Lisa M. Dorner, Ph.D.

teacher, researcher, life-long learner

What’s Dual Language Education?

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What’s a dual language (DL) program and how can you start one? This is a serious question across the United States (and world), as more and more schools are recognizing the value in preserving families’ home languages and working toward bilingualism for all students. There are many models, though a good majority of DL bilingual education programs in the U.S. mix students from two language backgrounds (for example, English and Spanish). By providing content instruction in students’ languages, DL programs develop students’ bilingualism, biliteracy, high academic achievement and cultural competencies. While it’s difficult work (see my earlier posts), we know a lot about how to create equitable programs. At a recent conference sponsored by Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, I devised a workshop focused on how to build a dual language program and simultaneously enhance equity for transnational students designated as English Learners. Here are my slides from that workshop – happy planning! Whats a DL Program 2019

The Immigrant Learning Center

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On July 11, The Immigrant Learning Center offered a two-day webinar focused on best practices for immigrant student success. I gave a 20 minute talk about developing critical consciousness: we discussed five things that educators can do to support multilingual, im/migrant, and refugee families and communities. This talk was based on a forthcoming article in Theory into Practice by colleagues and I:

Palmer, D., Cervantes-Soon, C., Dorner, L. & Heiman, D. (forthcoming, 2018). Bilingualism, biliteracy, biculturalism and critical consciousness for all: Proposing a fourth fundamental principle for two-way dual language education. Theory into Practice.

The Immigrant Learning Center is a non-profit organization that offers English language education as well as programs for the public to learn more about im/migrants’ contributions and experiences in US society. In addition to their outreach and education efforts, they partner with George Mason University on research projects (see more here). Such programming is essential in our country right now, with its particular political climate that often sets up boundaries between individuals and groups, rather than recognizing the humanity that connects us all.

SEE-TEL at Cambio de Colores

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On June 8, 2018, Dr. Kim Song and I presented one of the plenary talks at the Cambio de Colores – Change of Colores annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. In the Cambio Center’s own words: “Cambio de Colores is a multistate conference about integration of immigrants in new destinations. People from various fields who work with Latinos and immigrant communities come together to share research and best practices that facilitate the integration of newcomers.” It’s one of my favorite conferences because it brings together researchers and practitioners from a huge variety of fields: truly the only way we can solve the grand challenges of our society is to collaborate across fields and social agencies, and Cambio de Colores is a space that helps us do this!

Kim and I were asked to provide the education-focused plenary, and so we decided to share the background and framework for our current project, SEE-TEL: Strengthening Equity and Effectiveness for Teachers of English Learners. We felt it was important to highlight key terms (why we might prefer the phrase “emerging bilinguals” over “English Learners”), describe our own histories and how we came to work together, explain the goals of our current grant, and then conclude with two key pillars we believe are essential in helping educators, immigrant families, and their children succeed: Collaboration and Translanguaging.

Take a look at our presentation here and then please join us in our journey to enhance equity and excellence for all of our students! 2018 Cambio Plenary Dorner Song

Foro Fulbright at Uninorte

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I have been so honored to be a part of the Fulbright Specialist program this past February and March 2018 in Barranquilla, Colombia at the Universidad del Norte. I’ve worked for the past few weeks with colleagues at the Instituto de Idiomas on a new undergraduate program: Lenguas Modernas y Culturas. This program has a special focus on not only teaching multiple languages (students will be proficient in two and know a third upon graduation), but also integrating ideas of critical citizenship, discourse studies, and global perspectives into their coursework.

On March 16, I presented some thoughts on this ambitious goal, based upon my own (and colleagues’) work on dual language/two-way immersion programs and transnational/lingual youth in the US (Heiman, 2017; Kim, 2018; Layton, 2017). This work is also inspired by colleagues in citizenship education, such as Nicole Mirra and Thea Abu El-Haj.

I welcome your ideas and feedback on this Foro Fulbright!

“Our future is not in the stars but in our own minds and hearts. Creative leadership and liberal education, which in fact go together, are the first requirements for a hopeful future for humankind. Fostering these–leadership, learning, and empathy between cultures–was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program that I was privileged to sponsor in the U.S. Senate over forty years ago. It is a modest program with an immodest aim–the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty system of power of the past. I believed in that possibility when I began. I still do.”

[J. William Fulbright, From The Price of Empire]

Cambio de Colores 2016

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Cambio 2016

As I’ve said before, the Cambio de Colores (Change of Colores) conference is one of my all time favorite gatherings of community service providers, researchers, activists, students, (im)migrants, extension specialists, and everything in between! This year, our plenary speaker for education was Dr. Ted Hamann, who spoke about the new(ish) Latino/a diaspora and the need for action in these spaces of new(ish) migration. Meanwhile, I caught up on my language brokering research and presented narratives from research with Mexican American brokers and the turning points and tensions that they experience as they move through their 20s (https://prezi.com/qjyqy9gguiwm/turning-points-and-tensions-emerging-adulthood-for-language/). It was also an honor to hear critical studies from my colleagues, including David Aguayo on parent engagement and Sujin Kim on the ways that different school districts across Missouri frame and welcome diversity and new student populations. I hope to see you at Cambio next year! For more updates about the conference, please visit Twitter at #CdeC16.