Championing Equitable Education within Your Community

language teacher talking to her students in a classroom The article, “Immigration and Language Diversity in the United States,”  delineates how the history of linguistic diversity in the U.S. has ebbed and flowed throughout time. Long before English settlers arrived, there were many distinct languages spoken in Native American communities in North America. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were an estimated 10 million people (approximately 10% of the population) who spoke a language other than English, which was influenced by immigration and slavery. With cultural assimilation and resistance to speaking any language other than English, the U.S. was virtually rendered monolingually English in the 1970s. Fast forward about 50 years, and the linguistic tides have turned again with a reported 60 million non-English speakers living and working in the U.S., of which 37 million are Spanish speakers. What does that mean for the education industry and championing equitable pathways to promote a linguistically diverse learning environment?

For a parent, student, or active community member, it can be challenging to know where to start in determining how to serve and make a meaningful difference due to the complexities of navigating the education system. Imagine trying to navigate this system when your native language is not English, and your previous knowledge about learning environments and educational systems may differ from the way children are educated in the U.S. This was the experience of Johanna López, the first Latina elected as a member of the Orange County Public School (OCPS) Board in Florida in 2018, and a recent guest on our podcast series, “Language is Your Superpower.”

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Johanna was a schoolteacher on the island, where she taught in Spanish. When she relocated to Orlando, Florida, her English proficiency was limited, but that did not dissuade her from going after her goal of getting back into the classroom. Her language acquisition journey has been a 20-year learning experience that has required her to also figure out how to navigate the U.S. educational system and how to advocate for equitable pathways for students that are learning English as a second language.

There are 3 ways you can become an education champion like School Board Member Johanna López:

1.     Research the U.S. Department of Education website. Learn about the mission, goals, and objectives of the department as well as the structure, which includes School Boards, state contacts, and budgets as well as resources for parents, teachers, educators, and community members. Additionally, the website has language assistance in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, and Russian.

2.     Advocate for education policy changes that support language diversity. In the 2019 report, “Making Languages Our Business” by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), they recommend that world languages be treated as a discipline much like others such as science, technology, math, etc.: “A command in multiple languages is a valuable asset for U.S. students and employees—not only in boosting their marketability in the workplace, but in helping them thrive in a global economy.” (p. 3) The research findings in the 2019 report indicate a “significant implication for education policy.” Therefore, U.S. policy makers should be encouraged to prioritize language education due to the growing demand and competitive advantage it provides.

3.     Utilize Your Language Superpower. If you are proficient in one or more languages, consider being a liaison for your local School Board, public school, or other educational institution. As a bilingual or multilingual person, you can certify your language skills with ACTFL assessments through LTI. This will not only provide a boost to your credibility to serve as an intermediary, but it will also help you be viewed as a valuable resource to your community.

As the U.S. becomes more diverse, the need for linguistically diverse learning environments is critical in education for future generations. By doing some research, reaching out to local leaders, and actively serving your community, you can utilize your language superpower and become a champion for equitable education.

For more information on how you can become certified for your language proficiency, visit Language Testing International.

Tune in to the podcast with Johanna López here.

Source:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092008/

ESOL Teacher Carried to Victory by Hopeful Students

young teacher holding a Success sign How the hope of representation inspired ESOL students to overcome language barriers and carry their teacher to victory

At Language Testing International, we see the powers of language learning manifest in all different forms, and a person’s decision to improve their language skills can be in response to a multitude of reasons—especially when there is a sense of urgency to do so. Even more powerful than an individual motivated by urgency is the collective power of a group of individuals who are all motivated by the same urgency and work together towards a common goal.

We heard an incredible example of this when we were joined by special guest Johanna López in a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast.

After being named Teacher of the Year in 2017 by Florida’s Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), Johanna López became a member of the county’s School Board. She was the first Latina to attain such a prestigious role via landslide vote in 2018. It was the culmination of a strategic campaign fully managed by her former students coupled with an impeccable career as an educator and advocate for marginalized youth.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Ms. López moved to Orlando, FL to escape her difficult situation and seek better opportunities for herself. As a disenfranchised Latina woman, Ms. López is fully aware that she has been tasked by the community she has served for over two decades to be the eyes, ears, and voice of students, parents, and educators—especially those who look like her and who experience the most disparities. To many, including Ms. López, the announcement of her campaign to become a School Board member meant something far bigger than just a position on the board. It meant the voices of an underserved and underrepresented population could finally have one of their own get a seat at the table.

