New Tools for Old Languages Last week, a friend sent me information about an upcoming gathering in Mexico for activists working with digital media to promote indigenous languages and culture online (información en español aquí). The invitation explains that over 300 indigenous languag

A Backgrounder on My Next Language Challenge: Punjabi Punjabi (also spelled Panjabi), is spoken by 130 million people and is the 10th most widely spoken language in the world. The majority of its speakers live in Pakistan and in the Punjab state of northern India, as well as large dia

Multilingual Literacy through Stories I have written before about the importance of educating children in their first language. In Peru, I worked with schools that promote Intercultural Bilingual Education for indigenous children, teaching them literacy skills in their first language

An Alliance for Linguistic Diversity I have written before about the importance of language preservation. When a language dies, we lose so much more than vocabulary; each language represents a distinct vision of the world and carries with it important scientific, cultural, and histori

French vs. Punjabi I hope that one day I can speak fluently in many languages. But my dreams of becoming a polyglot may not be realistic given the other interests and obligations that take up my time. I also find that wherever I am, I want to learn as much of the local language as I c

Gender Inequality in Peruvian Education I am back in Vancouver, Canada after almost a year living in Lima, Peru working for UNICEF. I was very sad to leave Peru, for reasons I will write about in the coming weeks, but it is also very nice to be home. But as (reverse) culture shock goe

A Great Strategy for Private Language Teachers There are many different approaches to language teaching, and especially to private language teaching. Each student is unique and will respond differently to different activities and teaching styles. I’ve written before about the im

A Truly Intercultural Experience For the last 10 days, I have been back in the Cusco region of Peru to present the preliminary results of the research I participated in with UNICEF on Intercultural Bilingual Education. We have been back to the five schools in remote communities that w

Resource Sharing for Progressive Spanish Teachers I am very excited to announce the launch of the Spanish for Social Justice website! A space for teachers to easily find and share resources for teaching social justice in the Spanish classroom. The Spanish for Social Justice Teacher Ne

A Social Justice Tip for English Language Teachers I speak often about incorporating social justice themes into language lessons. For example, recently I posted a list of Spanish social justice subjunctive sentences. This week, I will switch the focus to teaching English modal verbs.