This article shares one idea about how bilingual poets can play with language to learn how to communicate ideas and cultural competence.

Bilingual poetry is a genre that can be used with students to build identity and to develop voice in bilingual students. University of Georgia Professor of Language and Literacy Melissa Cahnman notes that inviting the use of bilingual language within the context of reading and writing poetry shows the resources that bilingual students have, which often times go unnoticed. [Language Arts, 2006]

How to Get Started

Begin with the the format for “I am from” poems [1], which allow students to explore themselves and their cultures. These poems can be done in Spanish, to allow the students to access their voice and their lives in their first language. Provide language frames that look something like this:

I am from [a place]

I am from [a favorite food]

I am from [a favorite color]

I am from [a role in the family]

I am from [free topic]

In Spanish the frame would look something like this:

Yo soy de [un lugar]

Yo soy de [tu comida preferida]

Yo soy de [algo que te gusta hacer]

Yo soy de [tu color favorito]

Yo soy de [tu familia]

Yo soy de [cualquier otra cosa que quieres añadir]

The first step is to model how to write a poem like this. The teacher can model a poem of her own, explaining each step and writing the poem on a chart paper or white board. Discussions about the cultural importance of foods or family can be included in this process.

Once the class has engaged in conversation about the format of the poetry and how they can construct this kind of poem, each student begins writing his/her own version of the poem. Not only do the poems allow the children to play with poetry, but they also give the teacher insight into how the children feel and think. The following is an example of one second grader’s poem, originally written in Spanish.

“I am from the United States and Mexico.

I am from Spanish, English.

I am from where I go to school.

I am from eating pizza and tacos from Taco Bell.

Drinking water.

I am from playing soccer and wrestling.

I am from cousin, brother.

I am from red when I am happy and black when I am sad.

I am from playing soccer, eating and painting.”

This poem is a clear reflection of this particular child’s experience in negotiating two worlds and two cultures.

Once the children have written their poems they can type them up and glue them on a larger sheet of white paper which they can then illustrate. Often times these illustrations help the reader delve even more deeply into the mind of the child. The art is an expression of its own and when accompanying the text, allows the bilingual poet to express him/herself in a myriad of ways. Sometimes the pictures go beyond the words and the audience can gain new insight and knowledge about what the child is thinking and communicating.

Poetry Readings

The final piece to this lesson is sharing and responding. It is vital to the development of voice and audience for the children to be able to read their own poems to their peers. It also gives the other children the opportunity to give positive feedback and to listen to each others experiences. A space for poetry readings provides the link between intellectual creativity and the realities of interacting with one another.

Reference:

[1] Rosaen, C., “Preparing teachers for diverse classrooms: Creating public and private spaces to explore culture through poetry writing.” Teachers College Record, 2003