Page 70 - EdViewptsSpring2019-web

have on my estudiantes and familias! BASTA’s main purpose is to foster
Shame on me that I did not step out of cultural competency among all educa-
my own privilege! Shame on me that tion stakeholders by promoting and
I’d failed to offer my children the safe celebrating our community’s diverse
learning environment they deserve. ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Amid the fear and confusion, my col- Our Major Goals Are:
leagues and even my school student
counselor sought me out for guidance. Goals for Educators:
As far as my peers were concerned, • To encourage educators to
I was one of “them.” Yes, I am an im- evaluate and reflect on their
migrant myself. Multiculturalism runs cultural lenses and engage in Skyping With Our Amigos
in my DNA. relevant multicultural practices Across Our Borders
I came from Venezuela to the U.S. 35 that represent all students. I discovered though my NJTESOL
years ago. I still have an accent when • To view multilingualism as an membership that there was a student
I speak English. I still eat Venezuelan asset as opposed to a liability. in Connecticut who was the only ESL
food any chance I get. I even share Goals for Students/Parents/Com- learner in the whole school. Jack, who
with my colleagues and students my munity Leaders: had recently arrived from Ecuador,
Venezuelan sense of pride by regular- was experiencing academic and emo-
ly making and bringing them “arepas” • To provide our families/parents tional challenges in the midst of his
(a traditional Venezuelan dish). and community members with a acculturation progress. Through this
How lucky have I been to freely and safe venue for them to actively BASTA project, my school’s bilingual
participate in their children’s
safely embrace my bicultural and bilin- academic and emotional growth. kindergarten students shared and
gual pride? The polarizing immigration debate that reflected with their new friend, Jack,
How disconnected was I that my is currently dividing our Nation is having the challenges that they have person-
ally experienced while simultaneously
BASTA moment hit me right in my detrimental consequences on our chil- learning a new language and academ-
face on that memorable “Day without dren. These unprecedented challenges ic content.
Immigrants” day? are precisely what has energized our
Up until this point, I had always con- BASTA committee to implement proj-
sidered myself a strong advocate of ects such as the following:
minority language students. Being a
second language learner myself has
enabled me to personally experience
and recognize the extremely diffi-
cult identity challenges that English
language learners struggle with during
their acculturation process. However,
having to witness first-hand the dra-
matic impact that the Day without Im-
migrants event had on my EL children Cat in the Hat Quad D Chal-
was unbearable.

Feeling overwhelmed by a sense of ur- Professor Trilingual was created lenge – Building Him a Multi-
gency, combined with a short speedy as a result of second grade students lingual Sombrero
reflection, the words instinctively who voiced their concerns regarding the As a method of promoting students’
formed in my head and quickly spilled fact that the Scholastic I-Read program creative and critical thinking skills,
out of my mouth: “BASTA! ENOUGH!” characters are only monolingual. learners were challenged with a
With this exclamation, my vision of the Students collaboratively designed a problem. The Cat in the Hat lost his
BASTA Committee was born. character who has three mouths, which hat in the automat! Second graders
The BASTA (Bilingual Advisory School represented the three languages that designed and created a new hat for
Transitional Association) mission, they speak (English, Spanish, and Cat in the Hot that symbolized their
“Love without Borders,” was inspired Haitian Creole). Professor Trilingual has multicultural backgrounds as well as
by the resilience of our EL children only one nose because, according to the our Asbury Park Beach community.
and families. students, everyone should be entitled
to breathe the same air. The “one eye
design” was explained by the fact that all
students have one common vision, the
earning of a great education.

Educational Viewpoints -68- Spring 2019