“Va a Cambiar” - Identifying and Rejecting Border Patrol Pedagogies in a Dual Language Classroom

ABSTRACT

In this paper we identify, name, and operationalize six borders typically found in school settings that include dual language classrooms: bordered languages, knowledge, content areas, bodies, selves, and teachers. We identify these borders as a point of departure to show an example of how a two-way dual language classroom operated through a form of border-crossing pedagogy that respects children and reveals authentic multilingual learning. We use this example to propose that, if dual language classrooms are to truly respect racially and linguistically marginalized students, educators must engage in a practice of protest and refusal toward curricular and social violence.

Keywords:

• Bilingual education
• dual language
• borders
• pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ For more information, see the Coalition of Immokalee Workers: https://ciw-online.org/

² See the Racial Dot Map: https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/

³ These maps, racial dot maps, existed for the entire United States between the 2010 and 2020 census.

⁴ At the time, the governor of was busy signing and promoting a senate bill that banned sanctuary cities and empowered law enforcement officials to request papers from anyone they suspected of being undocumented (Gamboa, 2017).