La Esencia del Matrimonio

A quarter of adult participants noted that they perceived a distinct hierarchy of languages by the Scottish public, with English dominating. They felt that some languages were considered more useful than others and this impacted upon society’s perceptions and values towards languages. Jannika Rodriguez believed that her family were privileged in that sense:

Because we have two major European languages, if we get any comments they are normally very positive like, ‘Wow, that's brilliant’ but I can imagine for other multilingual families who speak languages that aren't as popular then they might experience negativity. We've got friends from Poland and the way people react to them is a completely different story so I think we’re privileged.

Rachel Gimenez agreed, stating:

British people see Spanish as useful because they go on holiday there. Spanish is pretty cool with music and football etc, whereas Kurdish, for example, isn’t perceived as useful so it's quite low down in the pecking order where languages are concerned.

EAL teacher also felt there was a hierarchy of languages:

British people say Spanish is useful or French is useful because they go there on holiday but they don't think that about Bulgarian or Pashto or Urdu. I think European languages are more respected. At the moment I'm learning Arabic and people say, ‘Wow, that's amazing!’ but I've got dozens of pupils who speak, read and write Arabic and no one says ‘wow!’ to them. But because I'm a middle-class, educated, White, professional woman learning Arabic they seem to think it's amazing but no-one thinks it's amazing that an asylum seeker, refugee or a shopkeeper speaks Arabic do they?

Overall, participants perceived there to be a hierarchy of languages based on the attitudes and values of Scottish/British/Western society. To the advantage of the participants, they felt that Spanish was perceived as a high value

language in Britain and was somewhat supported and encouraged. Whereas, participants recalled negative experiences of acquaintances from different heritage language backgrounds and felt that this was unfair as all languages should be valued.

6.3.8 Misconceptions Surrounding Bilingualism

According to several parents, they had encountered many myths and

misconceptions from family, friends, professionals and wider society. Belén and Jose Sanchez gave the example of teachers focusing more on deficit of English rather than their sons’ cognitive ability. They felt the school was more

interested in the school’s results rather than the individual academic achievement of her sons. Belén stressed that, “the Head of the English

department said ‘they can't do this, they can't do that so the ESOL class would be the best place for them’”.

This resonated with Paula Fernandez’s earlier example of being put in the lowest ability group. EAL specialist teacher, Rebecca Fernandez observed that many teachers still placed English language ability before cognitive ability and had low aspirations for bilingual pupils. She said:

People used to think that having a bilingual pupil would detract from the attention that the rest of the class got and that it would be a huge

problem for the teacher but once you put it simply for teachers then they feel more reassured. They don't have to do something completely

different with that pupil but they need to have high expectations and not put pressure on the child.

Having grown up bilingually herself, Gemma Gomez dispelled another myth: Some people say their [her sons] brains are going to be all messed up because they’re learning two languages at the same time. I'm not an expert in bilingualism but I know that our brains are ready to acquire two languages, it might take them a while because they’re learning two rather than just one but it’s not a problem, I know that are more pros than cons. However, when later asked if she would like her son Diego to potentially attend a Spanish complementary school, she said that she would not be interested at that present time. She would prefer to focus on English until he was more secure but it was something she would be interested in in the future. I found this

interesting as at various points Gemma said she believed learning two or more languages was “easy and natural” for children, and that they are “ready to acquire two languages” yet she wanted Diego to concentrate on one at a time. Jannika Rodriguez reported her own parents’ concerns over raising her children bilingually:

My parents think it is more important for the children to learn English and therefore by speaking Spanish and German at home they originally

thought we were denying them the right to learn English. For my parents that was a bit of a sore point but because we had researched bilingualism we felt it was the right thing to do.

She added that she felt “in society there is still negativity about minority cultures and minority languages - maybe it is fear of the unknown”. Mariana Alonso gave an example of this:

Mariana: A few years ago I was speaking to Enrique in Spanish in a shop and a woman said, ‘I hope you're not speaking about me’.

Robert: Do you think they were trying to be funny?

Mariana: No, I think it felt more like insecurity on their part. Robert: Maybe you’re reading too much into it.

Mariana: Yeah but it's not you who went to the baby and toddler groups full of English-speaking monolingual people though. People would sometimes say, ‘You need to speak to him in English’ or ‘Why don't you speak to him in English?’ I’m choosing to speak to him in my own language and I'm sticking to it.

