Un Día De Lo Padre: a multigenerational Plática with bilingual pre-service teachers and their elders, sharing perspectivas about translanguaging and bilingual education

Abstract

In university bilingual educator preparation programs, we frequently discuss issues across and around language, culture, and teaching. Topics inevitably emerge regarding the dialogue first generation college students have with their family members about maintaining the ‘purity’ of a language vis-à-vis navigating the waters of a translanguaging corriente [current]. In this article, we examine these perspectives after having witnessed a snapshot of this dialogue. In fall 2018, a group of Latin@ undergraduate bilingual pre-service teachers in our university Second Language Acquisition course invited their elders to class. Amidst food, music, tears, and risas, we were honored to enter into this robust conversation about the tension between the potential of translanguaging and the power of the idea of language ‘purity.’ While the professional field and course content offered students grounding in theory and pedagogy, parents offered personal and deeply felt convictions; both aimed to support and sustain Latin@ bilingual and immigrant identities. After sharing our thematic analysis of recordings of class conversations on that day and others, student reflections, and follow-up student interviews with elders, we discuss what these critical conversations mean to bilingual pre-service teachers and bilingual preparation programs in the university.