35.3428, Review: Applied Linguistics; Lessons from a Dual Language Bilingual School: Celebrando una década de Dos Puentes Elementary: Cilliler (2024)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-3428. Wed Dec 04 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.3428, Review: Applied Linguistics; Lessons from a Dual Language Bilingual School: Celebrando una década de Dos Puentes Elementary: Cilliler (2024)

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Date: 04-Dec-2024
From: Emily Cilliler [emilycilliler at gmail.com]
Subject: Applied Linguistics; Lessons from a Dual Language Bilingual School: Celebrando una década de Dos Puentes Elementary: Cilliler (2024)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35.2258

EDITOR: Tatyana Kleyn
EDITOR: Victoria Hunt
EDITOR: Alcira Jaar
EDITOR: Rebeca Madrigal
EDITOR: Consuelo Villegas
TITLE: Lessons from a Dual Language Bilingual School
SUBTITLE: Celebrando una década de Dos Puentes Elementary
SERIES TITLE: Bilingual Education & Bilingualism
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2024

REVIEWER: Emily Cilliler

SUMMARY

Lessons from a Dual Language Bilingual School: Celebrando una década
de Dos Puentes Elementary takes a detailed look into the context,
challenges, and successes of a bilingual school in Washington Heights,
New York. The book features a collection of writings from various
stakeholders at Dos Puentes Elementary, such as administrators,
teachers, parents and partners, who weave an entertaining and
thought-provoking narrative of a school embracing its pluricultural
reality. The text is organized into four sections that reflect the
main founding principles of the school. These pillars are (1)
bilingüismo, biliteracidad y multiculturalismo, (2) las familias son
partners, leaders and advocates, (3) investigaciones and hands-on
learning, and (4) partnerships with universities, organizations y la
comunidad.This edited volume serves as a rich example of how theory
and practice can be combined to better serve students and would be a
highly beneficial read for pre- and in- service teachers and
administrators searching for guidance on how to create successful
bilingual programs and communities within their schools. Moreover, it
shines as an example of the wealth of knowledge that a school
community possesses and the power of gathering those voices into an
“equitable community of scholars” as Ofelia Garcia calls them in her
powerful foreword.

Alongside the collection of texts highlighting each pillar, the book
also offers thoughtful connections to research and theory. Each
section is closed with commentary from a university researcher. The
researchers collect scientific articles and sources to support the
practices that were detailed in each chapter. They also offer
discussion and points for future research. These reflections offer a
wealth of resources allowing teachers or researchers to expand their
knowledge and see how theory has been brought to life in the
classroom. Spanish is used throughout the volume in an intentional nod
to the efforts made to keep Spanish at the forefront of communication
at the school.

The first pillar of bilingüismo, biliteracidad y multiculturalismo is
a collection of essays from teachers at the school who share their
approach to the bilingual and biliteracy program at Dos Puentes.
Chapter 1 is titled “Celebrating Dog Lenguajes” by Jason Horowitz and
Armando Lopez. The first chapter emphasizes the celebration of
bilingualism through singing, dance, and reading. Chapter 2 is called
“Translanguaging: Moving Beyond ‘los dos’ Lenguajes” by Diane Figueroa
and Karina Malik. Translanguaging takes center stage as teachers
describe how they work to open students’ eyes to the diverse
linguistic community that they live in and move away from the
perspective of English as the primary language. Chapter 3 is “Building
Biliteracy through Educators, Resources, and Curricula” by Lara
Ginsberg. Ginsberg addresses English hegemony and urges teachers to
intentionally and thoroughly select culturally relevant texts for
students. Chapter 4 is called “Bilingual Activism a Través de la
Lectoescritura” by Ashley Busone-Rodriguez and Karen Mondol. Activism
through literacy is the focus of the fourth chapter in which teachers,
through creative outlets, encourage students’ activism  on a range of
topics from racism to gender inclusivity.   The final chapter,
“Critical Collaboration to Support the Bilingualism and Biliteracy of
Children with Disabilities” by Sabrina Poms and Terestia Prieto, shows
how the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is applied to Children
with disabilities and how Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) is used at Dos
Puentes, while the research commentary highlights how governmental
policies and programs fail to meet the needs of students with
disabilities.

