The Power of Language

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10/04/2018 Added

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Isabel Velázquez teaches students who will teach Spanish in Nebraska schools. She studies language transmission and maintenance. And she believes it’s important for students to learn more than one language. How did this former journalist from Mexico find her way to Nebraska? Learn more in this episode of Faculty 101. Show Notes Translation of Monterrey Sun by Alfonso Reyes: http://ow.ly/ksom30m78kB Isabel Velázquez: http://ow.ly/ne4x30m78lj Language in the Small Spaces: Household Perspectives on Minority Language and Loss: http://ow.ly/fh0D30m78mc

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[00:00:03.496]Isabel Velascas reads from
[00:00:04.987]a piece of art on her wall.
[00:00:07.140]A paint of a son and words from a poem.
[00:00:11.952]A poem that brings tears to her eyes as she reads.
[00:00:17.819]You're emotional about that.
[00:00:19.812]It's a beautiful poem.
[00:00:22.047]It's a very important poem.
[00:00:23.582]She translates,
[00:00:24.876]"The sun was behind me like a small dog,
[00:00:29.582]messy hair, sweet, clear and yellow.
[00:00:33.236]That sleepy song that follows children.
[00:00:36.029]And tries to explain what the words mean to her,
[00:00:39.681]"It's talking about
[00:00:42.781]childhood at home
[00:00:45.339]and belonging.
[00:00:46.887]When I was a child,
[00:00:48.820]I knew no shadow only sun.
[00:00:52.660]That was me. That was me. (Isabel giggles)
[00:00:55.886]That song traveled with me wherever I go.
[00:01:01.709]That's the power of language."
[00:01:06.181]Isabel Velascas brings the
[00:01:07.914]power of language to the classroom.
[00:01:11.771]I am Mary Jane Bruce and this is Faculty 101
[00:01:15.092]from the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:01:19.645]To be able to inspire young people.
[00:01:22.644]Ace your finals.
[00:01:23.806]It's very rewarding
[00:01:24.842]I love the students.
[00:01:26.842]Welcome to Faculty 101, life hacks and success stories
[00:01:30.716]from Nebraska faculty.
[00:01:35.233]Time for orientation, who is Isabel Velascas?
[00:01:40.722]She's an associate professor in the
[00:01:42.357]department of modern languages.
[00:01:44.696]I teach teachers who will be
[00:01:46.925]language teachers across the state.
[00:01:48.845]And to Dr.Velascas language is like oxygen.
[00:01:52.539]You don't miss it, until you don't have it.
[00:01:58.156]With more than 40 million speakers of Spanish
[00:02:00.993]in the United States.
[00:02:02.310]Language education becomes even more important.
[00:02:06.270]Because it is a resource,
[00:02:09.000]we often think about making good use of our resources
[00:02:14.631]about special here in Nebraska.
[00:02:16.658]We have a traditional of good stewardship, right.
[00:02:19.476]We don't think about wasting water,
[00:02:21.839]we don't think about energy,
[00:02:24.718]we don't think about throwing money away.
[00:02:27.703]The most expensive type of capital is human capital,
[00:02:32.962]human potential.
[00:02:34.721]So we should invest in it then.
[00:02:36.447]Absolutely, any type of resource
[00:02:40.932]we need to take good care of it,
[00:02:43.124]we need to invest in it,
[00:02:45.010]and we need to see it through, yeah.
[00:02:50.098]Learning another language opens doors for students.
[00:02:54.006]We have a labor force and
[00:02:55.846]we are always struggling to keep
[00:02:58.814]a young and thriving labor force in state, right.
[00:03:02.581]We need
[00:03:04.419]individuals who can work and understand the world,
[00:03:09.293]who can
[00:03:10.172]go
[00:03:11.716]to Latin America,
[00:03:13.417]to Asia, to Africa to Europe,
[00:03:17.201]and interact.
[00:03:18.714]And I always invite parents,
[00:03:20.539]people in the community,
[00:03:21.504]and people who ask me
[00:03:23.698]to look beyond our immediate contacts, context.
[00:03:26.510]Their children will not be competing
[00:03:28.444]with their neighbor.
[00:03:30.134]Their children will be competing
[00:03:31.592]with students around the world,
[00:03:33.503]and around the world they experience multilingualism.
[00:03:36.638]Dr.Velascas also teaches a heritage speakers class
[00:03:39.952]for students who grew up with Spanish spoken at home
[00:03:43.399]but need a stronger foundation in the language.
[00:03:46.529]They want to develop literacy.
[00:03:49.129]They want develop professional skills.
[00:03:51.717]So in order to be able to write,
[00:03:54.540]do research, and write a paper.
[00:03:57.481]Present at a conference and apply for a job.
[00:04:01.361]Our goal is that wherever they go,
[00:04:03.814]whether they going to law, medicine,
[00:04:05.992]or business, engineering.
