By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KQED News Fix
Zyanya Cazares, a sixth-grade teacher who is starting a new assignment this fall teaching in a bilingual education program in Los Angeles, grew up speaking Spanish. But she was recently reminded that the casual, conversational Spanish she spoke at home is not the same as the formal form of the language she’s now being asked to teach.
“As a Chicana, it’s very easy to say, ‘oh I know how to say that word in Spanish, you just add an “o” at the end,’” Cazares said. “But that’s not academic Spanish, and we’re in an academic setting — so I definitely have to prepare to learn the real word of how to say it academically.”
Read the complete story at KQED News Fix.
For more information on bilingual education in California, read the San Francisco Public Press Special Report “Bilingual Schools.”