Ms. López points out the uphill battle that she and her students had to face throughout the campaign, because of their noticeable accent when speaking in English. “So, it was a project because with my accent, I had to set an example to them, so they’d feel comfortable enough to knock on those doors and try their best to speak English to the community that speaks English, because we also have a big community that speaks Spanish as well, but the majority were English speakers,” said López.

Fortunately, Ms. López’s students were up to the challenge and, in many cases, were surprised by the response from neighborhood residents. A few of the students “even have stories of senior citizens crying at their door when they’d see that the [students] were trying to speak English and saying, ‘You have to vote for my teacher. My teacher is going to advocate for me, and for your grandchildren,’ you know, ‘and for the community.’ So, it was very emotional to everybody,” explained López.

The effort put forth by Ms. López’s students inspired English- and non-English-speaking residents alike to rally around her campaign. “You know, this is about working hard, not only for English language learners, but also, for all the people who believe in inclusion and diversity,” said López. “So, for the first time, that seat won by 40,000 votes. That seat usually won by 9,000, 12,000. But, with the mobilization of English-language learners … even the signs were designed by students. Everything was based on my students’ intelligences, skills, and ideas.”

So, what was it that Ms. López told her students to help them face their fears of communicating with complete strangers in English, their second language? She explains that “during my campaign, I also told my students, ‘You know what? My accent is an asset. And that is the way you have to see it. You know, when you speak and you have an accent, everybody is going to know that you speak another language. So, you are bilingual. So, you have to feel proud about your roots and you have to be proud about your accent, because it’s not the accent what is important. It’s not being a perfectionist. It’s about having the commitment and it’s about passion. It’s about the community, it’s about the engagement, it’s about being transparent. People know when you are committed and transparent with them. They know when you’re honest, and when you try your best, and they value that.’ And they forget about the accent… And if they say something, it’s something that is going to help us to be better and empower us to achieve the goal that we are looking for.”

–> Watch a short video in which Johanna tells a story of how her run for the school board inspired students to overcome their language barriers.

WOW! What an inspiring message … and one that clearly resonated with her students as they carried her to a landslide victory. Ms. López’s story goes to show that language is not just a tool, it is an asset, especially when the person wielding the language is using it with positive intent. The community Ms. López serves as a member of the School Board recognized that positive intent within the students advocating for her campaign. And now, for the first time, the Spanish-speaking minority in Orange County, Florida has a voice and a seat at the table; not despite their accent, but because of it!

To learn more about Johanna López’s inspiring story, tune in to our podcast here.

Tips for Encouraging Test Stamina during AAPPL Testing

teenager reading on a laptop, focusing

I get so excited watching my students focusing so hard as they take the AAPPL. However, immediately after the test, the students seemed stunned, mentally spent, and slightly overwhelmed. I worried at first that this was caused by the test being too difficult for them, but then realized that it’s the result of the stamina required in completing any rigorous test. Here are some things I learned that can help students effectively tackle the AAPPL without test fatigue impacting their performance.

Scheduling

I decided to administer the AAPPL during regular scheduled Spanish 4 class periods with the modes divided over separate days: one day for reading, one day for listening, etc. This type of spread out testing schedule is possible because, although the AAPPL is one complete test of all four skills and the three communicative modes, it consists of four separate test components that are easy to administer one at a time over the course of a week of class periods. This is helpful so that a student’s confidence and focus on one mode doesn’t affect the others.

Originally, I allotted one week of class time to AAPPL testing. We went through all four modes in one week. I found this to be a little bit exhausting for the students. By the end of the week, several students admitted to just giving up or not really doing their best because they were mentally tired. Last year I spread out the testing schedule a little bit more to alleviate that. Rather than focus on doing all four modes in one week, students took one mode per week. We began with the Presentational Writing mode, and students had two days (or two class periods) to complete that. Then, for the rest of the week we did fun review games or lighter activities to try and lower the intensity. The following week we did the Interpersonal Listening and Speaking mode and again allotted two class periods for that. The following week we did the Interpretive Reading mode one day and the Interpretive Listening mode a few days later, with fun review activities in between. The upsides of this were that the students felt more comfortable and capable of approaching each mode to the best of their ability. The downside, for an instructor, is that the testing occupied some of our class time for almost a month. If the focus is to address student anxiety and eliminate test fatigue, this schedule is very beneficial and worth the tradeoff.

