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After approximately ten years as a bilingual teacher, I have noticed a discrepancy within the bilingual education world. Bilingual personnel understand the value native language has for emergent multilingual students, yet an outstanding population in education believe that native language instruction and support is harming the acquisition of the second language. The innovation plan that I am proposing includes strategies that will allow emergent bilinguals to gain their second language without compromising the teaching in native language (Mollitor, 2024).  

 

 

Four Key Search Strategies

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In the text by Grenny et al, Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, the reader is presented with a four step search strategy (2013). The text and strategy focuses on creating leaders who “influence others to change their behavior in order to achieve important results” (p.6). As a former bilingual student myself, I cannot emphasize enough my success being on the use of my native language. Teachers of multilingual students had a similar experience as my own or the students they serve. To become leaders in our field, it is prudent to recall our experience and analyze those of current bilingual students. By using the search strategies, we can organize our cause productively: the steps are to notice the obvious, look for crucial moments, learn from positive deviants, and spot culture busters (p. 47).

1. Noticing the Obvious. When teaching monolinguals, not one teacher will deliver a whole lesson in an unfamiliar language. It defeats the purpose. If the recipient cannot understand what is being said, how will they learn? It is uncanny that this reality is not applied to emergent bilinguals. Moses et al describes the miss perception of bilingual students best, they are seen as “two monolinguals in one person, completely separating [their] languages” (2021, p. 291). Continuously seeing bilingual students' languages as different entities with no commonality will continue to procrastinate their academics as well as their mindset and self perception. It is important to “recognize behaviors that are obvious” such as using native language to further student knowledge and establish a sense of belonging even though it is “underused” (Grenny et. al, 2016, p.47). 

2. Looking for crucial moments. In a study done by Sanchez, Menken and Pappas, where they observed the difference between two New York campuses' approach to bilingual education (2022). One focused on incorporating bilingual best practices while the other used an English-only curriculum. The end result left administration acknowledging that the most impactful factor is the “years of neglect” towards bilingual education (2022, p 298). This leads to the crucial moments needed to explore the breakdown in bilingual education. The crucial moment is lesson planning. Bilingual teachers are faced consistently with drawbacks when planning lessons. For example, my experience lesson planning has been spending time converting monolingual curriculum to fit bilingual students. During this planning, I have to find or create authentic Spanish resources that align with both the curriculum and the Spanish language norms. Considering the amount of time used to plan just the core concept it is no wonder that deliberate activities for vocabulary, translanguaging, and second language enrichment are left to chance. 

3. Learning from positive deviants. My proposal is inspired by Beeman and Urow book that emphasizes the intentional incorporation of translanguaging activities; my plan will develop this concept and test its effectiveness. The book lists several activities that can be used to bridge the vocabulary using cognates as a tool to increase emergent bilinguals understanding of the second language. 

4. Spotting culture busters. A frustration amongst my bilingual peers is the lack of care demonstrated by monolingual administrators. Bilingual teachers partake in training sessions that focus on the importance of native language in education.; however, these training sessions are not shared out of professional development. To combat those that believe in English-only teaching, bilingual teachers need more support. They need individuals that constantly research education programs, practices and innovations that work for the current demographic of students. We need individuals that will search and implement authentic resources; that have a hand in creating an immersed biliterate curriculum. Giving teachers a support system with well armed leaders will impact the culture and acceptance of native language. 

 

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Six Sources of Influence

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Alongside the four key search strategies, to become a successful influencer to a cause one has to dive into the six sources of influence. The source includes two major categories divided in three subcategories of equal importance. Primary categories are motivation and ability. When motivation is absent, the participants will be reluctant to try and strive for change. As influencers, we need to make our motivation contagious to others, then we work on abilities. Once everyone is onboard, the distribution and honing of abilities will fall in place. The next stage is attacking the personal, social, and structural components of each. 

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1. Personal Motivation: There is a misconception in the world of emergent bilinguals. In fact the good behavior of teaching content in a student’s native language feels bad while bad behavior, like ignoring native language or concentrating on a second language only  feels good (2016, p. 78). It would seem like teaching English only to bilingual students would give desired results as it does with monolinguals. After all, if it works for them, it should work for all. Unfortunately, this sentiment is far from the truth because bilingual students are considered bilingual upon arrival to a new country. More often than not, emergent bilinguals are monolinguals of a different language, they are forced to be bilingual. With this clarification, we must understand that learning concepts will be easier in their native language as it is for ‘monolinguals’ here. 

