WEBVTT - Bilingual Is My Superpower 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:05.000 Dear Latino USA listener, President Donald Trump has signed an 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:09.040 executive order making English the official language of the United 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.680 States for the first time in almost two hundred and 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:17.320 fifty years. The order says it quote recognizes and celebrates 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.479 the long tradition of multi lingual American citizens who have 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:25.119 learned English and passed it to their children for generations 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:29.240 to come. More than sixty million people in the United 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.640 States speak a language other than English at home, which 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:39.000 Spanish being that other language for over forty million residents 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.480 of this country. At Latino USA, where I and many 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.519 members of our staff speak Spanish at home, we celebrate 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.839 bilingualism and we're proud to pass our mother language on 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.480 to our children. Which is why, today, dear listener, we 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.040 want to bring you a very fitting story that celebrates 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.600 the preservation of language and culture. Here's a story called 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:07.920 bilingual Is My Superpower. It originally aired in twenty twenty three. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.240 I am in the studio with a very special guest 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:13.360 who I haven't seen in. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:14.640 A long time. 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.280 Hello, Hi, Maria. 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:21.039 I'm Mardine. It's so good to see you. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:32.800 S see yose To Norie. Our very special guest is 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.480 the son of our producer Gini. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.560 Montalvo say, let the t shirt, baby. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:39.679 I think I need to know what your t shirt says, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.119 because it's really cool. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.720 I'll read it for you. It says I'm bilingual. What's 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:46.760 your superpower? 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:52.960 I speak to languagees Spanish and English. 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:55.880 It is kind of like a superpower, don't you think? 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:56.480 Yes? 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:04.840 And guess what I'm by lingual too, Bud. So it 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.040 was back in twenty eighteen, Genie, that we did a 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:11.600 podcast that really looked at bilingualism and your family. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.040 Yes, you would have heard my son babbling at the time. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:20.840 Martine was like seven months at that point. Last so cute. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.880 And we talked about you and your brother, and we 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.440 talked about my kids, your kids, and we were talking 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:31.520 about language. Right, what is our first language when we 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.760 introduced another language? And so all right, here we are 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:39.840 five years later and I'm having full blown conversations with 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.519 your son in English and in Spanish. It's like adorable. 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.359 Which language do you like better? English or Spanish? 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:53.080 Spanish? Perro Quierro, I said, English is Spanish? 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.640 Losos? I think that's great. And guess what you can't? Yes? 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.400 And our decision. Last time you and I spoke, Maria 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.000 was one hundred percent Spanish at home, and so Martin did, 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.160 in fact, when in Spanish first, like me and your 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.080 kids and so many others borget espano. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:19.040 Ismas bonito qu yota spico. 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.880 So the good news is he got the Spanish since 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.120 he was little, and that really is so fabulous. But 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.840 what else has happened in these past several years? 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.800 We moved out of Queens to the Burbs and Martin 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:38.960 has a little sister, Syamrandi. Oh my god, I love that. 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.520 So is she speaking Spanish too correct? Here? She is 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:50.000 reading bluna? Oh? Yes, So we felt like this was 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.320 a big parenting win. They got the Spanish check But 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:57.680 plot twist from Martin. Something happened in March of twenty twenty, 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.760 right the pandemic, Yeah, exactly. Never in our wildest dreams 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.320 we have imagined that Martine would get stuck at home 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.840 with us with nothing but a window to a street 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.680 in Queen's. Martin was in a Spanish immersion program at 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.080 that time, so, along with zooms and FaceTime with the abuelos, 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.479 for all he knew then at two and a half, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.200 the world operated in Spanish. And well, because of that, 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:33.320 it meant Martin actually never learned English. 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.039 From Futuro Media and pr X. It's Latino Usa. I'm 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:43.760 marieno Hosa today. Bilingual is my superpower. GINI is going 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.120 to pick up the story from here. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.200 Is normal. My husband at n Esto and I have 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.000 always spoken Spanish to each other. He immigrated from Peru 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.440 in two thousand and nine, and I'm the child of 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.640 Dominican parents, so we just knew we would speak Spanish 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:12.440 to our kids. But nothing could have prepared us for 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.359 what our decision would mean amongst a pandemic and lockdown. 