Bilingual in America

BIA hosts Suzanne Lasser and Yarina Sencion had the privilege of speaking with native-born New Yorker Luana Graves Sellars who lives on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, one of the most culturally rich and historic areas of the South. A passion for her Gullah Geechee roots has led her to become a preservationist and cultural influencer through her writing that is focused on educating others, a...

Dual Language programs are enrichment programs; they are richly instructional settings for students and, as we learn today, for teaching partners as well. They are learning spaces where students and teachers share, inspire, and feel creative.  Johaira Buxo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The oldest of six children, she immigrated to the United States when she was only 8 years o...

Our regular listeners know that BiLingual in America the podcast is a space where we celebrate the strength, beauty, and joy of being bilingual in America, however, there is also the flip side to that that many times comes up during conversations with our guests.  Guests have shared about raw and real struggles and instances where they have come face to face with bigotry. America is the land...

Career development opportunities should be a natural part of an educator's professional life. Professional learning is most effective when educators have the option to personalize the experience and communicate meaningfully with other educators who share their focus.  Excel Leadership Academy is pioneering the way in creating unique opportunities for educators working with young language lear...

If you have listened to any of our podcast episodes then you already know that Yarina and I recognize and promote bilingualism and multilingualism as an asset. Our passion is not only something that we feel; the value of bilingualism and multilingualism has been proven by so many revered academics.  In today’s episode, we speak with New York State Associate Commissioner for the Office of Bili...

The landscape of schools today is increasingly multilingual. To achieve equity in culturally and linguistically diverse schools we need not just new strategies but new roles for both teachers and students. We need to recognize what meaningful engagement with rigorous content learning, actually involves and we need to understand that effective language interactions are at the heart of that engageme...

As we welcome 2022, Yarina and I decided to focus on NYSs Blueprint for the ELL/MLL Success.  If you aren't familiar with the document and you are in the field of education be sure to visit NYSEDs webpage to check it out!  Yarina and I collaborated on today's interview with Hulda Yau, a 6th-grade Integrated classroom teacher in the Rochester City School District. In 2014, Hulda became a...

As we near the end of the year 2021 we take a moment to celebrate the multicultural influences of language and family in music and art. We speak with two arts educators about their roles as teachers and their impact and desire to create a legacy of love and identity. Listen in...

Hi ... I'm Suzanne Lasser... If you're considering adoption an important issue you'll face is whether you're interested in adopting a child whose race, ethnic background or culture is different than yours. Many prospective adoptive parents are open to creating a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural family. Heather Stangallini shares her testimony with Yarina Sencion, about family, commit...

Today's episode takes us beyond our US borders and overseas to Europe where we hear from Natalia Simons , of Spanish and British ancestry, and her experiences growing up speaking Spanish in England.  We also talk with Juan Jose Almagro of Madrid Spain who has been an English as a Foreign Language teacher for 25 years. He talks about language teaching and learning, and his own creative jo...

Bilingual in America celebrates the great harvest of La Cosecha Educational Conference with out-of-the-box leaders and featured speakers Dr. Jose Medina and Luis Garcia. Listen in as they talk about equity, reparations, and indigenous language revitalization. Dr. José Medina provides educational consulting with a specific focus on meeting the needs of culturally & linguistically dive...

As we prepare to celebrate the 26th annual, La Cosecha Educational Conference, we speak to one of its founders, David Rogers. David is the executive director for Dual Language Education of New Mexico and talks with us about leadership, dual language education in terms of linguistic and cultural capital, as well as for the need for educational reform. La Cosecha is an internationally-recognized, du...

Welcome back, listeners and followers! A new season brings a new lens. A time to grow… reflect…. And tell more stories. A time to celebrate the work that forwards conversations…. A time to establish new partnerships. And a time to renew hope as we listen to Aura, an English as a New Language teacher, tell her story of challenges, breakthroughs, and impact. #speakyourbeauty!

In our anniversary month , we relaunch our very first episode - Speak Your Beauty - the episode that set the tone and purpose. May you find threads of connection, courage, and compassion as you listen. Bilingual in America is officially on summer break and in true educator fashion, we will use this time to slow down, recharge, and plan for the year ahead. Until then.... speak your truth...speak yo...

Newcomer Centers have been known as places that acknowledge diversity as a resource and recognize the individual customs and traditions each child brings to their new community.  It is an integral first step for children arriving from countries, around the world with little or no English language proficiency. Newcomer Center Programs help students become familiar with...

Many questions come to mind when the topic of ASL (American Sign Language) as a foreign language is brought up. People often ask if it is appropriate to call ASL a foreign language. Is it really a language? Others may note that foreign language courses teach students about the culture of the group of people who use the language. The answers to all of these questions support the recognition of ASL...

As we continue to address the reality of the pandemic and the impact it has had on bilingual students and their families we learn how some families were able to return “home” for safety during an uncertain time while others had to trust in their child’s instructional home, the school, to make it safely through. Covid may have isolated us but we saw educational borders extended, new instructional f...

To say that Covid has changed the world of education… is an understatement. Educators have been thrust into an evoloutionary shift of blended instruction, whether they were ready or not. As we continue to traverse in this world of learning and technology, how do we move forward? Lucy Roman, who has served as an Instructional Technology Coordinator and Media Specialist in a major school district gi...

There have been reports throughout the country about attacks on Asian Americans since the COVID 19 pandemic began. According to Russell John, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University, the number of incidents began to rise sharply after the Coronavirus was called the "Chinese" virus. Today, we speak to guests who are living through this. They share their bilingual stori...

In today’s segment, we explore the topic:2nd  Language learning and special education support. Can it happen successfully, simultaneously? This has been a long-standing conversation. In conversing with Eliana Fernandez , a special educator with more than 30 years of experience who has worked with infants, elementary school students, middle school children, parents, and teachers alike, as well...

Enrique Moras , originally from Uruguay, is an enthusiast of children’s literature and is a man on a mission. He founded Syncretic Press in 2017, an independent publisher of children’s books, in order to provide authentic, high-quality children’s books in Spanish to readers in the United States. To help ensure these books get to all different children, he partners with school districts and no...

Today we are honored to speak with Dr. Christopher Clouet appointed by then-Commissioner Dr. Miguel A. Cardona (now Secretary of Education in the Biden Administration). Dr. Chris Clouet joined the Connecticut State Department of Education last March, as a special advisor to the Commissioner dedicated to stakeholder engagement and supporting the success of school districts. As a superintendent of s...

Jessica O’Donovan , Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in NC, has taught English as a Foreign Language in Japan, English as a New Language in Massachusetts and New York, worked as a staff developer for NYSED, and worked as the director of dual language and ESL programs in the northeast.  With her vast experience in curriculum, instruction,...

Author and illustrator, Eric Velasquez earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and has illustrated over 30 children’s books. The many awards he has won include the NAACP Image Award and the Coretta-Scott King/John Steptoe Award. Eric has also authored and illustrated “Grandma’s Records”, inspired by his remembrances of Cortijo y Su Combo, a once-popular Latino music orchestra. Its follow-up...

This week, we offer a bonus bilingual episode! This is a first for BIA! Today’s episode includes an English segment and a Spanish segment. Suzanne spoke with the Principal of a Gifted and Talented DL HS in Texas, and the Principal of a language school in Colombia, South America.  Parents, here, ponder the question "should my child learn Spanish?", while parents in Colombia&nbsp...