Gen-Z Latino-Americans are reclaiming their culture through language, By Emily Schutz | ABC News

Friends,

This ABC News piece by Emily Schutz beautifully captures a quiet but powerful cultural renaissance unfolding within Gen-Z Latino communities. The stories of Alex Del Dago and Mia Hernandez reflect a broader trend of reclamation—of language, heritage, and intergenerational connection—that is both personal and political. 

As someone deeply involved in education and community-based work, I see firsthand how language is not just a tool for communication but a vessel for identity, memory, and belonging. It’s especially moving to witness young people bridging the silences created by assimilation—not out of obligation, but out of love for their families, their roots, and themselves.

As a third-generation Mexican American/Tejana/Chicana, I carry my own story of linguistic loss. Hard as I tried, I know I missed so much with my Spanish-speaking grandfather, who was from the state of Guerrero, Mexico—something I regret deeply. But it wasn’t by choice. Like so many others in Texas and across the country, I was forced to assimilate through an English-only schooling system in my hometown of San Angelo, Texas.

This is still the norm, not the exception. And it wasn’t just about language—it was about identity. That painful erasure is what informed my book Subtractive Schooling, which is now marking its 25th anniversary.

Thankfully, I had a passive understanding of Spanish growing up—I could comprehend more than I could speak, an experience familiar to many in our community. Over time, with much effort, I regained enough fluency to hold meaningful conversations with my Mexican family. Still, I’ve never quite shaken that lingering sense of loss and longing. So I’m especially heartened to see young people reclaiming what was once taken. 

It's also what we're all about at Academia Cuauhtli, a Saturday school that I and others co-founded 11 years ago in order to honor and nurture children's identities, sense of self, and heritage. We do not teach the Spanish language; rather, we teach in the language. It's a school that I wish I could have attended as a young person.

Mia’s reminder is critical: reclaiming culture doesn’t require fluency or perfection. It requires intention, openness, and care. Whether through food, music, stories, or language—every act of connection is a quiet form of resistance against cultural erasure.

Gracias to Emily Schutz for highlighting this powerful resurgence.

—Angela Valenzuela

Gen-Z Latino-Americans are reclaiming their culture through language

Learning Spanish is bringing together the generations.

By Emily Schutz | ABC News


September 20, 2022, 3:16 PM

Alex Del Dago was in the seventh grade when he attended a Spanish class. It was the first time he was focused on learning his father’s native language. The class also served as the gateway for meaningful communication with his grandmother, who he calls abuela, who speaks only Spanish.

Del Dago’s abuela tells him that she’s glad he learned the language and that his ability to speak Spanish has improved their relationship.

“I knew that if I didn't put in the work or put in the practice to learn it, I may never be, never be able to actually have like a real substantial conversation with her,” Del Dago said.

Mia Hernandez is pictured at age four alongside her Abuela, who was born and raised in Cuba. At the time, Hernandez only knew how to say basic phrases in Spanish. 

Courtesy of Mia Hernandez

According to a 2017 report by the Pew Research Center, 11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic. Similarly, while there is widespread support for the language among Hispanics, the more generations a family has been in the United States, the less likely they are to teach their children Spanish.

MORE: Why Spanish-language voting ballots are critical for democracy, advocates say

But some Gen-Z Latino-Americans like Del Dago are reclaiming their culture via language and learning it later in life.

From seventh grade through college, Del Dago studied Spanish through courses at school. His dad was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old, along with his younger brother and parents. The family left Cuba during the Freedom Flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Del Dago’s dad had a difficult time learning English without a program for non-native speakers and he didn’t feel like his son fit in with the other students in class, which influenced his decision to speak to Del Dago exclusively in English.

“At the time [my parents] decided it would be better just to raise me speaking English because they thought it would be easier for me to fit in and adjust and make friends quickly,” Del Dago said.

Del Dago’s experience is not unusual. With each generation, the number of Hispanic heritage parents who speak to their children in Spanish decreases. Seventy-one percent of U.S.-born second-generation Latino parents speak to their children in Spanish and fewer than half of all third- or higher-generation Latino parents do, according to the Pew Research Center.

“One of the main proponents of allowing children or creating more dual language programs is Dr. Kim Potoski, and she has found no evidence that just growing up in these bilingual settings will take away from your ability to speak English. On the contrary -- it helps you,” said Anel Brandl, a professor at Florida State University who teaches Spanish to students with Hispanic heritage.

Mia Hernandez celebrates her second birthday with her Abuela, and brother, Micheal.

