Language Goes To School

Jan 31 2025 17 ep. 35 mins 2

Language Goes To School Podcast artwork

A podcast about multilingual education in New Mexico and beyond. We invite a wide variety of experts in the field of multilingual education to address theories, practices, policies, and issues related to multilingual education. The primary goal of the podcast is to provide a platform that brings the art and science of multilingual education from the classrooms, where it is practiced, to wider audiences. Your host is David Aram Wilson, a retired multilingual educator and university lecturer in New Mexico, who educates multilingual students and teachers of the future.

In addition to tapping the Send a Text Message in the episode view of your podcast app, you can contact us via Facebook and Instagram @languagegoestoschool. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. Our website is https://languagegoestoschool.buzzsprout.com. You can subscribe to the podcast by tapping Support the Show in the episode view. And please leave us a review in the show view of your app. Music by E. Grenga, C. Lawry, D. Stevens, M. McMahon/Ionics/RimoMusic. Artwork by Simon Young at Guerrilla Graphix

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Lillian Gorman (Part 1): The Old and the New in New Mexican Spanish!

Jan 31 2025 38 mins

What happens when varieties of Spanish spoken in northern New Mexico, still influenced by the Spanish spoken in the area 500 years ago, encounter more modernized varieties of Spanish spoken in present-day Mexico? This is a question Dr. Lillian Gorman of the University of Arizona wanted to investigate. Dr. Gorman’s own family was established in the region generations ago, so this

Bonus (Part 2): More Boxing with Ben and Bob!

Jan 15 2025 37 mins

This is part two of our interview with Albuquerque boxing agent and promoter and sponsor of our podcast, Ben Wilson. In part one, we learned from Ben how boxing legend Bob Foster made his way from West Texas to Albuquerque as a boy and his meteoric rise to the top of the sport as the light heavyweight champion of the world. In part two, Ben tells us about the close relationship Bob

Bonus (Part 1): Boxing with Ben and Bob!

Dec 14 2024 34 mins

Those of you who have been listening to our podcast know our show is recorded in the Bob Foster Boxing Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. In fact, the museum is housed in the casita, or guest house, located in the back yard of my brother, Ben. Ben is a lawyer, whose list of clients includes aspiring young boxers in New Mexico. (If you’re imagining men’s underwear right now

Leslie Hernandez: Excelling in Bilingualism, Biliteracy, and Braille!

Nov 13 2024 37 mins

This is the remarkable story of Leslie Hernández, who immigrated from Mexico to the United States on her 4th birthday, as her parents sought better health care for her. As an infant, Leslie was diagnosed with retinal blastoma, a type of eye cancer, which ultimately led to total blindness. Upon arriving in the US, Leslie was preschool age, so her parents enrolled her in the prescho

Curtis Chávez: Native Learning Meets Maria Montessori!

Nov 01 2024 46 mins

What happens when the ancient traditions of Native America encounter the modern traditions of Europe? One version of that story is the one we all know: the arrival of a certain Italian “explorer” that led to the violent colonization of the continent by subsequent waves of invaders from other European countries. Another version looks like this: Native values, such as communal ca

David Rogers: Cosechando Bilingual Talent Since 1996!

Oct 14 2024 36 mins

Meeting David Rogers in 1997 at the second annual La Cosecha Dual-Language Education Conference in Albuquerque was memorable. That our meeting occurred just a few dozen feet from live giraffes, elephants, lions, chimps, and other exotic fauna, made that meeting even more memorable. You read that correctly. The conference had been such a success the year before, David and crew had t

Warlance Chee (Part 2): The Planting of the Language!

Oct 07 2024 27 mins

In which we continue our conversation with Warlance Chee. Warlance is a Diné (Navajo) language and culture educator and co-founder of Saad K’idilyé, a Diné language nest in Albuquerque. Saad K’idilyé means “the planting of the language.” This unique language nest educates and enculturates children, prenatal to preschool, by surrounding them with rich cultural experience

Warlance Chee (Part 1): Fledging Speakers of Diné Bizaad from the Nest!

Sep 30 2024 35 mins

Create in your mind an image of a parent bird feeding its babies mouth-to-mouth and you have an apt metaphor for the concept of a human language nest. In a language nest, adults who are fluent in a language that is experiencing a steep decline in the number first language speakers, surround the youngest speakers in the community with the language, all the while engaging these young

Fabiola Espinoza-Pacheco and Sinahi Oaxaca Seal the Deal!

Sep 14 2024 46 mins

On January 30 of 2024, South Dakota became the 50th and final state to establish bilingual seal for high school graduates. The seal, which is affixed to the graduates’ diplomas, signifies the graduate has completed coursework in another language that certified them as fully bilingual and literate. For its part, New Mexico became the fifth state to establish a bilingual seal progr

Arin Peywa and the Woolly Warriors of Zuni Pueblo!

Aug 31 2024 45 mins

The Zuni language has been an enigma for anthropologists and linguistics ever since the people of Zuni Pueblo, located in western New Mexico, first had contact with Europeans and Africans in the 16th century. Zuni is related to no other language in the region, in the country, or in the world. Arin Peywa is a native of Zuni Pueblo and a native speaker of the language, though her flu