No child left monolingual, by Kim Potowski

The United States has always been a linguistically diverse nation, but the overall climate usually discourages and sometimes outright discriminates against the use of non-English languages. The grandchildren of immigrants often don’t speak their grandparents’ language anymore, which squanders the wonderful resource of hundreds of non-English languages spoken in communities across the United States. In addition, overall we don’t do a great job teaching foreign languages to monolingual English-speakers. This talk explores several myths about languages in the United States and presents arguments and strategies that favor promoting multilingualism among our population.

Dr. Kim Potowski is Professor of Spanish linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on Spanish in the U.S., including factors that influence language maintenance as well as connections between language, education, and identity. She began directing her campus’ Spanish Heritage Language Program in 2002 and is the founding director of its summer study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her advocacy for the value of dual language education in promoting bilingualism and biliteracy was the focus of her 2013 TEDx talk “No child left monolingual”. She has authored and edited over 12 books including El español de los Estados Unidos; Language and identity in a dual immersion school; Heritage language teaching: Research and practice; Gramática española: Variación social y Conversaciones escritas. She is currently co-authoring a methods book written in Spanish for heritage language teachers.