The second pillar is “las familias son partners, leaders and
advocates,” which gives a voice to parents and teachers, many of whom
have children enrolled in the school, and discusses the role of
families in their children’s education. The sixth chapter, “Families
as Educators, Leaders, and Advocates” by Stephanie Ubiera, Adriana
Cando, and Ained Casado, is a myriad of memories as told by mothers of
Dos Puentes students, including a poignant recollection of the
tumultuous time following the 2016 presidential election. The seventh
chapter is called “Bridging Home and School” by Sacha Mercier and Amy
Withers. The authors give  an account of how the school involves
parents and students in their education from the time of enrollment
with a home visit to student-led conferences, and explains how
connecting to a family’s background can foster respect and trust. In
Chapter 8, “Family Diversity as a Strength and a Challenge” by Annette
Fernandez, another mother delivers a raw and unapologetic message
about privilege and explains why she chose Dos Puentes for her
daughter. Chapter 9 is called “Building Comunidad” by Elga Castro
Ramos. The ninth chapter describes the tradition of “Viernes familiar”
(Family Fridays), which is frequently mentioned throughout the book as
a shining example of community engagement at the school, as well as
other programs designed to bring the Spanish and English speaking
families together. The tenth chapter is “Socioemotional Learning and
Support” by Irving Mota and Kimberly Bautista. Socioemotional learning
is discussed, connecting practices like “Holding Space” and the “peace
corner” with prior research into the importance of these types of
programs. In the final chapter of this section “Remote Learning
through a Pandemic”, Aaron Sidlo, a parent-educator, describes the
challenges of remote learning during a pandemic. Sidlo includes a
particularly memorable story of a family’s struggle to keep their
child engaged in remote coursework while dealing with limited internet
service; this experience perfectly highlights the challenges families
faced during the pandemic, despite support from government programs.

The third pillar is “investigaciones” and hands-on learning, where
pedagogical practices like inquiry-based learning and translanguaging
can be illustrated in a practical way. The twelfth chapter,
“Exploraciones en Early Childhood” by Elizabeth Menendez and Catherine
Velasquez-Leacock, emphasizes the role of play in both language and
socioemotional learning. The following chapter called “Transition to
Investigations and Inquiry in the Upper Grades’ by Hazel
Garcia-Banguele, Michelle Mdera Taveras, and Carmen Morel,  expands on
the idea of student agency as Dos Puentes teachers give examples of
how translanguaging and inquiry-based learning can be applied in upper
elementary classrooms. Science takes a leading role in the fourteenth
chapter, "Learning Science through Hands-on Experiences and Animals”
by Karin De Jesus and Yesenia J. Moreno, as the authors follow a class
trip to a reservoir and explain how school pets enable students to
connect more deeply with their learning. Chapter 15 is titled “Field
Trips as Paseos to Real World Connections” by Peggy McQuaid and
Kristen Minno-Bingham. This section demonstrates the beauty of
wandering and how being open to students’ interests can lead to
growth.

The final pillar, is “partnerships with universities, organizations y
la comunidad” and examines the contributions from teachers, community
partners, and administrators in the outside organizations with which
Dos Puentes has partnered. Chapter 16 is called “University
Collaborations: Service and Research Projects” by Wendy Barrales,
Partricia Martínez-Álvarez, Maite T. Sánchez, Belinda Arana and
Victoria Hunt. It details Dos Puentes’ work with The City University
of New York through their New York State Initiative on Emergent
Bilinguals and Initiative on Immigration and Education programs, as
well as the Varied Ways of Knowing(VWK) afterschool program. This
chapter also discusses the role of testimonios in creating authentic
partnerships. In the seventeenth chapter, “University Partners:
Bilingual Student Teaching” by Rebeca Madrigal, Silvia Peña and
Jennifer Aquino Peña, the role of student teachers, their schedules,
and their testimonios are shared. Chapter 18 is called “Expanding the
Arts through Partnership and Passion” by Clara Bello and Lorene
Phillips. The authors highlight the way dance and art are used to
shine light on racial injustices and black culture at the same time as
it questions the emphasis we place on art education. The role of
center-based learning through Facilitated Academic Centers for
Inquiry-Based Learning (FACIL) is applied to math and reading in
Chapter 19, titled “Center-Based Learning: Partnerships with Staff
Developers and Schools” by Queila Cordero and Joyce Veras. The final
chapter is called “Connections with the Community and Beyond” by
Katherine Higuera-McCoy and Maggie Orzechowski; it includes an
interesting look at a non-traditional partnership between the school
and the Washington Heights Corner Project (WHCP) which tries to reduce
the impact of injectable drug use within the community.