Courtesy of Mia Hernandez

Mia Hernandez is a former student of Brandl’s and has a similar upbringing to Del Dago. Her dad is also from Cuba. Growing up, her parents worried that teaching her Spanish would hinder her ability to speak English, although Brandl says that recent research has disproven that.

Hernandez recently graduated from Florida State University with a minor in Spanish. Now she’s fluent in a language she barely spoke growing up.

“I feel a lot closer to my Cuban heritage now that I speak Spanish than before when I almost completely rejected it in favor of learning English so that I could fit in with my English-speaking American friends,” Hernandez said.Just like Del Dago, learning Spanish transformed her relationships with her family members.

“I think the difference has just been getting to know my grandmother a lot more and about her life growing up in Cuba,” Hernandez said.

Now, Hernandez is training to teach Spanish speakers abroad English, and Del Dago is getting his Ph.D. in art history, focusing on queer Latin artists. Both have worked to connect to their familial heritage through the power of language.

Alex Del Dago stands with his Abuela and father just before his high school graduation. At this point, he had taken four years of Spanish and was able to have substantial conversations with his Abuela, who was born and raised in Cuba. Courtesy of Alex Del Dago

Hernandez emphasized that you don’t need to speak Spanish in order to feel connected to your culture.

“I don't think that it's something that there should be any guilt or shame around not learning, but I think it's also up to us to figure out how to move forward, as Cuban Americans, deciding how we want to raise our children, and so whether we want to teach our children Spanish, we want to teach them about maybe the culture and the food,” she said.

A Bilingual Educator’s Critique of the Science of Reading (SoR) Movement, by Jill Kerper Mora, Ph.D.

Dr. Jill Kerper Mora is the author of Spanish Language Pedagogy for Biliteracy Programs (2016) and thusly abundantly qualified to critique was is regarded today as the "Science of Reading (SoR)." Currently, an associate professor emeritus at San Diego State University, Dr. Kerper Mora is a credible voice in this contentious debate on literacy considering that she has over 40 years of experience in the field as a teacher, researcher, and scholar in these very areas of literacy, including biliteracy, instruction (also see Bowers, 2020; Johnston & Scanlon, 2021; Reinking, Hruby, & Risko, 2023; Thomas, 2022).

Of great concern to Dr. Kerper Mora is that what is not science at all is actually a movement that politicizes, as opposed to professionalizes, the teaching of reading and writing in schools. She encourages teachers to debunk the false claims of this movement which is particularly led by journalist Emily Hanford.

With respect to multilingual literacy, it is clear that the SoR approach compounds an already flawed model for monolingual speakers of English. Dr. Kerper Mora not only debunks various claims that Hanford and others make, but also draws on research from Spanish-speaking countries to make her case. She further shares this pertinent review of Spanish literacy research as part of her evidentiary base for her detailed response to this arguably harmful, and ill-informed movement.

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Bowers, J. S. (2020). Reconsidering the evidence that systematic phonics is more effective than alternative methods of reading instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3), 681-705. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10648-019-09515-y.pdf

Johnston, P., & Scanlon, D. (2021). An Examination of Dyslexia Research and Instruction With Policy Implications. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 70(1), 107-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/23813377211024625

Mora, J. K. (2016). Spanish language pedagogy for biliteracy programs. Montezuma Publishing. 

Reinking, D., Hruby, G. G., & Risko, V. J. (2023). Legislating Phonics: Settled Science or Political Polemics?. Teachers College Record, 125(1), 104-131.

Thomas, P. (2022). The Science of Reading Movement: The Never-Ending Debate and the Need for a Different Approach to Reading Instruction. National Education Policy Center. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED625611.pdf

Mora, J. K. (2016). Spanish language pedagogy
for biliteracy programs. Montezuma Publishing.

Science of Reading: A Critique

A Bilingual Educator’s Critique of the Science of Reading Movement

Jill Kerper Mora

The Science of Reading is a hot topic on the internet and in the media these days. A plethora of Facebook groups and other social media venues advertising themselves as Science of Reading for XYZ group of educators have sprung up recently. These groups are drawing considerable interest and lots of members with hundreds of comments daily. One example is a Facebook group that calls itself Science of Reading for Bilingual Education. Many of the posts in this group are by dual language teachers who are seeking information about whether the instructional programs they are using in their classrooms are “Science of Reading-aligned.” These queries reflect a genuine concern among teachers who seek confirmation and validation that their instructional approaches are maximally effective for the students they teach.

