts to help promote language education. The award-winning film was selected as the winner of the San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award. [It] has been featured on various PBS stations.
Throughout the next two weeks, I Teach Dual Language is hosting a "Speaking in Tongues Linky Party" giving you the opportunity to share what dual-language instruction looks like in your classroom. One participant's name will be randomly drawn to win a DVD of this documentary! Thanks so much to the people at Speaking in Tongues Film for providing this giveaway!
In order to participate, please post a description of your dual-language/bilingual classroom on your blog and sign up below. If you do not have a blog, you can still join the party! Just email me your description (cgrover@elsaberenterprises.com) and I will post the description here and add you to the Linky.
Based on last month's poll, there is a lot of variety in how we dual! I can't wait to find out more!