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.919 And We're not the only ones. So many children that 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.120 were forced to stay home for the past three years 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.799 were impacted by the loss of in person instruction. Kids 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.160 who were making progress and programs for English Language learners 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.960 as it's called in New York were now suddenly thrust 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.200 into virtual learning, back with their home language with little 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.960 to no support. In our case, moving to the urbs 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:40.880 with a newborn and a three year old brought its 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.040 own challenges, but in twenty twenty one, we decided it 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.159 was time to get Mutting out of the house. He 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.200 needed to socialize with other children, and at this point 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.800 he was three and a half, so kindergarten was on 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.159 the horizon. I personally never intended for Muchding to need 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:01.280 bilingual education or any English support. I was more prepared 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:02.880 for the day I would have to force him to 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.800 keep speaking Spanish. It was very important to me, a 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.920 child of immigrants with a bilingual upbringing, that he learned 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.479 English before kindergarten. I went through the public school system 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.520 in the South. I didn't take any tests, I didn't 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.880 have bilingual education, but I knew English by the time 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.960 I got to kindergarten because of where we lived. So 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.760 I just wanted him to be solid before he got there. 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.160 So we did what people have been doing for decades. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.200 We put him in daycare in English. Two weeks after 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.200 starting full time, we got called to a meeting. You guys, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.560 educators have The director began to share their concern Medding 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.120 repeats with the staff. Says, and we don't see that 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.840 in his age, he's acting out, he's hitting people, and 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:55.120 that he hums. Though that's my husband at NISTO incredibly 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.800 surprised that humming is an issue because we're both musicians 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.880 and that for my being at least the humming seemed 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.080 to be a product of that. But the humming in 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:09.040 conjunction with the other behavior, the pushing, the hitting, the repetition. 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.760 The staff was suggesting that maybe he was on the 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.760 spectrum all the time. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.480 We'll do as well as pictorum. 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.480 Matting has always had issues with change. He takes longer 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.720 to adapt to things. In this case, we moved, he 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.160 had a new sister, and he's in a new daycare 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.840 where he doesn't speak the language. We had explicitly told 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.880 this daycare when we first approached the school that Martin 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.200 did not speak English. They assured us that they were 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.880 equipped to handle bilingual children. And look, we would be 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.760 naive to say that Matting is perfect. He can be 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.400 a handful, but we knew in our hearts Martin wasn't 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.280 on the spectrum because before the pandemic he had been 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.120 in a Spanish immersion school and did fine. At the 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.040 same time, we've never been opposed to having our son evaluated. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.560 We were in constant communication with our pediatricians, but things 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.679 pediatrician and queens even told us he'd been receiving calls 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.240 like this almost weekly because of the return to in 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.520 person care. He said, imagine, it's like you dropped your 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.560 kid in a daycare in China, it's like that drastic 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.960 of a change. He's been home for an entire year. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.320 He does not know how to socialize. He's not seen 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.360 another kid at his age for an entire year. None 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.640 of the other kids were bilingual, and honestly, no two 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.800 toddlers are going to react the same way to things. 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.079 So the daycare solution was to put us on a 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.200 behavioral plan, which was a plan to put specific techniques 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.720 in place and monitor progress. Yet they didn't give us 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.240 time to show progress because we were traveling for the 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.160 bulk of the time frame. Even though they knew that, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.480 they said they could no longer work with us after 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.800 a certain date. In essence, they wanted a three year 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.360 old to show progress in one week. We knew this 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.440 wouldn't work. Thus it just became clear they didn't want 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.040 to help him and they didn't want us there. We 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:01.760 still had a full year and a half before we 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.319 entered the public school system, which at that point I 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.719 believed had systems in place to help him. But what 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.280 were we supposed to do until then? When my thing 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.480 was born, I didn't know that this journey would be 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.960 so hard, But as I've found with many parenting decisions. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.040 It would require a lot of introspection. Am I doing 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.920 the right thing for my child? Is this happening because 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.400 he can't speak English? Is my decision going to affect 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.640 him negatively? Is there actually something wrong with him and 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.559 maybe two languages are holding him back? And so I 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.160 at least left the meeting feeling defeated, stressed, and worried 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.640 about what was next. I couldn't believe this was twenty 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.200 twenty one and we were still in multicultural New York. 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:54.080 This wasn't supposed to happen here. New York is supposed 0:09:54.080 --> 0:10:02.280 to be different. So I started to look for answers 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:06.400 for me. That meant looking through history. And it all 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.000 started when I heard an episode of The Bowery Boys 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:10.840 podcast on the New Yorrekan migration. