Online Only Poster Session
Asynchronous - Online Only
Languages and Bi/multilingualism as Tools to Foster Inclusion View Digital Media
Poster Session Karla Del Carpio Ovando
Education is an essential tool to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and bi/multilingualism. Today more than ever, it is fundamental to foster bi/multilingualism for inclusion in education and society. Languages and bi/multilingualism can be used as powerful tools to advance inclusion and create more caring and respectful societies. Language learners, especially those from minority groups, need to be provided with the opportunity to participate in activities where they can use and continue to develop their home language and learn more about their culture. Also, students should be given the opportunity to discover their own talents, for instance, through discussions, debates, artistic works, creation of poems, singing of songs, games and teamwork activities while using both their native and the target languages. Also, critical thinking skills can be developed through the use of this type of activities which can be artistic and fun and can bring the community together. It is important for students to find their own voices, discover their own knowledge and wisdom, and become aware of their own talents and capacities to share, learn, inquire, analyze and create. Also, these activities can provide students with a voice to embrace their cultural and linguistic richness. The ideas that will be discussed in this presentation are based on a qualitative research study conducted at a Spanish-Indigenous bilingual school in Chiapas, Mexico. The findings of this ethnography show that indigenous children are active agents of cultural and linguistic preservation and promotion.
Latinas Navigating COVID Fatigue, Cultural Expectations, and Longing for Wellness View Digital Media
Poster Session Diana Rios, Graciela Quinones Rodriguez
Are we there yet? Anticipating the completion of arduous mental travels and aching from fatigue and anxiety, our cultural minds ask if we have arrived at the virus-free promised land. We wish to push away long-COVID fatigue and remnants of lockdown-era traumas. In the “before days”, we traveled more to Spanish-speaking nations, shared heritage foods, and easily planned elder visits. Mask-mandates have mostly disappeared, and booster vaccines are more easily scheduled. Subvariants of omicron continue. Latinas, as women, hold down cultural forts and pass on historical memories for families/communities.We must now carefully navigate cultural expectations such as cheek-kiss greetings, holy days of obligation, and co-preparation of special holiday foods (tamales, empanadas). Latinas also have responsibilities among family/heritage communities to be physically available and emotionally warm-hearted despite strain and social anxiety. Indoors, physical distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccine requirements could be interpreted as culturally cold and demonstrating “falta de respeto” (lack of respect). Latinas long for wellness and must strategize differently for mental/physical health. Self-care, an excellent health practice could be interpreted as culturally “selfish and ungrateful”. We are steadfast regarding self-care: tranquil breaks alone, free-style dancing, physical-therapy, arts, women’s retreats, and modulated volunteerism. When a Latina feels whole she is a healthy human and vibrant contributor to self and others. In this poster we use techniques of Latina auto ethnography as we academics/professionals reflect upon self/multicultural environments. We offer recommendations for women of color who long for wellness.
Working Through Senseless Gun Violence on Latinx and GLBTQ Communities: Applying Creative Strategies in the Classroom View Digital Media
Poster Session Graciela Quinones-Rodriguez, Mary Helen Millham, Diana Rios
Senseless violence is committed by firearms while accountability measures on gun control are debated. Some safety laws have passed. However, violence aimed at schools and social venues continues. We honor the dead/injured in Orlando, Florida; Sandy Hook, Connecticut; Uvalde, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado, and everywhere. Presenters reside in states with mass shootings and note there is no national curriculum to help vulnerable students work through emotionally shocking situations occurring at schools and social venues. Latinx and GLBTQ students can be re-traumatized by fresh news coverage of their communities in crisis. We propose creative exercises for higher education, across disciplines. These are adaptable to specialties and work through student stress/anxiety. Creative Writing: Prompt example--“The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you”, 10 minute focused idea list in class; 2 page essay take-home assignment; guided discussion follows for processing. Public Speaking example--a student pulls a small piece of paper from a box of pre-prepared statements and extemporaneously speaks about the statement, such as “Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally”. Guided discussion follows. Visual Arts--ten minute in-class or take-home, use half of a plain piece of note paper, use any desired pen/pencil colors to create any shapes and lines responding to “all things can be mended”. Students volunteer sharing and guided discussion ensues. Educators of this poster teach/counsel populations identifying as Latinx and GLBTQ. Educators strive to support student excellence while recognizing extreme levels of student stress and anxiety in our uncertain times.