Monica García had also experienced this:

The problem for me is that society seems to be against it [bilingualism]. Like if I’m speaking Spanish to my kids on the street people sometimes look at me funny. I think they’re thinking you live here so you should speak English, you know? But it’s not that I don’t know English, it’s just that I’m choosing to speak to my children in my language. I’m not trying to keep them away from English, it’s just that I want them to have something extra because of all the benefits and because it’s natural for me. Most people don’t understand that or maybe they think it’s rude. Another misconception that Rachel Gimenez, Pedro Torres and Rebecca Fernandez discussed was schools not recognising their children as bilingual because the mother was a native English speaker and the children’s English was strong. Rachel believed that her daughter’s school did not regard Vicky as a bilingual child:

Because I'm her mum and I'm Scottish, she has English as her main language and speaks with a Scottish accent, so they forget she is half Mexican. They just think that she’s a Scottish lassie with a Mexican dad rather than thinking about the impact of having another language and culture at home.

Likewise, according to Rebecca Fernandez:

Paula was never considered an EAL pupil, not like the new pupils who spoke Arabic or the new Pakistani children and were supported by the EAL unit. It's something I'm very passionate about - that every single child is regarded as bilingual if they have more than one language. I'm constantly

told by teachers, ‘They're not a bilingual pupil, they have a Scottish accent’ and I say, ‘Can they speak more than one language? Then yes, they're bilingual’.

In summary, participants reported misinformation and misconceptions they had encountered from family, professionals and even strangers. Myths around children being confused and negative impact on language development often came from schools and teachers who appeared to think a subtractive model of bilingualism was best. Teachers sometimes failed to recognise children as bilingual because they spoke with a Scottish accent or had a native English- speaking parent, resulting in children not receiving the support they needed in school.

6.4 Summary

Chapter 6 has presented and analysed findings surrounding the key themes of language and culture and bilingualism. Section 6.2 explored the theme of

language and culture and seven subthemes within it. We saw that the dynamics, organisation and contexts of families had a substantial impact upon children’s bilingual abilities. Participants reported that they had a good level of linguistic awareness and could easily code switching depending on who, when, where and what they were discussing. Visits and extended stays in Spanish-speaking

countries provided opportunities to improve children’s knowledge and

confidence in Spanish, build relationships with extended family and it immersed them in culture too but this was harder for families from Latin America. Most school settings did not provide opportunities for the children to use Spanish nor did they actively promote bilingualism.

Adults felt that the dominance of the English language and negative attitudes and values towards bilingualism and wider language learning in general were real challenges. Some parents prioritised English over Spanish for their children due to advice and information given by teachers which reinforced a detrimental model of subtractive bilingualism. Adult participants, especially those from Latin America, felt it was important for their children to have exposure to and respect for these different forms of Spanish and Hispanic cultures. Parents and children reported the benefits of bilingualism they had experienced, such as literacy

skills transfer and enabling them to learn other languages with relative ease. They also displayed positive attitudes towards learning languages and embracing other cultures.

Section 6.3 considered the theme of bilingualism, comprised of eight subthemes. Participants felt that it was very natural and easy to learn two or more

languages, whether in the context of a bilingual family or in a school setting. They reported a range of benefits of bilingualism, from being able to

communicate with family, friends and the wider world, to being more

empathetic, open-minded and tolerant of others. Participants also mentioned some potential cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism that they had heard about.

Parents felt that being bilingual and bicultural would bring better career and study prospects for their children, and it had made them more confident and adaptable to travel the world and enjoy international experiences. However, they felt that Brexit was a threat to these opportunities. Inclusion and diversity were important concepts to my participants.

Participants told how a monolingual mind-set and negative attitudes towards bilingualism and minority languages were often detrimental to bilingualism. Others felt awkward speaking Spanish in a monolingual society as it was not the norm. A few parents were concerned about their children rejecting Spanish or their cultural identity as they tried to fit in with peers, and some were

disappointed that their children did not know as much Spanish as they had hoped and rued this. One reason for this could have been that approaches to bilingual parenting had not worked for their families. Some parents were concerned about an under-development in English leading to academic, speech and language or social issues. Whilst some professionals were informed on bilingualism and able to support, others distinctly lacked this knowledge and experience. More

support, advice and guidance on this would have been beneficial from official sources but in the absence of this, families supported each other at Club Estrella.

values. Spanish was perceived as a high-value language, and was somewhat supported and encouraged compared to other minority languages. Finally, a few parents felt that terminology used in bilingual discourse was not helpful and was actually detrimental. Similarly, misinformation and misconceptions on

bilingualism from family, professionals and the public did not support participants in raising their family bilingually. Myths around children being confused and negative effects on language development often came from schools and teachers. Teachers sometimes failed to recognise many children as bilingual because they spoke with a Scottish accent or had a native English- speaking parent, resulting in children not receiving the support they needed in school.

The next chapter will follow on by presenting findings and analysis on the other key themes of Community, Education, Identity and Technology.