This year, I was considering spreading it out even more and testing different modes at different times of the year. My Spanish 4 classes are always comfortable with the interpretive tests of listening and reading. Last year, the students remarked that they would be able to confidently take those tests during September and October instead of March and April when we usually did the testing. I believe it’s worth investigating the benefits of testing individual modes throughout the year versus testing all modes in one period of time.

Take a Break

It’s worth highlighting again that the AAPPL contains four separate test modes that are independent of each other and can be taken separately. If you must administer the test in one day, encourage students to take a break in between the different sections to walk around, breathe, play a game, etc. This is a healthy way to fight fatigue. During the quarantine shutdown of 2020, my students took the AAPPL with Parent/Guardian Proctoring. I advised parents to make sure that the students took breaks and at least walked around in between tests so they didn’t plow through all of them at once. I had one student that semester who did attempt to do all four tests at one time and the results were influenced by how exhausted he was with the testing process in general.

Teach Self-Awareness

When I first began to understand how mentally consuming testing could be, I began to educate my students about feeling overwhelmed. Throughout the year, I had them practice self-awareness strategies that helped them recognize when they were getting to a moment of mental fatigue. And then we practiced strategies to refocus. During testing, students relied on these strategies and thus became more aware of when their focus was being affected. This past semester while testing, I frequently saw students push their chairs back, close their eyes for a few seconds and just detach from the test. They gave themselves a thirty second break when they felt the intensity get too high and returned to the test ready to proceed.

We spend a lot of time as language educators preparing our students to demonstrate their language skills, but it’s also important to set aside a little bit of time to address these other socio-emotional factors that contribute to test performance. Helping your students address mental fatigue gives them the best opportunity for success.

Harnessing the Power of Cultural and Linguistic Connection

group of professionals at a table

It’s your first encounter with someone you just met from a different culture and background that speaks a language other than English. How are you able to communicate with them? In the past, many Americans’ initial approach would be to ask “Do you speak English?” However, as society becomes more and more diverse and the frequency of exposure to diverse cultures increases, people are realizing the benefits of acquiring and maximizing their language skills to effectively communicate with others.

There are numerous ways that you can harness the power of cultural and linguistic connection. With technological advancements we no longer have to travel to experience cultural and linguistic diversity. It’s at our fingertips; it’s as easy as joining a social media platform such as LinkedIn or Facebook, joining groups, and engaging with people from all over the globe. Further, since the pandemic, many people are moving to different places around the U.S., so the opportunities to interact with different cultures typically found in larger cities like New York and Los Angeles are now more frequent throughout smaller communities and expanded to places where a variety of cultural and linguistic expressions were previously not as present. Additionally, remote work options allow us to do some globetrotting and experience new places while making a living from the comfort of our homes. An unexpected outcome of working remotely is that being able to communicate with others in-language, in-context, and in-culture has become even more important to not only navigate work and social situations, but in life in general.

In a recent episode of “Language is Your Superpower” podcast, Host Lisa March and guest Marcos Villar, Executive Director at ALIANZA, have a conversation regarding how language and cultural proficiencies are critical for civic engagement and community impact programs. Marcos shares, “There is nothing like sitting in front of a person, or even screen-to-screen, and being able to engage in their language.” The ability to effectively communicate in another language and discover how to translate and transfer thoughts, ideas, concepts, and knowledge with others in your native or non-native language is an increasingly sought-after ability in today’s society.

Oftentimes, as people learn or become proficient in another language, their native accent or distinct way of pronouncing words become a feature of their communication that many speakers become self-conscious about. However, it’s all about perspective. Marcos explains, “My accent is my asset, not my liability. It means that I speak two languages, or three, or four. It means that you can speak to and relate to more people, than a person that only speaks one language. It means I don’t have to force people to come to me in my language. I can share my thoughts, my ideas, and my knowledge with you in either language.”  This is a prime example of how language can be your superpower!

So, exactly how do you harness your superpower and ability to speak two, three, or more languages? You can showcase it on your social media posts, use your language skills to give back to your community, or use it as a competitive advantage when seeking job opportunities, to name a few. One way to proclaim that “Yes, I speak English and another language” is by obtaining a digital badge that showcases your language proficiency. This helps others become aware of which languages you can effectively communicate in and enhances your ability to make meaningful connections.

To learn more about how to harness your language superpower in more than 120 languages, visit LTI today!

