TT57 – Identity, deep culture and deeper connections in learning: Edgar, Mexican, elementary educator and founder of The Bilingual Spark.
In this episode, we have the pleasure of hearing from Edgar, a native-born Mexican who has spent the past 35 years in this country educating young children and even adults to the concept that Mexico is more than Frida Kahlo, Cinco de mayo and Día de los muertos. Edgar says that teaching deep culture and making deeper human connections have to be the driving force for teaching a language. Teaching is not about a checklist, not about a unit, not about a month, not about a recipe card or flag or bulletin board. It is about a lived experience, personal meaning and our stories that connect us. He tells us that we need to share our stories of cultural identity, diversity and history in order to preserve and honor our voices. Often we travel and only look at surface culture and tap into stereotypes. Edgar reminds us that we need to embed/immerse ourselves in the culture and not just look for a photo opportunity to post on social media. Travel is transformative, and teaching should also try to transform students’ learning into personal, meaningful experiences. Be sure to check out his website The Bilingual Spark And also read the article and see pictures of the beautiful Mexican people and their artesanía in ACTFL‘s summer issue of their publication, The Language Educator.