A Look into the Journey of a Bilingual SLP Grad Student

After moving from Puerto Rico to Ridgewood, Queens in New York City at the age of 10, Angelica Gonzalez is now an up and coming speech-language pathologist (SLP), with a great career on the horizon.  Thanks in part, to her unique background and hard work.

  

1.  It seems like, having known you a year, that you work nonstop. What does a typical day look like for you while in your last year of grad school?

On the weekdays, I wake up at 5 a.m. in order to prepare for my two externships which both start at 8 a.m. and occur on alternating days.  After finishing a work day at an externship, I work full-time at a not-for-profit called Quality Services for the Autism Community (QSAC) as both a Bilingual Medicaid Service Coordinator (MSC) and MSC Documentation Specialist.  In order to make up my full-time hours at work, I also work on the weekends.  In other words, I have been working practically every single day during graduate school.  Most of my studying hours are on weekends and typically occur late in the evening.  I am dependent on this routine, so that I can pay for basic necessities (rent, groceries) while in school.

2.  Describe your educational background in Puerto Rico and the United States.  Did you speak English in Puerto Rico?  When you first arrived here, did you have any difficulty in an academic environment when working in the English language?

Fortunately, I was raised from birth as a simultaneous bilingual.  That is to say, we spoke Spanish and English interchangeably at home.  In Puerto Rico (P.R.), I was in a private school where all of my classes and textbooks were in English except for Spanish class.  Most of my teachers in elementary school had a Spanish accent when speaking in English which in turn influenced my pronunciation of words in English.  The education system in P.R.

Bilingual Students: Academic Testing and the English Language Learner

There is no doubt we are a society that does not take academic testing lightly. While there is some reform in progress, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 continues to ensure our students are tested for reading and math annually while in grades 3 through 8.  Beyond these years, students prepare for the SATs and ACTs which determine entry into competitive universities.  Let’s not forget the exams also determine if the students will receive scholarships to attend these schools, which for many, are crucial to pursue an education beyond high school.

Photo: Giveyourchildanadvantage.com

If these tests were not difficult enough for the monolingual students and simultaneous bilingual students (acquired both languages at the same time) who were born in the United States, they are nearly impossible for many bilingual students who acquire English sequentially (after acquiring the home language).  It is projected that by the 2030s, 40% of the public school population in the United States will be bilingual.  Research indicates that the older the student, the more difficult it is to acquire the language in time to keep up with these strict testing requirements.  These tests are enough to cause stress to any child, let alone a child who is taking the time to acquire a new language.  And where did this child come from?  Does the child have a well-educated family and come from an excellent school?  While this may be the case, the child may have come from a country that is war-torn, resulting in gaps in academic learning due to these unfortunate circumstances.  The move may also have resulted in a gap in academics.

Photo: Dreamboardkids.com

So how do we help as educators you ask?  The first step in determining the child’s abilities is to