Leveraging Plurilingual Voices

Savannah Esquivel, Dale Junior High School

Savannah teaches 8th grade English Language Arts at Dale Junior High, a predominantly Latinx school. Like many ELA teachers, Savannah sometimes felt pressure to have students complete their assignments exclusively in English in order to prepare them to pass the ELPAC (English Language Proficiency Assessments for California). As a member of Project LEARN, Savannah focused on ways to affirm and leverage plurilingual students' voices while meeting ELA standards and goals, as well as ways to scaffold and assess students' strategic and effective use of their full linguistic repertoire.

Growing Together

At Savannah's school site, all 8th grade students write and deliver 2 minute Soapbox Speeches addressing a common prompt, in this case: "How do we live healthier lives and build healthier communities?" Collectively, Savannah's department decided to anchor their unit in Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks, a collection of short stories narrated by 13 culturally and linguistically diverse characters who collectively cultivated a community garden over the course of a year. As she built out her unit, Savannah focused on asset-based approaches to teaching about linguistic pluralism and (im)migration, using videos and nonfiction to help students learn about the home countries of each character. Throughout, Savannah scaffolded students through analyses of print and multimedia texts as works of literature, as well as evaluations of how their own experiences and cultures connected to those of key characters. At each step of their analysis, Savannah prioritized students' collaboration with peers and use of critical thinking and communication skills.

Identifying a Community Issue and Drafting Speeches

After analyzing how characters in Seedfolks worked to address issues in their community, Savannah scaffolded students through a discussion of their own communities. First, students engaged in a gallery walk activity where they responded to prompts about health and community, including questions like "What does health mean to you?", "What are some areas of health you struggle with?", and "What does your school community look like?"

After students posted their responses, they engaged in a small group discussion with other peers about the questions and the issues they identified. Savannah then facilitated a whole class discussion where students brainstormed potential solutions to help address the issues they identified. By the end of this activity, many students had identified a specific issue to research and focus their speeches on.

Savannah then guided students in planning their speeches, focusing on elements of persuasive writing, organization and structure. As students wrote and revised their drafts, they considered how to use literary devices, such as metaphors or allusions, to make their speech engaging and memorable.

Project Soapbox

Stretching and Amplifying Student Voice

Copy of Soapbox Speech_ Writing 8th TRANSLANGUAGING.xlsx - Sheet1 (1).pdf

Savannah has always used Spanish informally in the classroom, and from the first days of her Soapbox Speech unit, Savannah encouraged students to draw upon their full linguistic repertoire. However, it wasn't until she explicitly build translanguaging into her assessment rubric that she saw shifts in students' approach to languaging (see rubric at left).

In her words, "When I shared with my students that [I expected them to] incorporate at least one language other than English in their speech, there were some mixed reactions. I heard several students shout out, “what?!” and then others said, “Oh that’s easy!”" Students who were already multilingual embraced the opportunity to use their full linguistic repertoires (several used more than two languages in their speeches), while students who were primarily English speakers challenged themselves to incorporate languages they were learning at school.

Translanguaging in English Language Arts Classrooms: Student Samples

The following examples illustrate how Savannah's students used their full linguistic repertoires as they planned, refined, and delivered their speeches. Each example showcases Savannah's students creative and complex approaches to languaging, illustrating how students were able to communicate their chosen issue with passion and consideration of others in their community.

Issue: Immigrant Rights (Spanish and English)

This student, who was is bilingual in Spanish and English was, in Savannah's words, "thrilled" to use his full linguistic repertoire in his speech. He begins by speaking directly to his Latinx community, "mi gente latina," with a call to raise their voices and fight for immigrant rights.

Rough Draft Outline

Final Draft

Student A_ Final Draft.pdf

Final Speech

Student A: Immigrant Rights.MOV

Issue: Inflation (Spanish and English)

In this example, a student strategically used his bilingual fluency to incorporate quotes from Spanish and English media as he described the financial pressures facing local and national communities, and ways community members and congresspeople might take action.

Rough Draft Outline

Final Draft

Student B_ Inflation Final Draft.pdf

Issue: Domestic Violence (ASL, Japanese, and English)

The following example illustrates how Savannah's use of translanguaging pedagogies not only supported plurilingual students, but also challenged monolingual students to stretch themselves and think differently about languaging. This student, who was raised in a monolingual English household, drew upon her emerging fluency in American Sign Language and Japanese to raise awareness about domestic violence in local communities.

Final Speech

Student C: Domestic Violence.MOV

What advice do you have for teachers of newcomer and emergent plurilingual students?

"I learned that by linking learning and language, I am able to use students’ languages to help them meet the goal of the lesson. My advice would be to be brave and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Our newcomer and emergent [plurilingual] students are practicing braving up on a daily by learning a new language, so it's important for us to model 'braving up' for our students. My other advice would be to develop relationships! Translanguaging will only work if your students feel safe and comfortable in the classroom."

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