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:15.040 Ominously, the New York State Chamber of Commerce took aim 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:20.599 at Puerto Rican children, commissioning intelligence tests, then determining that 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:25.160 Puerto Rican children were sub normal and would quote deteriorate 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:30.079 standards already so seriously impaired by mass immigration of the 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:34.400 lowest levels of populations of many nations unquote. 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.320 What struck me was that these children were given tests 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.800 in a language they could barely speak, and because they 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.199 didn't perform well on the tests, they were labeled subnormal. 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.640 Here I was, nearly a century later, being told there 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.160 was something wrong with our child simply because of a 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.959 language barrier, and he was on the verge of being 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.480 kicked out because of it. The study and its ripple 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.360 effects I learned thereafter became my security blanket, and so 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.600 I continued deeper into Spanish speaking New York and bilingual 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.480 education history, hoping that somewhere in that history was the 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.199 answer to how to properly teach your kiddle language. 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.880 My parents came from Puerto Rico, going into the nineteen thirties. 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:20.720 They married in nineteen thirty five, and I was born 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:21.800 the year after. 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.559 Virginia Sanchez Corole is Professor Emerita at the Department of 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.960 Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College, Virginia entered 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.079 the school system a couple of years after the study 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:33.760 was published. 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.160 We all spoke Spanish. The school was the place where 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.199 you were suddenly introduced to English. 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.480 There was validation. Even almost one hundred years ago, people 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.199 were dropping their kids in school to learn English. So 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.520 we had done nothing wrong as parents back then and 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:56.040 today these communities easily thrived and functioned fully in Spanish. 0:11:57.960 --> 0:11:59.640 If you know a bit about the history of New 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.920 York's you'll know that the city has been home to 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:06.319 waves of immigration from all over the globe, German, Irish, Italian, 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.400 Eastern European, you name it. They all passed through Ellis Island, 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.120 and in the late nineteen twenties, through the Great Depression, 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:18.360 the city also received Spanish speaking residents, namely from Puerto Rico. 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.920 So receiving people who speak different languages is nothing new 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:26.280 for the city, and yet at the same time, psychological 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.760 tests were accepted tools for improving the educational process. 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:37.240 IQ tests were geared too an American ideal, and for 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.160 kids that were coming from different parts of the world, 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:45.360 they did not recognize elements of American culture that might 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:46.360 appear on the test. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.439 The tests were biased because you could score incorrectly on 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.839 a question for something you may have never seen in 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.080 your life, and you may also not even speak the language. 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.600 You have to look at the atmosphere and the ambiance 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:06.880 which these people are operating. You have to factor that 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.880 into whatever tests are being given to students and schools. 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:19.040 Intelligence tests have been used in very negative ways against 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:20.280 groups of people. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.880 Doctor Ada Nevades Latore is Associate professor and Chair of 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.280 the Curriculum and Teaching Division at Fortum's Graduate School of Education. 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.360 Her research focuses on multi lingual education to. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.360 Keep them oppressed, to deny opportunities to grow and to develop, 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.959 and to really enact the promise of being individuals that 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.880 can contribute to this society. 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.520 The US enacted a law to limit immigration in those 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.400 early decades, but Puerto Ricans were US citizens, and so 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.800 this country was going to find another way to make 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.600 their case for limiting entry to this group of people, 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.120 like this study that caught my attention on the Bowery 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:06.240 Boys podcast. Nineteen thirty five, a Special Committee on Immigration 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.640 and Naturalization published its reaction and results to a study 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.719 done on Puerto Rican children from the previous year. It 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.680 gave IQ test to over two hundred children at one 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.520 specific school in Spanish Harlem. The researchers intended to give 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.040 a non verbal test since they knew language would be 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.360 a factor, but for some one hundred children, they use 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.720 the verbal test because it was allegedly more accurate. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:34.000 Any verbal tests or even non verbal tests given to 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.000 non speakers of the language of a test becomes a 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:41.240 language test, not an intelligence test. If students do not 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.920 understand what's being asked for them to answer, then you're 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:52.200 not testing intelligence. What you're testing is language proficiency, because 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.200 before they can do the task, they have to understand 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:56.880 the language. