The Multilingual Belonging Movement

Want to use your Spanish at school but worry you'll get it wrong? Let's give it a go! A real question from a teacher learning Spanish with us, answered in about 13 minutes.

Welcome to this week's Spanish micro-lesson on The Multilingual Belonging Podcast. Every week, I answer a real question from someone learning Spanish inside our Spanish for Relationship-Building courses or the Spanish for Belonging-Building Community, so you can learn from it, too.

This week's question: How do you say, "Let's try it!" or "Let's give it a go!"

In this lesson, you'll learn two phrases and how to use either one with students. No flashcards, no pressure. Come back every week and know 52 new things that you actually use with kids and families.

Do this to practice: use it with a real human before the week is over... every day. The first try is rarely perfect, and students notice the effort and love the opportunity to help you for once.

If this episode helped, please subscribe and leave an honest review. Review by November 30, email a screenshot to podcast@togetherlanguage.com, and you're entered to win one of ten original listener T-shirts (winners drawn December 1).

Un abrazo fuerte,
Anne

You can have the best plan in the world, and still not move people to action. Liz Valerio's question for leaders in tough, frustrating, or high-stakes moments is, "What's the story here?"

Liz Valerio is the Executive Director of Momentum Academy, a PK-8 charter network in St. Louis. I have worked with her in two school environments, and she has been one of the most influential people in my career. She has also never had a multilingual background herself, and she put her PD calendar, her budget, and her staff hiring behind multilingual students and families anyway.

In this conversation, Liz tells the story of the teacher she found crying at his computer, and what that moment taught her about checking in on the little things. We talk about students' names and what our role is as the adults who say them. We talk about how Momentum went from translating materials as an afterthought to "this is just how we do things here," with materials available in 12 languages at any moment.

If you are trying to get buy-in from district leadership, stay for Liz's advice. S

What did this conversation leave you thinking about?

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe and leave an honest review. It helps other educators find the show. Review by November 30, email a screenshot to podcast@togetherlanguage.com, and you're entered to win one of ten original listener T-shirts (winners drawn December 1).

How do you say “have a good day” in Spanish? It depends on who you’re talking to. In just a few minutes, learn three versions you can use at the end of the day with a student, a group, or a family member, plus how to say each one with confidence.

What can schools learn from a bilingual former first grader who built an Alexa skill about immigrants' rights at 14? In Episode 2, I talk with Suguey Carmona.

I had the privilege of being Suguey's first and second grade Spanish immersion teacher. Now she is a bilingual college student, a Political Science major, and a future immigration attorney, and I got to ask her the questions that helped me understand her more deeply than ever before.

In this conversation, Suguey looks back on her school experience, what her family and her Mexican heritage gave her, and what she is most proud of. We talk about what her bilingual education has meant for her, what projects excite her, and the challenges of being the "first" and the "only" in multiple environments. And we talk about how the little things are not little at all.

If you work with multilingual students and families in any role, Suguey has something for you. Her story and her perspective is worth staying to the end for.

Hear more from Suguey: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/immigration-question-alexa-teen-latina-coder-created-skill-it-n1101766

What did this conversation leave you thinking about? Email us at podcast@togetherlanguage.com

And if this episode moved you, please subscribe and leave an honest review. It helps other educators find the show. Review by November 30, email a screenshot to podcast@togetherlanguage.com, and you're entered to win one of ten original listener T-shirts (winners drawn December 1).

Student voices belong at the center of this work.

Does multilingual PD ever feel like its ceiling is too low? In Episode 1, I share my greatest wish for you, for multilingual students and families, and for our world.

Welcome to The Multilingual Belonging Podcast, powered by Together, Language. This show is for anyone in the school ecosystem, in any role: EL and ML specialists, classroom teachers, administrators, secretaries, registrars, central office leaders, bus drivers, TAs. If you have ever watched a multilingual student or family get overlooked, or seen the longing in a parent's eyes when they want something for their child but aren't being understood, and you want that gap to close, you're in the right place.

Fair warning: this is not an ML instructional podcast. Instruction matters here. It just isn't the boundary of the conversation.

In this episode, I share why I made this show, from turning down the English class in my first teaching job to what I learned about belonging after 18 years in and alongside schools. I also walk through the five themes you'll hear (language access, cultural wisdom, belonging, systemic change, and weekly Spanish micro-lessons), who I'm excited to have as guests, and my biggest wish of all. I'll ask you to bring your own greatest wish back with you next time.

Want to learn or sharpen your Spanish? Our first Spanish micro-lesson is out today, too.

A favor: this podcast is new, and subscribes, listens, and reviews in the first weeks help other educators find it. Please subscribe, and if you leave an honest review by November 30, email a screenshot to podcast@togetherlanguage.com. I'll enter you in a drawing for one of ten original listener T-shirts and draw the winners on December 1. Be sure to tell me where to mail your shirt!

My greatest wish is that we build schools that model dignity, safety, and love for all people. And the only way to do that is together.