Spring Staff Development Day: Dual Language Learning and Examining Systems of Oppression
By Amanda Louie and Mischa Rosenberg, Teachers, and Chia-wa Yeh, Head Teacher and Research Coordinator
During Bing Nursery School’s 2022 Spring Staff Development Day, held on April 22, staff explored two topics: teaching children who are learning English as a second language—known as dual language learners—and ways to confront and combat oppression that could affect students and staff.
The event began with a presentation about dual language learning in preschool given by Isauro M. Escamilla, an adjunct professor in the Department of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University and a Spanish and English dual language public school teacher at Las Americas Early Education School in San Francisco Unified School District. Escamilla brought to our attention the identity of dual language learners, those learning in two languages or more. How can we elevate their identity as learners? He asked this question because language and identity are correlated. Research has shown strong evidence that even infants can learn two languages if they have sufficient support at home and at school, said Escamilla. It’s thus important, he said, to offer children multiple opportunities to play with their first and second (and any additional) languages and for teachers to be aware of the importance of helping children preserve their home language to model respect for families and practice inclusivity and diversity.
Escamilla highlighted Personalized Oral Language Learning (POLL) strategies, designed by Linda Espinosa, an authority on the development of young dual language learners, and her colleagues. The strategies include family engagement, environmental supports and instructional supports. Teachers meet with families early on to collect detailed information about their children’s language experiences and cultural backgrounds. They share with families the benefits of using the home language for everyday interactions and encourage them to talk about storybooks, memories of childhood and songs in their home language. While not all teachers can teach in multiple languages, they can support all languages by asking families to translate common words and phrases. Within the classroom environment, teachers provide books, materials and artifacts that reflect a family’s languages and cultures.
What does using POLL as an instructional approach look like? Teachers can use “anchor text” via a well-chosen picture book to repeatedly reinforce development in vocabulary and concepts. Escamilla shared a video of himself introducing information about octopuses in a small group to his preschool class, where Spanish is the primary language spoken. While the language of instruction was Spanish in this instance, teachers can adopt POLL strategies in different languages. A child’s interest in octopuses spurred this topic. In the video, Escamilla read aloud a page in the informational picture book Te Presento al Pulpo (Meet the Octopus) to talk about the concept of an octopus being a marine animal that lives in the sea (the “intentional message”). The text further describes different body parts of an octopus. Children commented on the pictures and shared their knowledge. Escamilla and his colleagues also created a chant to a familiar tune, integrating key vocabulary words from the text. Teachers considered how they might apply this to classrooms that are predominantly English-speaking, which led to the following idea: Teachers could learn key vocabulary in children’s home languages and pre-read the text to help the children learn about the words and concepts in both home languages and English.
Teachers also provided miniature models of octopuses and other marine animals in the water table for children to explore. Children had repeated experiences with these engaging and intentionally designed activities in meaningful ways throughout the week to strengthen their language development.
Another way Escamilla supports dual language learners in his classroom is through children’s inquiry of nature in Spanish and English. Teachers can also incorporate drawings, photos and videos about the children’s learning to tell stories about their lived experiences. Escamilla cited one of the key principles from “Whariki,” New Zealand’s curriculum for early learning as an inspiration—that children “learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things.”
A snail given to Escamilla’s class sparked the children’s curiosity in learning about snails. They created a habitat for the snail in a fish tank. Escamilla commented that when encountered with something that is tangible and can be observed (nature as a great example), children became invested. They investigated the mollusk and expressed their ideas through drawing, painting, working with clay, storytelling and making booklets about snails in both Spanish and English. Fourth graders who attended the preschool class and had become fully bilingual in English and Spanish visited the preschool children to read to them in both languages and served as mentors. In a video documenting the project, children confidently talked about their paintings and shared their knowledge about snails in Spanish and English. Escamilla affirmed research findings that children with a strong foundation in their home language can transfer it into developing English language skills. “That’s what we want to do,” Escamilla summed up, “uplift their image—whether it’s their language, their stories, their identities.”
The day continued with a workshop titled “Anti-Oppression and Accountability,” presented by Bianca Tonantzin Zamora, associate director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences; and Cindy Cho, a human resources manager at Stanford’s School of Humanities.
Zamora and Cho guided staff through an examination of intersectionality as tied to identity and oppression. Intersectional identity encompasses interconnected, interrelated systems—such as race, gender, class and ability—that are aspects of everyone’s self. “Identities are not preferences,” they explained, “they are who we are.” Intersectional oppression refers to the ways that these overlapping systems are used to discriminate and harm through racism, white supremacy, sexism, patriarchal beliefs, classism and ablism. When a person experiences a buildup of such “isms,” it can lead to trauma.
“Benevolent discrimination” is one particularly insidious form of oppression because it is both driven and obscured by positive intentions. It’s defined as “a subtle and structural form of discrimination that is difficult to see for those performing it, because it frames their action as positive,” according to scholar Laurence Romani and her colleagues. Zamora and Cho shared an example of benevolent sexism in in the workplace: women who are excluded from certain assignments because those tasks were deemed too stressful. This action can counter the supposedly well-meaning intention to protect women by excluding them from opportunities.
Bing staff broke into pairs for a deeper discussion about how systems of oppression can show up in the workplace and in early childhood education. Each pair was assigned one “ism” to narrow the scope of this brief conversation, though inevitably, intersectionality meant that no single system of oppression could be separated from others. Complex topics and questions emerged. For example, within a conversation about sexism, we spoke about gender stereotypes in play. We discussed the importance of allowing for vulnerability as staff members undergo ongoing reflection about our own relationships to intersectional oppression. We dove into conversations about how to best promote an environment for children, staff and our entire Bing community that is not only anti-oppression, but that embraces inclusion and belonging. Our discussions flowed into the second section of Zamora and Cho’s presentation: accountability.
Accountability, in its simplest terms, means taking responsibility for your actions. “When we know better, we do better,” Zamora and Cho explained. They offered the following analogy: If you drop an egg, accountability means admitting “I broke the egg” rather than making excuses such as “I meant well” or “That was not my intent.” Staff again broke into pairs to practice taking accountability, which requires checking one’s ego, listening to learn and acknowledging the impact of one’s actions.
Engaging with issues of oppression and accountability was both inspiring and unnerving. Intersectional oppression is distressingly embedded in our world, but hopefully, through self-reflection, empathy and accountability, we can work together to fight “isms” and build a community of belonging and inclusion.