Rodriguez and Garcia

Okay, so I'm including this picture because I keep saying that I grew up in a white neighborhood but I literally cannot express how white in words so here; picture proof. That was my third-grade class. Not one POC. I just wanted to put this out there to preface when I say the idea of code-switching and translanguaging is so foreign to me. So so foreign. After reading both Rodriguez and Garcia I'll admit that I had to go online and do some more reading about it, just to make sure that I'm really grasping it. If you had asked me before I would have said that Translanguaging and code-switching are the same things. Garcia let me know this is wrong.

Actually, when I looked up translanguaging I found an interview done with Garcia by Psychology Today.  This article actually helped me understand a lot and really opened my eyes to the importance of it. When my little brother was first learning how to talk, my mom never got mad at him for using a different version of a word to express what he wanted. He was using all the knowledge he had at that point in time to express himself. Garcia says that this is the same thing. Kids need to be able to use all the knowledge across all languages to learn.

I have linked this Ted Talk because I think these things are related. It's 15 minutes long so I will sum it up. The title is "How languages shape the way we think." Around minute 2:30, Boroditsky talks about how there is an Aboriginal tribe who uses direction to talk about everything. She says "They don't use words like 'left' and 'right' and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east, west." This talk is really worth listening to and encompasses all cultures really.