Spaces of Colonization and De-colonizing Possibilities in Early Spanish Education in USA Alejandro Azocar University of Wisconsin-Madison

Purpose To deconstruct dominant and colonizing discourses that have shaped the “truth” about instruction of Spanish as a foreign language in early elementary education in USA (Kindergarten, first and second grades).

Research project and Who I am as a researcher Multiple identities Insider/outsider complexities.

Spanish Education in USA Spanish education = Spanish as a foreign language. The most common foreign language that is taught in the American educational system. Bilingual education (English/Spanish) and Spanish Education. While bilingual education tends to be suppressed, Spanish education is encouraged. The Otherness of Spanish.

Focus : Spanish instruction as a foreign language in early elementary grades (Kindergarten to second grade) In this field, theory heavily informs practice. Theory reflects a grid of dominant discourses that justifies early foreign language instruction and dictates appropriate methods to teach foreign languages. Theory => Foreign Languages for Elementary Schools (“FLES”) I prefer to call this field “Early Spanish Education”.

The formation of subjects as a colonizing process. -The child as a “Spanish student”. -The Spanish language, Latin-American culture and Early Spanish education. The theory of foreign language for elementary schools has been informed by notions of child development derived from developmental psychology. Appropriate methodologies : child-centered and play- based instruction.

Second Language Acquisition theory. Scientific research on Second Language Acquisition encourages learning foreign languages “early”. “Brain research”

Colonization of Spanish in daily classroom practice Instrumental rationality - Expectation of concrete communicative outcomes (oral). Standard of “connections”. Notion of Spanish as a tool for effective learning of other subject matters, e.g., math and sciences. Spanish is a teachable linguistic entity= vocabulary, grammar and “culture”. This technical (and dominant) vision of the language suppresses feelings, emotions and meanings of the “Other”.

Colonization of Spanish by Spanish teachers. Who teaches Spanish as a foreign language? Mostly while, middle class women who have learned Spanish as a foreign language in the United States. Little or no self-exploration of who they are as “cultural beings”. Concrete and pre-determined vision of what Spanish is, and the possibilities and impossibilities in Early Spanish education.

Objectification and Exotization of Spanish. Contradiction: Spanish is “loved”, and yet it is seen as something distant, different of “us”. Culture is taught via representative objects. (Objectification), ignoring the complexity and diversity of Latin-American cultures.

Toward a Reconceptualization of Early Spanish Education (and Spanish education in general). Working questions: Reggio Emilia principles. Ethics of the encounter. “Pedagogy of Love”: teaching language beyond the communicative (oral) purpose.