The issue with these social media that tout their bilingual credentials is that there is often no way for teachers to verify the bona fide expertise of group administrators or participants who comment in the group on the Science of Reading (SoR) research. This is especially problematic for teachers in dual language programs who implement instruction for bilingual and biliteracy learners. This concern is what prompts me to post this analysis and critique of the SoR. My purpose is to challenge the claims made in these groups by self-proclaimed “experts” regarding the research on literacy instruction in Spanish/English dual language programs. I present this critique of the SoR as it applies to bilingual learners based on my 40 years of experience as a bilingual teacher, teacher educator and researcher.

This analysis makes an important distinction between the Science of Reading and the Science of Reading Movement (SoRM).  Bilingual educators who visit my website do so with trust in my advocacy for biliteracy learners and their teachers, families, and communities. The term Science of Reading is a global descriptor of research from multiple academic disciplines that informs literacy program design and instruction (reading and writing). In and of itself, the term is not problematic. However, determining the extent to which research meets the criteria for claiming that it is “science” or “scientific” very quickly becomes problematic. Much of what is touted as the Science of Reading does not meet the criteria that the research community sets for itself to ensure the credibility and legitimacy of research and the interpretation and application of research findings. A concern is that the term “science” is being used as a cudgel to marginalize and discredit certain theoretical perspectives and bodies of data that have a track record confirming their legitimacy and credibility, while some other research frameworks claim to be “more scientific than thou.” When we go below the surface, we discover misuse and abuse of the notion of scientific research in service of ideological and political agendas. 

Purpose of the Critique of SoR

The purpose of this critique of the Science of Reading is to accomplish the following:

• Review criteria for judging the legitimacy and credibility of claims made in the name of science.
• Identify misrepresentations, misinterpretations, and misapplications of scientific research that lead away from, rather than toward, effective literacy instruction.
• Examine what neuroscience research tells us about the bilingual brain and literacy learning to articulate the implications of bilingual brain research for effective instruction for multilingual learners. 
• Present the research that documents the “common thread” of metalinguistic skills between decoding and language comprehension that challenges the SoR proponents’ arguments against “cueing” from the applied linguistics and psycholinguistic perspectives on the relationship between the two components of the Simple View of Reading. 
• Debunk false claims that are unscientific and without a credible evidence base in the research literature made by proponents of the Science of Reading to avoid perpetuating inequities in language and literary education for multilingual learners. 

The format for this analysis is a presentation of a summary of an argument that I make with a link to further elaboration of the argument on a separate webpage. I begin with an analysis of the media’s portrayal of the Science of Reading perspective of the Reading Wars. I elaborate on how journalists are framing an argument around particular teaching strategies for the purpose of promoting fear and distrust of teachers and publishers of instructional programs to promote policies and regulation to mandate more teaching of phonics in the public schools. I present the reasons why this media campaign is detrimental to public education, and specifically to language minority students. I point out that despite claims of “science” as the basis for the policies that the Science of Reading Movement promotes, the media’s portrayal of reading research and the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of certain instructional practices do not qualify as scientific. The SoR Movement seeks to politicize rather than professionalize the teaching of reading and writing in the public schools. The purpose of this analysis is to empower teachers to combat the abuse of the term “science” and to respond with knowledge and expertise to false claims and misrepresented research from the SoR Movement. 

Here I list the related webpages that together present a thorough analysis and critique of the applications of the Science of Reading to language and literacy instruction for multilingual learners. 

Neuroscience Research: Literacy Learning in the Bilingual Brain

Miscue Analysis Research: The Ghost of Whole Language

The Structured Literacy Approach: Implications for Multilingual Learners

Lexical Inferencing: The Truth About Cueing

Science as Metaphor: Debunking the More-Scientific-Than-Thou Argument

Simple View of Reading

Is Reading Natural? A Metalinguistic Perspective

California’s Reading Wars: A Brief History

Science of Reading Legislation: Unconstitutional Laws and Indecipherable Policy

So, without further ado, let us examine together the claims and counterclaims that arise from the new battlefront in the Reading Wars.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

Mexican Embassy and CAL Opens Doors to Hundreds of Free, Authentic Spanish Language Resources Online

Thanks to my colleague, Dr. Deb Palmer, for sharing information on this treasure trove of online resources to promote Spanish-English bilingualism and biliteracy.

Gracias!!!