Meet a Language Superhero: Gabby Clark

Gabby Clark

The 2019 survey commissioned by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) titled “Making Languages Our Business,” reveals that the demand for employees with foreign language skills is rapidly growing, and nine out of ten employers rely on employees with language skills other than English (p. 3).

As the report states: “A command in multiple languages is a valuable asset for U.S. students and employees–not only in boosting their marketability in the workplace, but in helping them thrive in a global economy.” (p. 3) In other words, multilingualism gives you a special power: a power to communicate in another language, a power to better understand other cultures, a power to earn college credit, and a power to advance professionally.

Every year, thousands of professionals take the ACTFL language assessments with LTI to certify their language skills and use the official credentials to showcase their multilingualism. One of these professionals is Gabby Clark, a Scholars Program Coach at JetBlue. Gabby, a 10-year veteran at JetBlue, has had a successful career and leveraged her multilingualism to not only advance professionally but also to earn college credit and connect with her Guatemalan family.

We hope you take the time to read Gabby’s story and get inspired to get your language skills certified.

Click to read and/or download Gabby’s story: Gabby-Clark-story

Mitigating Conflict and Fostering Mutual Understanding with Language Proficiency

three professionals having a discussion at a table

At Language Testing International, we have seen countless ways in which language proficiency skills alone have benefited our customers in their professional, academic, and even in their personal lives. However, when a person’s language proficiency skills are combined with cultural competency, the value that person brings to the table grows exponentially. A culturally competent person with the ability to effectively communicate in another language can help create understanding or even mitigate potential conflicts.

In a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast, Marcos Vilar, the Founder of the non-profit organization ALIANZA Center, discussed the value of combining cultural competency with language proficiency, “because the next step after language is understanding all the cultural nuances that are behind a language.”  Marcos Vilar was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland United States when he was a teenager. Today, he also runs Vilar Strategies, a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL, which serves clients in strategic planning, community advocacy, and not-for-profit organizational development and management.

Marcos has led major efforts to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level and created a coalition of Latino-led organizations dedicated to increasing Latino participation in the electoral process in key states. His language proficiency in both English and Spanish and life experiences that have afforded him competency in both Puerto Rican and American cultures, have uniquely positioned him to help navigate and mediate various interactions between his native island of Puerto Rico and the continental United States.

One example of this was when Vilar was “hired by the National Association of Realtors and by the Puerto Rico Association of Realtors, to basically rebuild and reconstruct their organization that had gone through some troubled times. And they needed somebody in there that could understand the American way of doing business at the National Association and someone who could understand the Puerto Rican way of doing business—the Puerto Rican Association of Realtors.” Both the National Association of Realtors and the Puerto Rican Association of Realtors are the same association. However, Vilar explained that “the two different cultures of those two bodies, which are related, (one is an affiliate of the other) are completely different.”

Marcos provided more context for the differences between these two groups: “they’re basically formed in a legal framework from two different legal ways or legal tendencies, the Roman law and the British law. All of the romance languages; Spain, France, Italy, all of those countries … they have the legacy of the Roman law. And the Roman law is very prescribed. If it’s not written down specifically, it’s not a law, and there’s very little room for interpretation,” On the other hand, Marcos differentiates that “the British law is much more condensed, much more general … it leaves a lot more space for interpretation. … It’s flexible. It adapts to the condition and the time.”

You might now be thinking to yourself, “I thought we were talking about language and culture, not legal frameworks.” To expound on this, Marco gave the example that “we in the United States speak English. And that is a language, but it’s also a legal system, a legal psychological construct of how we do business. It’s all set up in law. And how we set up law in language and how the language works even, all of that plays into the cultural context that that individual and that society brings into any scenario.”

Marcos was aware of these legal and linguistic constructs, “having lived in the United States for so long, having experience with both cultures in a very profound way, being that [I] studied here in the United States, but also having grown up in Puerto Rico.” This “gave [me] a lot of tools to be able to navigate and negotiate between the association in Puerto Rico and the association at the national level.” Through this and other similar experiences, Vilar stated that he “learned a lot and became aware, in a much deeper sense, of all of those nuances, that it’s not just linguistic, but it’s also cultural.”

As we shared before, language proficiency skills on their own are extremely valuable. But when language proficiency is combined with cultural competency, whether learned naturally through one’s upbringing or through one’s life experiences—or both in Vilar’s case—those language proficiency skills can yield a deeper level of understanding, create situational context, and even help mitigate potential conflicts!