EVALUATION

In the introduction Dos Puentes’ co-founder Tatyana Kleyn and founding
principal Victoria Hunt state clearly that the book is not intended to
be a step by step guide for how to create a successful bilingual
program; nor is it supposed to be a deeply scholarly volume. Instead,
it focuses on providing a holistic view of what a successful bilingual
school can look like, while connecting the central practices and
ideologies to scientific research. Thus the book does not serve as the
single resource that a pre- or in-service bilingual teacher needs, but
it serves rather as a starting point. It encourages the reader to
think critically about their own practices and beliefs, while offering
both practical examples and resources where more information can be
found. In this way, the editors and authors achieve their goal. The
book would be particularly useful for teachers looking to expand their
programs or apply more culturally and linguistically aware teaching
methods in their classroom. As stated above, the book does not offer a
deep examination of the literature; so, as a research tool, it serves
primarily as a reference to gather sources from. At the end, an index
with all of the terms and researchers’ names, creates a useful way to
go back and find information within the intricate framework of the
book. This feature is important since the initial table of contents
does not give details about the nature of each section or research
commentary.

Some points were repeated frequently throughout the volume. For
example, the idea of Family Fridays is mentioned several different
times and highlighted in one chapter. While it may have been an
impactful tradition for multiple authors, it would be interesting to
hear more in depth about other events at the school.

The final section of the book had to explain a wide range of programs
and collaborations. This was not an easy task, and some chapters
seemed to stand out more in their explanation. Chapter 16 gave a basic
explanation of the programs, but some, such as the VWK, were described
only broadly, without a clear indication of how it differs from the
normal curriculum. On the other hand, Chapter 18 gave an eye opening
description of how art and dance can foster awareness of culture,
injustice, and freedom.

The book offered several examples of how education can intertwine with
advocacy. Stephanie Ubiera told about her experience following the
2016 presidential election and how parent advocate Consuelo Villegas
connected families with paralegals and held a parent meeting to answer
questions and offer hope.  In Chapter 20 Katherina Higuera-McCoy and
Maggie Orzechowski describe how Dos Puentes welcomed a family that had
been caught in the chaos of the Trump administration’s changes to
immigration policy. The school community banded together to provide
financial support to the family and wrote letters to advocate for
them. In the end, the family was allowed to remain in the country.

The success of the Dos Puentes school begs for a deeper and more
detailed look into how the school shapes its curriculum. As a teacher,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the lesson ideas and descriptions of how
inquiry-based units are developed. For example, a math teacher
discussed how center-based learning could be implemented with a
similar level of planning as a traditional lesson, while targeting
students’ needs more effectively. In such cases, I was left wanting
more detail on how to realize this. An example of where this was done
very well was Chapter 5, which detailed a writing intervention for
bilingual students with disabilities. The lead-in, explanation, and
pictures comparing the before and after intervention work were
impactful and could be replicated. A future handbook more geared
towards implementation, with even more detail and explanation of how
to apply the concepts, would be a useful resource for teachers.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Emily Blair Cilliler is a second-year PhD student at the University of
Pannonia in the Doctoral School of Multilingualism and private
teacher. Her research interests include language acquisition in young
learners, online learning, and curriculum development. She has worked
as a teacher in private and public schools in Turkey and Hungary and
served as a Virtual Educator for English Language Programs through the
U.S. State Department. She is currently teaching and working on her
dissertation on the topic of informal exposure to English in Young
Learners.



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