Hello everyone!
My name is Bianca

My name is Liberty

Hi I’m Annie!

My name is Anu

We hope everyone is doing well.

A major topic we discussed in this course is translanguaging.

Translanguaging is defined as “utilizing more than one language within a classroom lesson or it can be used to describe the way bilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around them” . In one of the first videos we watched in this class, a professor of urban education named Ofelia Garcia defined translanguaging as the “ use of the children’s full linguistic repertoire to make meaning without thinking of the fact that they have one language that is different from the other”.

One may ask why we would translanguage in a classroom. However, our answer to this would be that we want to normalize translanguaging and support our bilingual students no matter what! (accommodation)! All of us are pursuing a degree currently to become teachers. As teachers, we are going to have many different students, all of unique backgrounds. All of these students are going to make our classrooms so special! However, these students may not be used to a traditional way of teaching. In other words, we cannot expect all of our students to speak English. For instance, when creating lesson plans we think it’s a great idea to incorporate little bits of the languages that our students speak. In the beginning of each year, when first getting to know our students, language is going to be very important in the opening discussion. Our idea is to have each of our students write down the language they are most comfortable with and put it into a container. We will then read over all papers and identify the languages of our students. Thus, we will translanguage these languages into our lesson plans. This is not the only way translanguaging will be used! Gonna pass it over to my fellow future teacher: Annie

I completely agree with Bianca! Translanguaging is going to be used in many other ways! The other way we will use translanguaging in our classroom is through an interactive lesson! We will pair up students who speak different languages. We will have these two students come up with a lesson based on a topic that we discussed in class while using the two languages they speak. This lesson gives them complete freedom to add whatever they want to their lesson, while getting to know each other and their backgrounds.

Anu
Absolutely Bianca and Annie! This was clearly shown when we met with our partners for the virtual exchange project. We were each paired with a student whose native language is not the same as ours! At first we were intimidated by this because we thought it would be very difficult to communicate! But we were wrong! Don’t you think, Liberty?

Liberty
We were definitely wrong! We had so many amazing resources that helped us make this experience easy, manageable and enjoyable! When first talking to our partners, we spoke slowly and steadily! We wanted to see our partners’ comfort levels and preferences when speaking with us. When they got comfortable with us, they started to become more confident with speaking another language. The experiences we had speaking to our partners made us think about ways we will translanguage in our classrooms. Bianca is gonna be talking more about some of the ways we’ll translanguage.

Bianca
Thanks Liberty! I wanted to just let everyone know that even if you think you are unfamiliar with translanguaging, you most likely are not! This may be surprising but you have heard translanguaging in car rides while listening to the radio! I was reminded of the first song that I heard in the car that incorporated two languages: English and Spanish. The song “despacito” has been a very influential bilingual song. Not only does it have a catchy tune, but it also brings people together by connecting cultural values and backgrounds. We are now going to play this song.
INSERT : https://youtu.be/whwe0KD_rGw

Annie
We hope you all enjoyed that song and the translanguaging of the lyrics! This song and the many songs that incorporate more than one language inspired us. We know that many students use music as a form of expression. We want to incorporate music in our classroom no matter what and we think it would be beneficial to have our students enter our classroom feeling happy and excited. Walking into class each day with a song playing in a different language is an easy and entertaining way to incorporate translanguaging.

Anu
In addition to having a song being played we will have a song workshop for our students. We will pair up a couple of students together and have each group create a song together. They will use their knowledge of their own languages and create a song that is meaningful to them. After each group creates their song, we will place all of the songs on a playlist. The songs that these students create will be played while they engage in do-now activities. The activities and ideas we have come up with will keep our students engaged, while at the same time having fun! We will transition to our personal experiences when it comes to translanguaging in the classroom! On to you Liberty!

Liberty
Thank you Anu! Reflecting on our own experiences is something so powerful and special! In order to get as much clarity as we can we conducted interviews within our group. I interviewed Bianca to hear about her experience in the classroom when it comes to translanguaging. Bianca describes her experience in the classroom as very special because of the multiple languages she learned. From kindergarten to 6th grade Bianca went to a private Jewish school. She learned Hebrew and English equally growing up. There was equal time designated to both Hebrew and English in her school. She never felt like one language was more important than the other because her school valued more than just one language. Bianca, do you have anything else you want to say about your experience?

Bianca
Yes! I just wanted to add learning another language when I was growing up was a huge privilege. I felt so accepted and valued no matter what language I was speaking. I want my students to feel the same way! I then interviewed Annie to see her perspective and experience with translanguaging through her high school. She had a lot of experience with the Spanish language from middle school to high school, learning new vocabulary words, names, conjugating verbs and going all the way to formulating different sentences. It was a more gradual process for her, but it is an important skill to have going further in life in order to promote diversity.

Annie
Anu offered a different perspective when it came to translanguaging in the classroom. Anu grew up in a white-dominated southern school in which she was the only Indian there. English was the standard language and Punjabi was a language that did not go beyond her home. Anu said that she felt upset that she was not able to see her language represented in class and for a short time was becoming disconnected from her language. Anu wants to make it a priority that her students do not feel disconnected from their culture and that is why translanguaging will be incorporated into the classroom.

Anu
I had the chance to interview Liberty, who has been working on becoming fluent in Spanish for 5 years. She began learning Spanish in high school. At first she had been intimidated by those who were already fluent in Spanish, but she learned over time that it’s better to talk with and get to know someone who is fluent in another language, so they can help you learn and create new bonds with people you might not have shared something in common with before. Liberty is no longer embarrassed about trying to pronounce words or learning the language, and feels like having Spanish speaking friends has helped her overcome this. She wants all of her students to know that there is nothing embarrassing about learning a new language or struggling with it, as long as you continue trying!

After interviewing one another, we learned not only a lot about ourselves but also about each other. We all have very unique linguistic backgrounds and experiences when it comes to translanguaging. We look forward to the days that we meet our students of several backgrounds and not only teach them something but also learn from them. Teaching is both a learning process and experience, and we are positive that our classroom would normalize and appreciate our students' unique backgrounds!

We want to thank you all for listening and we hope this was informative as well as beneficial.

תודה לכולכם על ההקשבה (Thank you all for listening)
¡Les agradecemos a todos! (We appreciate you all)

Tuhāḍā dina bodh changa raya
Adios

(Thank you for listening, we appreciate you all! Have a great day!)