2. Personal Ability: It is not plausible to expect bilingual teachers to reinvent the curriculum or find authentic sources when districts have their own restrictions and plans. What can be done by teachers is the focus of native support. After advocating it, we take action. In the classroom, teachers will modify their lessons to meet students' needs in native language while allowing for translanguaging opportunities. 

3. Social Motivation: It is not surprising that bilingual teachers are the pillars for a successful bilingual education, any research proves that. However, why are these individuals not participating in the decisions that mostly affect those they serve daily? Curriculum, implementation, and professional development need former emergent bilinguals, those who have experienced and cultivated a growth mindset towards second language acquisition. Emergent bilinguals have more than just academics to be concerned with, they have social emotional stressors that can shape the person they become. For example, before I moved to Puerto Rico I was a social butterfly. I have the teacher's letters to prove it. After moving to the island, I could not communicate with my peers, nor my family. I didn’t know the language. It was difficult making friends without being able to talk. As bilingual individuals we need to promote growth in all aspects of bilingual education. We need to encourage fellow teachers and grow to become coaches, leaders, and activists for the education experience of emergent bilinguals.

4. Social Ability: I have met several teachers that have phenomenal ideas and guard as if they were a CIA classified mission. This unfortunate event occurs for different reasons; they are not sure about their work and are embarrassed to present it, or they think it is common knowledge, or they have been shut down so many times before that it is futile to share. The problem these teachers are having is who they are sharing it with. Share your ideas with your peers that want the same outcome as you do. Create an ePortfolio or a blog. Do not just present a polished masterpiece; give the rest of those in the community a case line. Collaboration and feedback is more beneficial than a fool proof plan. The community should explore what worked, what can be elevated to the next level, and what oversight happened. Afterwards the community can present the results to their inner circles or expand it even further via leading professional developments. I mentioned promotions. The goal should be paving the way for bilingual education to grow in all venues of education, not just the classroom. By helping one another, we can contribute to the community's success. 

5. Structural Motivation: When using the means to deliver and share lessons and activities, there will be an increase in teacher retention and development. Emergent bilingual students are not the only ones with stressors. Removing the desperation to create plans that fit the curriculum, teachers will be able to tap into a repertoire of activities, resources, and experiences. Expeditating the time consuming portion of planning allows for concentrated modeling, scaffolding, and data collection. Teachers will become leaders in their fields supported by a community of researchers and developers of emergent bilingual education. What cannot happen is becoming exhausted, feeling exploited, and burned out. When this happens the derailing of efficient teaching occurs. As a community, we have to keep each other accountable. The idea is to help someone like themselves: passionate, driven, and perseverent. 

6. Structural Ability: The teaching part has to be in native language. It is a waste of time and effort to teach outside of the dominant language; teachers will spend more time spiraling skills than creating enrichment. Small groups and intervention has to be in native language. Eliminate the strain translating takes on emergent bilinguals. It is exhausting, derailing, and can cause misunderstandings. Teach the way that takes more time for ownership of learning rather than surviving a lesson. Programs that have a language of the day that forces students and teachers to use one language over the other make conversing unnatural. Allow for code switching and language fused words like ‘lunche’. There is no need to degrade or under appreciate creativity, language is fluid. To see the fruit of your labor, incorporate at least one 15 minute translanguaging activity. Teach students to rely on their native language and support it with cognates. This will grow confidence and lessen the burden of limited conversation. Finally retrieve data via translanguaging activities, in Texas use TELPAS, and  exit ticket. Combine the data with classroom observations where the use of a second language will be more relaxed. 

 

​To create a successful education system for emergent bilinguals, we have to partake in the number one best practice, collaboration. If we expect students to collaborate, then it should be expected from us. No one understands bilingual education like those that lived it.The shared experiences are the driving force behind the community. We have felt out of place, the need to belong, the frustrations of feeling belittled or misjudged; yet, we also felt the joy of making a long lasting connection with others, the pride of persering and graduating, the overwhelming excitement to be the person we are today. It is time for a promotion. No longer managing bilingual education, rather crafting the best teaching environment possible (Sinek, 2009).

 

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