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.720 The IQ tests were an appendix and a larger study 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.400 dealing with immigration control. The committee in the nineteen thirties 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:08.760 was looking to prove that Puerto Rico was not sending 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.840 its best, they were bringing crime. It reminded me a 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.760 bit of the rhetoric we've been hearing today. I started 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:17.520 to zoom out a bit and reflect on what all 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.520 this meant. These tests, like I said, were designed to 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.480 set the students up for failure. As a parent, it's 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.920 disappointing to hear that whatever agenda these people had, they 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.680 decided the best way to make their case was through children, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.760 children who want to learn and grow. And never did 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:43.040 anything to these people except exist exist in Spanish. Despite 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.360 the obvious issues with the study itself, the final blanket 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.600 statement was that these Spanish speaking students were inferior, they 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.760 were below their uspers, and they should not be allowed 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.320 entry to the United States. And like we heard earlier, 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.360 they don't want them to quote to tear or eight 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:07.040 standards already impaired by mass immigration. Here's Virginia again. 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:13.080 The adjustment issues became prominent in the school system because 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.040 the school system had to find a way to deal 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.360 with this influx of new students. 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.840 When Virginia entered the school system in the early forties, 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.400 there was no bilingual education. Then we knew we had 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:26.360 to assimilate. 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.200 It was kind of a hidden way of telling you 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.600 that the language and the culture that you were born 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.359 into and that the language as you spoke was inferior. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.000 You had to get rid of it. That was the 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:39.920 only way that you were going to succeed. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.760 The kids who couldn't assimilate, or didn't test well on 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.480 the IQ test, or simply didn't do well in the 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.360 classroom because of language. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:52.800 Teachers began to recommend that these kids who had a 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.440 language issue would be put into remediation classes. 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:00.320 Virginia told me remediation classes for what we would consider 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.520 special education today. While special education classes were a needed 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.960 resource for many children, it also became a funnel point 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:13.359 for children deemed problematic or simply those who needed better 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.119 English instruction, and the teacher suggested it because it was 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.040 easier because it was the only thing they knew to do. 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.119 Doctor Latore, again, they do. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.720 Not understand acquisition of a language other than English. They 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:35.760 take hold of the first thing or the explanation that 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:40.440 is closest to them, rather than continue to investigate. 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.080 And so we've arrived at this idea that instead of 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:49.000 considering language or why a child may be having difficulty, 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.560 we jump to the conclusion that a child needs special education, 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.600 rather than try to meet this child where they are 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.600 and dig to find out what is the issue at hand. 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.879 This sadly starts to sound familiar with what we were 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:10.600 going through with Martin. He wasn't like this before, you know, 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:12.880 and then he didn't have him until he started coming here. 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.119 So I don't really know what to tell you. Our 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.080 original daycare called us on the Monday after our meeting 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.159 to pick up Martin because they couldn't take care of 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:26.040 him that day. We don't know what we talk from about. 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.439 After it became clear that they were not a good 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.439 fit for us, we decided to pull Martin from the program. 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.679 Here we are the day after Arnesta and I went 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.520 in and gave the director a piece of our mind. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.200 Instead of this being a devastating moment, we were confident. 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.680 We had spoken to his doctors and educational psychologists. The 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.040 consensus was, in fact, that Martin was acting out because 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.840 he couldn't communicate with the other children, and this behavior 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:02.639 was how he communicated. It wasn't right, but he didn't 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.120 know otherwise. We knew that Martin's behavior wasn't a reflection 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.720 of his ability to learn or his intelligence. Intelligence isn't 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.639 based on the ability to speak English. Kind of like 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:16.920 Sophia Ergara said in Modern Family. 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:19.720 You know how frustrating it is to have to translate 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.639 everything in my head before I say it? 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:24.360 Do you even know how smart I am in Spanish? 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.200 Deciding to pull Martin from his daycare was still scary, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.119 but it was the only option for us. We no 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:39.200 longer felt comfortable taking our son there, But here we were. 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:45.359 We still needed childcare and Martin still needed to learn English. 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:48.600 Was there a light at the end of the tunnel 0:19:48.680 --> 0:20:00.640 for us and the kids? In my history? Lesson? Coming 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:01.040 up on that? 