-Angela Valenzuela 💖

“Bilingualism is Our Shared Identity”  NEW RESOURCE: Mexican Embassy & the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) Opens Doors to Hundreds of Free, Authentic Spanish Language Resources Online

EMBAJADORA MARTHA BÁRCENA

On Monday, the Center for Applied Linguistics in collaboration with the Embassy of Mexico announced the free release of hundreds of online, authentic Spanish language educational materials for language teachers across the United States, including digital textbooks, movies, videos, audioclips, and more.  “Being bilingual among the Mexican and Mexican American communities in the United States defines our identity and reflects an inescapable reality: we are sister nations united by a common history,” said Mexican Ambassador, Martha Bárcena. “We invite the public to discover RedBilingueMexUS.org so that together we can promote this shared identity through the learning of our languages.” Read the full press release.

Visit RedBilingueMexUS.org

Press 1 for English? These days, biliteracy deserves not just tolerance, but academic rewards [Editorial]

Happy to see the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle cite my Houston ethnography, Subtractive Schooling, to connect the dots between the treatment of immigrants, discrimination against Mexican Americans, Texas' current “State Seal of Biliteracy,” and (what should be) making America great, namely, through biliteracy—or literacy in two languages.  Spanish-English literacy, through bilingual and dual language programs is what is indeed happening throughout Texas, including places like Houston, El Paso, San Antonio, and Austin, at varying degrees.  This should arguably be happening everywhere throughout our state and nation.

To my awareness, it has been years since the Houston Chronicle has cited my work.  And only once amongst a handful of times.  Regardless, this means that our work as researchers, scholars, and critical ethnographers makes a difference in the world.  And for that I am very pleased.

Angela Valenzuela

Press 1 for English? These days, biliteracy deserves not just tolerance, but academic rewards [Editorial]

By The Editorial Board | HOUSTON CHRONICLE

July 21, 2018

BILLY CALZADA, STAFF / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

“English! English! Go back to Mexico. You’re in America!”

“English! English! Go back to Mexico. You’re in America!” 

Not so long ago, that response, described in an ethnography by University of Texas professor Angela Valenzuela, is what Texas schoolchildren could expect for speaking Spanish in the hallways. Punishments and reprimands were common experience for students whose open use of bilingual skills could be perceived as flauting American customs or refusing to assimilate.

Fast forward 20 years. Bilingual skills are not only tolerated; they’re rewarded.

Yes, some of President Trump’s policies seem to be making America less welcoming to refugees, other foreigners and even sometimes non-native English speakers with noticeable accents.

At the same time, policymakers in Texas and elsewhere are acting on research that has suggested the benefits of speaking more than one language range from better ease with multitasking to potentially delaying the onset of dementia. In college and the workforce, the advantages are clear: Multilingual students have improved access to post-secondary education and help-wanted signs across Texas beckon bilingual applicants.

Today, Texas is one of more than 30 states that now offers a “State Seal of Biliteracy.” The commendation recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in one or more languages other than English.

Texas students and their families should consider setting this seal as an academic goal. School counselors should encourage students to seek it. Districts should proudly display the number of qualifying students prominently on their websites.

In today’s competitive workforce, students need every advantage they can get. For too long, the built-in advantage of speaking a different language in the home was squandered. Now, students can cultivate their language knowledge and turn it into fluency in reading, writing and speaking. The seal can open doors by signaling to colleges and potential employers that the applicant’s language skills aren’t just conversational; they’re comprehensive.

An estimated 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English in their home. Even under current anti-immigration policies, that number is not likely to go down significantly. Businesses and schools need a way to communicate with non-English speakers.

Employers posted more than three times more jobs for Chinese speakers in 2015 than they had just five years earlier, according to a report by the New American Economy, a bipartisan coalition of mayors and business leaders that supports immigration reform. During the same time period, the number of U.S. job ads listing Spanish and Arabic as a desired skill increased by roughly 150 percent, according to the report.

Of the 627,000 bilingual positions posted throughout the country in 2015, roughly 70,000 were in Texas. While many employers favor bilingual applicants, there are certain businesses where it is crucial, including education, finance and health care.

Here in our city — a potpourri of cultures and languages — the Houston Independent School District offers opportunities for bilingualism through its 56 dual-language schools. In Texas’ 9th-grade classrooms, populated by an estimated 47,458 English language-learners, the seals not only represent a goal for students, but a celebration of their unique skills.

The seal represents great strides from a day when students were stigmatized for multilingualism. While more can be done to capitalize on the language skills of our state’s native and foreign-born populations, the recognition of today’s policymakers that multilingualism is an asset, not a hindrance, for students and workers is key to Texas’ ability to thrive in the global economy