 

To learn more about Marcos Vilar’s story, tune into our most recent podcast.

Diversity of Hispanic Leadership

volunteer giving presentation

The values and cultural preferences of individuals who identify as Hispanic are unique and distinct. So does the concept of leadership—what it should look like, sound like, and how it should be represented by Hispanic leaders in their communities. The diversity that exists within the Latino population means that leaders must use certain skillsets and engage differently. Different doesn’t mean any less proficient, less productive, or less impactful. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

In a recent Language is Your Superpower podcast, guest Marcos Villar, Executive Director of ALIANZA, a civic organization in Florida aimed at uniting the Puerto Rican and Hispanic community, stated, “We don’t prescribe [sic] to the idea that our community does not have leaders. We are surrounded by leaders everywhere…sometimes they don’t fit the leadership structure of a particular area (i.e., local government, region, etc.).” In the realm of leadership development, ALIANZA works with the community to encourage them to exercise tu voz or “your voice” by supporting better understanding of their individual and collective roles in social, economic, and environmental justice movements in the Latino and broader community. Three (3) attributes that you may find in Hispanic leaders that are directly linked to their diverse backgrounds are:

  • Linguistic diversity and proficiency: Many Hispanics are bilingual (English and Spanish) or Spanish dominant, and they may or may not be linguistically proficient in navigating the regional or local landscape in which they may want to lead, irrespective of their command of English. A language difference does not equate to a leadership deficiency. Rather, it may require identifying the leadership qualities of the Spanish speaker and helping them learn how to communicate effectively within an English dominant environment.
  • Culturally diverse backgrounds and upbringing: Latinos, Hispanics, or people that self-identify as Latinx connect to the cultural norms, beliefs, and way of living of the greater Hispanic population, but also to the subcultures of which they are a part. For example, Hispanics from the northeastern region of the U.S. such as New York or Chicago who are first, second, or third generation born in the U.S. have lived experiences that seamlessly integrate both cultures. In comparison, Hispanics that recently moved to the mainland U.S. may not thoroughly command the English language and cultural nuances, including those of other Latinos they meet. Hispanic culture is not monolithic, rather it is culturally rich and linguistically diverse in its dialects, interpretation of context, and social norms, which is influenced by each individual’s country of origin, unique personal experiences, and socioeconomic status. So, once newcomers learn how to navigate their new communities here in the U.S., culturally and linguistically, their contributions to society are felt even more.
  • A passion for serving people: A collective and underlying belief of many Hispanics is that enhancing the life of one is to enhance the life of all, to serve one is to serve all and that when I benefit, we all benefit. That belief often drives their passion to serve.

Regardless of their nationality or heritage, natural leaders acquire the necessary attributes to serve their communities as they are exposed to opportunities which help groom them into becoming great leaders. Such is the case of Maribel Gomez Cordero, a County Commissioner in Central Florida who is a social worker that “currently is the bridge and the voice that connects the County with the Community” (Orange County, FL Board of Commissioners, 2021, para. 7). She has become well known in the community for her years of unselfish advocacy and work with the homeless, the Hispanic community, and people in need. Due to her work in the community with the homeless and with faith-based organizations, she decided to run for Commissioner. Her first attempt was unsuccessful, but she remained determined in her unwavering desire to serve her community. Eventually, she was successful in her civic pursuit to becoming a County Commissioner as continued to become more proficient in English.  She now uses her language superpower to translate county-related communications from English into Spanish to ensure that her community is aware and understands what is going on. Marcos Villar stated, “She is a nonstop warrior for her community.”

With leadership, there is no “one size fits all” and that is also true for the diversity you will see and experience with Hispanic leaders. The combination of linguistic proficiency, understanding of culture and diversity, and passion for serving others that they have adds value to conventional leadership norms, and heightens the breadth and scope of their positive impact in American society.

Want to know more? Tune into our recent podcast with Marcos Vilar.

Leveraging Language Proficiency to Engage Larger Audiences

woman gazing into a screen filled with images of people

Community leaders are utilizing language proficiency to engage larger audiences in today’s connected world.

Since its inception in 1992, Language Testing International (LTI) has become a leader in administering language proficiency tests in more than 120 languages and in over 60 countries. While LTI has understood the importance of language proficiency skills since day one, over the past nearly-three decades, we have seen the “power” of language grow exponentially.