[00:04:08.474]They take their bilingual skills
[00:04:10.852]and they add them to whatever it is that they can do.
[00:04:17.200]Next up, lab work,
[00:04:18.685]a look at research conducted by Dr.Velascas.
[00:04:24.662]The Latino population of Nebraska
[00:04:26.529]brings a variety of dialects
[00:04:28.452]from Mexico, Guadamala, Peru and other countries.
[00:04:32.273]But how is Spanish transmitted and maintained in the home?
[00:04:36.320]One of the reasons I came to Nebraska is because,
[00:04:40.500]a question that is fascinating to me is
[00:04:43.124]why people choose to speak Spanish
[00:04:46.622]in communities where they're very few speakers of Spanish.
[00:04:51.755]They maintain their Spanish,
[00:04:53.621]they maintain their family language,
[00:04:55.286]they maintain those bridges, those communities,
[00:04:58.837]connections through Spanish even though their bilingual.
[00:05:02.579]What's fascinating to me is
[00:05:05.889]what is the experience of someone speaking Spanish
[00:05:08.104]in Minida, Hershey, Mindon, or Skyler.
[00:05:13.494]Language transmission and maintenance in the home
[00:05:15.900]is effected by a number of factors
[00:05:17.876]including opportunities for use.
[00:05:20.428]Through her research,
[00:05:21.374]Dr.Velascas found mothers and two parent families
[00:05:24.244]influenced efforts to make sure
[00:05:26.269]children learn Spanish.
[00:05:28.850]So we were thinking and thinking
[00:05:30.234]and asking and asking and looking at families
[00:05:32.543]and looking at household dynamics,
[00:05:35.640]and the mother seems to be fundamental.
[00:05:39.172]So, we are starting to think about the way
[00:05:42.177]in which minority transmission
[00:05:45.355]and minority culture transmission.
[00:05:49.481]Having a second language gives students
[00:05:51.520]a leg up in the job market,
[00:05:53.706]but Dr.Velascas believes language transmission
[00:05:56.466]and maintenance has benefits beyond
[00:05:58.882]providing a competitive advantage.
[00:06:01.252]It goes to the very heart of what it means to be a family.
[00:06:13.101]That's the sound of my mom, my aunts and my sister
[00:06:15.708]talking about holiday traditions
[00:06:17.342]from the Swedish side of our family.
[00:06:29.069]Many of our traditions revolved around food
[00:06:31.661]but there was also a grace
[00:06:32.857]that grandpa used to recite at many family gatherings.
[00:06:42.747]All of those traditions are held together
[00:06:44.666]through the stories we tell each other
[00:06:46.301]through language.
[00:06:49.474]Everything that makes us apart of our community,
[00:06:52.209]a family, a wider community,
[00:06:54.203]and everything that makes us as an individual
[00:06:56.914]is constructed through language.
[00:07:00.331]What makes us collective is memory,
[00:07:03.381]and memory, language is the vehicle for memory, right.
[00:07:07.190]Everything that makes us human
[00:07:09.768]is connected through language.
[00:07:12.202]Is it important to maintain a language?
[00:07:17.662]You're asking me if its important
[00:07:19.356]to maintain human experience,
[00:07:21.450]of course it is.
[00:07:23.067]Dr.Velascas has written a book
[00:07:24.489]that explores the importance of heritage language.
[00:07:27.606]It is called "Language in Small Spaces,
[00:07:30.371]Household Perspectives in Minority Language and Loss".
[00:07:33.866]Language in small spaces is messy,
[00:07:37.278]is the language of telling your kid go take the trash out,
[00:07:42.119]the language of fighting, loving, telling a joke,
[00:07:45.428]being silly, having inside jokes and
[00:07:49.394]sometimes they say it in Spanish and
[00:07:50.733]sometimes say it in English.
[00:07:52.621]It's the language of interactions that no one sees,
[00:07:55.801]it is the language of your shared history,
[00:08:00.954]it is the language that you share with your siblings,
[00:08:03.898]it is the language,
[00:08:05.291]"Do you remember when grandma
[00:08:06.483]use to say blah blah blah blah?"
[00:08:17.496]Nebraskans has a rich history
[00:08:19.238]when it comes to language,
[00:08:20.445]whether it would be Russian or German.
[00:08:23.057]Dr.Velascas feels a kinship with
[00:08:25.457]her adopted states history.
[00:08:36.381]It's a fascinating and beautiful novel.
[00:08:41.542]But because I see in some of their experience.
[00:08:52.058]Ready for office hours?
[00:08:53.624]What path did Dr.Velascas follow
[00:08:55.632]from her home in Mexico to Nebraska.
[00:09:00.675]I grew up by California on the boarder
[00:09:05.130]between Mexico and the United States.
[00:09:07.111]And her first career,
[00:09:08.648]I always knew I wanted to be a journalist.
[00:09:10.767]My father was a teacher and he also had a radio program.
[00:09:17.040]Newspapers were flown in from Mexico city.