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.080 You know us say, how does New York's history help 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.920 Genie navigate the school system? As Martine embraces English as 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:30.720 a new language, stay with us not Bayes, Hey, We're back, 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.120 and Before the Break, producer Genie Montalbo explained the unexpected 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:39.840 challenges her son Martine faced as a Spanish speaking child 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:43.879 entering school in New York City. To better navigate the system, 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.280 Genie went on a trip through history and was surprised 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:48.359 by what she found. 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.000 She's going to pick up the story from here. I 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.560 don't know about the rest of you bilingual folks, but 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.679 for me, it's very weird to speak Spanish or English 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.480 to specific people. Why I can't speak English to my 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.600 husband and I can't speak Spanish to my brother, and 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.960 so the same thing now happens with my kids. It's 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.080 weird for me to speak in anything but Spanish to 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.320 them and English. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.080 No perun school is in English, lacasa is. 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:22.600 So it was no surprise to me the day that 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:24.480 I sat down to try to help Martin with his 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:26.640 homework that he had some strong feelings. 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:33.200 No an englis simbri alo espanol aki. 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.480 He's become mega ultraspecific about when and where we speak 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.040 either language, almost like the one parent, one language technique 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.520 to teach your child the language. Martin now associates Spanish 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.040 with home and English with school. He's even at the 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.359 extreme that he won't let us watch movies in English. 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.920 I grew up on English language content. You couldn't change 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.600 the language on your streaming device. I have had to 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:03.240 rewatch every single movie and Disney movie in Spanish. All 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:07.840 I want to do is seeing Tomorrow from Annie Mamma 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:13.960 Ryana Yera, but I've had to relearn it all in Spanish. 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:18.879 This process has been hard for me as well, because 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:20.800 at some point in my life the English took over 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:24.680 and became more dominant. I actively chose Spanish on a 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:29.480 daily basis. Anyone who's flipped languages knows this can be exhausting, 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:32.000 but I do it because I want to keep my 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.040 own fluency and because I want my kids to be solid. 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:37.919 Like I said, I'm preparing myself for that day they 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:41.200 say to me, I don't want to speak Spanish because 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:44.240 I'm sure that day will come, and if it does, 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:48.320 it's okay. But until then this will all be good 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.200 for me and us. But things vocabulary in Spanish is 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.840 often better than mine. That day we were at the 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:58.520 kitchen table. He told me English was only for school, 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:00.840 so I asked him how he was going to learn 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:01.400 to read. 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:12.640 In las cuela, No aki solo no ipa ig cordita 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.000 solon in ascueila. 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.160 Mom and dad and sister, we're not allowed to speak 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.119 English at home, and I guess that's how we'll operate 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.680 until we decide otherwise. I had a lot of mom 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:28.920 guilt surrounding dropping my thing into the deep end of 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.119 the pool. It made everything that was going on in 0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:35.280 the daycare worse because on some level it felt like 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.240 we had chosen that for him, and that's why he 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.280 was having a hard time. My only consolation was that 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.000 a century of people I was learning about had done 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:49.320 exactly that, and they were all functioning adults. It made 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:54.679 me feel less alone in this journey. But how did 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.720 we get there? What happened after that infamous study In 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:02.280 the thirties, I thought English was taught separately, like some 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.840 of the transitional bilingual ED classes today. That model was 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:08.840 something I learned was used a lot in the fifties 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.280 and the sixties. The thinking was if you taught Spanish 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:15.160 speaking students English first, then you could move them into 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.920 the classroom. Doctor Latore, Again. 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:23.080 When you do that, students are not learning about science, 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:24.760 mass social studies. 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.040 How again are we acquiring language when you separate it 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:31.600 from classroom content. Even the language you use at home 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:34.320 is different when you use it at school, kind of 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:38.439 like how Martin compartmentalized language spoken at home versus school. 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:41.440 And so in the past, when those kids returned to 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:45.160 the classroom because now they supposedly knew English, they. 0:24:45.080 --> 0:24:49.399 Were quiet again. Why because they had not learned in 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:51.280 that language classroom. 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:55.000 And because the teachers weren't actually trained in how language develops. 0:24:55.960 --> 0:25:00.359 Many teachers saw, but wait a second. This child knows 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:05.720 English because he can communicate perfectly with me, but he 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:10.679 cannot learn math. He's behind in science, he cannot write 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:16.000 a composition in English language arts. So therefore there must 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:17.760 be something wrong with their brain. 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:22.560