Think about it this way: 1992 pre-dates public access to the World Wide Web, mass use of email, the dot com bubble, social media, and the globally connected society we now live in today. The services LTI offers didn’t just adapt to fulfill the language testing needs caused by these shifts—they have become increasingly more valuable.

In a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast, guest Marcos Vilar, the Executive Director of the non-profit ALIANZA organization, shared, “the world is becoming smaller, in the sense that we have the opportunity to travel, to engage, and, since the Internet, you really don’t have to travel to engage,” Vilar stated, “sometimes you can use these artificial intelligence translators … technology to translate what you’re saying. But there’s nothing like sitting in front of a person, or even screen-to-screen, and being able to engage in their language.”

Marcos Vilar, a native of Puerto Rico, moved to the mainland United States at the age of 14. He has worked in Washington, D.C. in government, labor, and non-profit settings. In Chicago, Illinois he worked as a high school teacher, and in Florida as a consultant for several organizations in the non-profit and electoral sectors. Today, he also runs his own business, Vilar Strategies, a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL. His clients rely on his linguistic and cultural competencies to plan strategies, create legislative and advocacy campaigns, formulate issue campaigns and electoral campaigns, as well as conduct not-for-profit organizational development and management. Their goals are to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level and create a coalition of organizations that work together to increase Latino civic participation in key states. And Marcos is just the person to help accomplish these goals.

While some people may associate having a noticeable accent with negative connotations, Vilar explained how that is an outdated way of thinking in today’s globally connected world, and how an accent is merely a sign of aperson’s “language superpower.” “My accent is my asset, not my liability,” Vilar said. “It means I speak two languages, or three, or four. That means that you can speak to and relate to more people than a person who only speaks one language. It means that I don’t have to force people to come to me in my language. I can share my thoughts, and my ideas, and my knowledge to you in either language.”

Marcos knows first-hand that “the byproduct of having two [languages] is that you talk a little bit funny or your talk a little bit different.” However, his experience has taught him that his accent is “just a byproduct of something that is huge, and is powerful, and is valuable when it comes to communications, because the name of the game today is communication; being able to get your message and get your thoughts out to as many people as possible.” To put it simply, he explains, “if you can do it in two languages, you’re going to be that much more successful. You’re just going to have a bigger audience—more people that you can reach.”

That is why, now, nearly thirty years after we first opened our doors here at LTI, the importance of language has remained a constant, but the power of language keeps getting stronger. This leaves us with just one question for you: Are you utilizing your language superpower as a community or business leader?

Want to know more about Marcos Vilar’s story? Tune into our most recent podcast.

Learning from AAPPL Results

teenager at computer with headset on

I cried real tears the first time I received my students’ AAPPL scores. I had much to celebrate: great accomplishments on the Interpretive components, with several students obtaining scores high enough for our state’s Seal of Biliteracy, and those “surprise kids” performing better than expected. But they weren’t just the happy kind of tears; for every 10 celebrations there was one rating that would break my heart.

I’ve come to learn from other language teachers that this is a common phenomenon. As teachers, we become so personally invested in our students’ success that ratings on a test can feel like an indictment of our worth as a teacher. I’ve learned it’s important to stay away from that trap and instead use the results not as a badge of honor but as a way to improve our own professional practices.

I wasn’t sure if my students would do well the first time they took the AAPPL, but I felt very confident going into the Presentational Writing component. So, when I first saw one of my best writer’s score come back lower than anticipated, I had an immediate feeling of teacher-effectiveness crisis combined with the dread of having to deliver news to a kid I had showered with writing praise for over a year. The one skill I thought I taught well was writing and now the AAPPL results showed that things were not going as well as I had assumed.

That would have been the end of the story of that year’s testing if not for the encouragement of my instructional coach, the individual in charge of AAPPL administration in my district. She encouraged me to examine the students’ writing samples to look for commonalities between those that had received low scores, differences between high and low scores, and the characteristics of the high scores. I felt that it was not a helpful task since I was well versed in the ACTFL proficiency ranges. I assumed I knew the characteristics of Intermediate Low writing already. But I quickly learned two major things from the AAPPL results and from my review of the student samples that revitalized, refocused, and redefined my practices as a language teacher.