[00:09:19.997]One of the most exciting parts of my week
[00:09:22.289]was going with my dad to go pick up the newspapers
[00:09:25.294]that had been brought in from Mexico City.
[00:09:27.847]He used them for his radio program
[00:09:32.315]and it was through those newspaper
[00:09:35.727]where I found out that they were female reporters.
[00:09:38.282]And I thought it was the coolest thing.
[00:09:42.509]As a reporter,
[00:09:43.539]she covered a tragic time in a region of northern Mexico.
[00:09:46.822]Hundreds of women and girls were murdered
[00:09:48.718]in violence contributed in part
[00:09:50.767]to organized crime and the drug trade.
[00:09:53.732]She grew tired of reporting on
[00:09:55.148]a situation that didn't seem to change.
[00:09:58.860]We would report and the news will be on the front page
[00:10:06.109]and then nothing changed, nothing happened.
[00:10:11.284]Over and over.
[00:10:15.700]It was time to go where she felt
[00:10:17.185]where she felt like she could make a difference.
[00:10:20.436]Dr.Velascas has earned her Masters
[00:10:22.150]at Mexico State University
[00:10:24.325]but her plan to teach was delayed because,
[00:10:27.431]She started asking questions,
[00:10:28.974]I wonder how this works and I wonder how that works
[00:10:32.293]and then you find a thing that's called PhD,
[00:10:33.996]where you get to ask the most fantastic questions.
[00:10:36.885]A story called the Tale of the Unknown Island
[00:10:39.706]pushed her to take the risk.
[00:10:42.192]A man was to travel to an unknown island
[00:10:45.641]and he asks the king for a favor because he need a boat.
[00:10:51.960]And the king says,
[00:10:53.699]"that is not an unknown island that is a known island."
[00:10:58.271]And he says, "Every island is unknown until you're in it."
[00:11:03.889]That is why I studied PhD because I just wanted to know.
[00:11:12.092]Now it is time for a pop quiz, random questions,
[00:11:15.066]life hacks and wisdom for all of us.
[00:11:20.206]Do you have a habit that
[00:11:21.341]makes you happier, healthier, or more productive?
[00:11:24.033]Drinking coffee, absolutely, yes.
[00:11:27.190]Do you have a life hack or piece of advice for students?
[00:11:31.260]Take a risk, you may or may not fail, take a risk.
[00:11:37.918]Do you have children?
[00:11:39.155]One children,
[00:11:41.155]he speaks Spanish,
[00:11:42.565]English, Portuguese and French.
[00:11:44.837]Why did you want him to know more than one language?
[00:11:47.486]Do you want me to answer as a mom, researcher or teacher?
[00:11:52.053]Let's answer as a mom first.
[00:11:54.142]Because I want my child,
[00:11:56.698]I want my son to be open to the world
[00:11:59.965]to know that the world is his space.
[00:12:03.999]I think that is accomplished through language.
[00:12:06.866]Do you have any recommendation
[00:12:08.221]who is interested in learning another language
[00:12:11.024]or perusing a career like yours?
[00:12:13.324]Get close, people sadly think that language
[00:12:18.025]is only in English in some place, some foreign land.
[00:12:23.337]We have soccer groups, we have church groups
[00:12:26.167]and we have a
[00:12:30.106]community that offers opportunities.
[00:12:33.191]And don't be afraid to make mistakes.
[00:12:36.083]And finally, graduation day.
[00:12:37.982]Final thoughts on language, teaching
[00:12:40.569]and the University of Nebraska.
[00:12:42.788]You see many trinkets in my office.
[00:12:45.530]Dr.Velascas has an office filled
[00:12:47.779]with pictures and gifts from former students.
[00:12:50.933]She's been here awhile so she's used
[00:12:52.660]to the Nebraska climate. Sort of.
[00:12:55.360]So you did adjust to the snow?
[00:12:57.611]Somewhat.
[00:12:58.444](Isabel giggles)
[00:12:59.383]Yes.
[00:13:00.440]And she loves her job.
[00:13:02.781]I have the privilege of working with young people.
[00:13:07.678]I have the privilege of asking questions
[00:13:09.591]that are interesting to me.
[00:13:11.951]I have the privilege of working at a public university.
[00:13:19.046]I have the privilege in interacting with colleagues
[00:13:21.442]who are several times more talented
[00:13:23.865]and more creative than me, I learn from them.
[00:13:28.096]I tell my students I teach for free, they pay me to grade.
[00:13:36.258]That's it for this edition of Faculty 101.
[00:13:38.803]Thanks to Isabel Velascas,
[00:13:40.681]in the show notes you will find a link
[00:13:42.206]to a beautiful poem
[00:13:43.405]she read at the top of the program
[00:13:45.046]along with the translated version.
[00:13:47.520]Next on the the podcast,
[00:13:54.075]a professor brings magic to the chemistry classroom.

The Power of Language

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The Power of Language

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