About the Book:
Proudly Bilingual/Orgullosament Bilingüe is a book about a girl named Emilia (Emi). Come and join Emi on the incredible ride that is the bilingual brain. While it may seem confusing and frustrating at times, Emi uncovers how magical it can be and why she is proudly bilingual.
About the Author:
Hola, my name is Araseli Rodriguez and I am the author of Proudly Bilingual/Orgullosament Bilingüe. I have been a bilingual teacher for the last 18 years, and writing a book has been something I have been thinking about for the last few years and here are the reasons why...
My Students
Working with bilingual students has been such an amazing journey but it has also been a challenging one. Growing up Mexican- America has come with its trials and tribulations and seeing them manifest first hand with my students was one of my main motivators to write this book, as well as my son Angelo. Teaching in Spanish has benefited me in so many ways, but watching my students struggle with their languages has not been easy. After teaching only a couple of years I was struggling with a student because he wouldn’t use his Spanish to communicate with me and a huge part of our program was to improve their Spanish to be able to bridge into English. When I asked why he would not speak to me in Spanish he told me it was because he didn’t like it. He proceeded to tell me that he liked a girl in our class and the only reason that he liked that girl was because she ONLY spoke English too. Somehow this child, at 6 years old, had already received the message that English was the language of power and that Spanish held no value. He understood the message that said that a very real part of who he was/is was not enough. This broke my heart and it continues to do so because this is a message that my students will face for most of their lives.
My Son
My son Angelo’s biggest deficit is language. At 11 years old he has a very limited vocabulary and making the choice to have his academic language be English during his second year of preschool hurt. Especially since I had built my career on being bilingual. Back then I didn’t know what the future would hold for him but watching the development of language in slow motion has been remarkable. In the last few years Angelo has taken such an interest in learning Spanish. He knows so many words in both his languages that it brings me to tears just thinking about it. He’s so proud of both his languages and wants to speak them all the time. He is constantly asking what things are in English and in Spanish. Everywhere we go he asks people if they speak Spanish too and as a Mexican mama, this is what dreams are made of. I am so proud of him and his confidence. He feels no shame when it comes to his languages and that is my wish for all bilinguals, not just my kiddo.
You
This book is for all the mommy’s who didn’t teach their children Spanish because they didn’t want their babies to struggle as they did with two languages. This book is for all my kids who have felt that somehow being bilingual has slowed them down or have felt embarrassed. This book is for all the teachers that work with language learners, that know the struggle but continue to show up because they know that our kids matter. This book is for all the people that have lost one of their languages because it was just easier to focus on English. This book is for all the monolingual parents that have kids in dual language programs despite only knowing one language and for the parents that already have bilingual kids but also find the value in Spanish. This book is for all my friends and family who have believed in me and in my book, who have read it, who have cried with me, who have encouraged me, and who love me. This book is for you and I hope you enjoy it!
If you would like to place a bulk order, a parent event or an author's visit please email me at proudlybilingualbook@gmail.com
Thank you,
Araseli Rodriguez