The fact that the AAPPL allowed me to review the samples after being rated was transformative. I was able to see the submitted work and the ratings, and a lot can be learned if you carefully review and compare. My instructional coach recommended I look for patterns—focusing on things I see repeatedly and the things that appear to be missing.

My biggest takeaway was that my students were weak in first person narrative writing. That made little sense to me until I thought about what we did in Spanish 3 and Spanish 4; we used novels and 3rd person storytelling heavily. The students were very skilled in writing about others and describing sequences of events but not strong in explaining their own experiences. Novels and storytelling are great for expanding vocabulary, learning structures, and getting exposure to culture. However, I learned from the AAPPL results that I didn’t infuse enough first-person narrative within those practices.

The other major weakness I saw from looking at the results was in direct second person informal communication in the form of emails or letters; my students could write about others but not necessarily to others. This surprised me because I figured they would apply the same structures we used in interpersonal communication practice. However, since I didn’t ever have them practice those structures specifically through writing, their lack of the ability to apply second person informal forms resulted in significant communication difficulties and possibly contributed to lower than expected scores.

It was also helpful to see that some of my talented writers only offered 3 or 4 sentences for advanced level prompts. Even though the writing samples they provided were crystal clear in terms of intelligibility— they didn’t demonstrate that they could string together paragraph level discourse. This boiled down to an effort issue. The students had assumed that perfect but brief production was sufficient and discounted the importance of “showing off” all of their writing skills. I now emphasize the importance of doing this in my teaching.

My practice as a teacher today is more well-rounded than it was prior to AAPPL testing. Learning from the results and examining patterns in the student samples have helped me understand how students apply their communicative modes and the range of their proficiency. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have those AAPPL samples matched with scores and grateful for the opportunity to have the data, which allows me to grow and learn.

“My accent is my asset”

woman asking another woman for directions

There is often a misconception about people who speak English as their second language. If they have strong accents, they are often perceived as having a reduced ability to communicate or their level of intelligence is questioned. Let’s consider instead that if a person speaks with an accent or does not fully command English, that means he or she may actually possess richer experiences. In our most recent podcast with Marcos Villar, Executive Director of ALIANZA, he explains it this way: “It means I speak two languages, or three, or four. That means that you can speak to and relate to more people than a person who only speaks one language. It means that I don’t have to force people to come to me in my language. I can share my thoughts, and my ideas, and my knowledge to you in either language.” In the podcast, Marcos shares the story of Johanna Lopez, District 2 School Board Member in Orange County Florida, who doesn’t see an accent as a deficit. She declares, “My accent is my asset.”

This declaration has resonated with many, like Johanna, who are non-native English speakers trying to navigate their lives in an English-dominant environment. A native of Puerto Rico, Johanna has a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico and holds a Master of Arts in Higher Education from Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. Despite her academic accomplishments and career as a teacher, when she moved to Central Florida after a difficult divorce, she could not practice as a teacher at the time due to the language barrier. As a single mother supporting her children, she took a job in the restaurant industry until such time that her English proficiency improved and she was able to obtain her certification as a teacher. Since then, Johanna has served as an Advanced Placement Spanish Teacher for over 19 years and earned the distinction of Orange County Public Schools’ 2017 Teacher of the Year.

While Johanna’s teaching career, leadership opportunities, and language proficiency have evolved, her Puerto Rican accent has prevailed. Her accent is not something that holds her back or anything to be embarrassed about. It is a signal to others that, while she may come from a different place, she has cultural and linguistic competencies that are becoming a necessity in the U.S., and she can accomplish great things. The accent is not a deterrent but rather a motivator for her as she serves her community and leads various regional initiatives. According to Marcos Villar, the “accent is just a byproduct of being able to speak two languages and reach a bigger audience.”

As society becomes more diverse and other languages, such as Spanish, become more mainstream, the benefits of being proficient in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension in more than one language become more valuable. The stereotypical assumptions associated with having an accent are shifting such that what  once may have been perceived as a deficit is now considered an asset. In a recent conversation with Marco Villar, Lisa March, Host of the Language is Your Superpower podcast stated, “Having an accent doesn’t necessarily preclude you from having some of the most important jobs in your company, in your community, in the world. You can be someone that makes a huge difference.”

So, if you have an accent, celebrate it, and own it. Be like Johanna Lopez and proclaim, “My accent is my asset.”

Tune into our podcast with Marcos Villar to learn more.

#LTI #language #languageproficiency #PuertoRico #accent #leadership #diversity #superpower #bilingual