Disrupt the Monolingual Bias this Hispanic Heritage Month

As we prepare to celebrate this Hispanic Heritage Month, I hope to impart some wisdom from a young Multilingual Learner. This isn’t the type of wisdom you will find in a textbook, but it is the type of wisdom that we all need to carry in our hearts as we work together to disrupt, and one day eradicate, the Monolingual Bias.

In today’s post, I am shining the light on a young MLL. Manuel is a 10-year-old Latine boy, who I came to know in the pages of a textbook on the power of biliterate writing (h/t Sandra Butilofsky and the Lit Squared squad). Manuel was asked to describe who he'd like to be for a day, and why. He as asked to conduct this piece of writing in English. Any teacher who has worked with Multilingual Learners can attest to their awareness of how they measure up against their peers. In light of this, I invite you to read his prose and to feel deeply (as I did, as I do).

Manuel’s sample, written in standard English: I would be Juan Calros. I would like to be him because he is proficient in math. I was mostly the dumbest kid, but as the year went by I got smarter. Now I’m back where I was all over again. I really hate that because I’m really stupid, plus I am partially proficient in math and Juan is proficient in math. And, I am unsatisfactory in writing and reading, him too but he’s a lot smarter than me.

I’m the stupidest in the whole entire school. That’s the truth. That’s why I want to be him. This is the truth, I’ve never told anybody this. I haven’t told a soul.

Centring LatinX voices

I'm certain you feel the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty in sweet Manuel’s voice. I'm also certain that narrowed curriculum and skills-based policies made it difficult for his teachers to enact the love and tenderness that brought them to the profession in the first place.

Those in my scholarly tribe (a loving, vibrant tribe that is critical of the status quo, to be sure) have long been sounding the alarm on toxic language ideologies, and how they manifest most intensely during cultural heritage months. Even the most benign of “cook your abeula's enchiladas dish'' class assignments are under assault by anti-woke acolytes. I worry more now than ever because district leaders and bilingual-ed stakeholders with equity in their hearts are being stripped of their agency and forced to fall in line with restrictive policies. This is NOT why they entered the teaching force and according to a 2021 report on the extant bilingual teacher shortage, I worry there won’t be enough teachers to staff bilingual programs for much longer. And my scholarly tribe agrees.

As you read and reread the content above, I invite you to absorb not only the uncertainty, but the vulnerability, profound intelligence, and courage of Manuel’s voice. And I ask you, administrators of all stripes and demographics, and you, stakeholders of bilingual/TESOL education, to consider how YOU can carve out spaces this September 15th to honor your Hispanic student populations - and their teachers.

Indeed, you can make one small difference by learning powerful ways to Disrupt the Monolingual Bias that shapes policies and curriculua that lead Manuel to see himself as a “partially proficient” student.

Click this link below and download my Guide on the Monolingual Bias. I hope this guide, along with all the energy and courage you can muster this Hispanic Heritage Month, will lift up Manuel’s self-esteem so one day he may become a role model for one of his peers.

One day…..