The Teacher Effect

As a kid, I remember all my surroundings quite well. Lots of hustle and bustle because we lived in public housing units about five blocks away from one of the largest international bridges in the country. So, you can just imagine all the commotion that was going on. But what I remember the most was the fact that even though we lived in the U.S., I was living in El Paso. It really felt like we were living in Mexico because everything around us was in Spanish. We didn’t live near a supermarket. We lived near a supermercado, right? We didn't live near a shoe store. We lived near a zapateria. 

Well, that being said, when I began school, I went to first grade. I went and I had a really full vocabulary of Spanish, really academic, actually, and lots of street smarts too, of course. My parents did not allow us to use the street lingo in the apartment. So, it was formal academic language, Spanish, that we spoke. But that being said, when my siblings and I started school, we really started just actually just speaking Spanish. My sibling, my younger sister, had already picked up quite a bit of English because of our interaction, her interaction, our interaction, hers and mine. But still, Spanish was our primary language. But I’ll tell you, when I started school and had all this I had all this linguistic repertoire with me of Spanish I was met with: “Oh, so now I have to speak English and now I have to read and write in English.” And I’ll tell you, it was a very scary situation especially for me. It wasn’t as much for my siblings because like I said, they had already been exposed to a lot more English because of already picking up English. But anyway, I was very scared and didn’t know what was going on and struggled there for probably the first year or so. And then I had this wonderful experience and so did my siblings. I call it the KFC effect.

And some of you have heard me speak before. I bring up the KFC effect because it was the KFC effect that made things for me, and for us, just so much brighter. So much joyous. And KFC doesn’t mean Kentucky Fried Chicken. It stands for three teachers that we had in elementary school, Krudellac, Fledberg, and Crawford. They didn’t speak a lick of Spanish, but what was really interesting is that I always say that they were way ahead of their time because they honored what we had—what we brought to school as we should. 

Right? And then because of their love for English, they instilled in us that same passion and the same curiosity. 

And that’s what I tell so many of our colleagues when I’m at a conference or workshop that it is the teacher obviously, we know this, but I just wanna remind everyone: It is the teacher who makes the difference. It is the teacher’s passion. It is the teacher’s curiosity about what is around them and especially language. And that was what really made us fall in love with language. And I can tell you that I was just mesmerized by the connections they would make between English and Spanish.

And again, this was many years ago, right? When we didn’t have all this research out there that we have now of the importance of embracing our language, our linguistic repertoire that we bring with us to school. And that’s what they did. And it was through those three sweet teachers and that was, you know, it was kind of there was an alignment. It was an all-in-one grade that they kept on building and building. At the time, it was the whole class that would go from one classroom. Mostly all the kids would stay together and then go into the next one. And we were so lucky that we were taught by such wonderful linguists and so were my siblings. And I’ll tell you … We grew up in public housing. We grew up in poverty. We had very supportive parents and they always said: “You know, son, education is gonna be everything for you and for all of us and for all of your siblings.” And, you know, it’s true because I became enamored in language and so did my siblings and my sister and my brother and we’re all avid readers and writers. My brother’s a wonderful writer and my sister as well. And, oh my gosh. But if it hadn’t been for those educators. Those three wonderful ladies who instilled the love of learning and they instilled the love of language and honored what we brought, we wouldn’t be here right now. So, I know that those three teachers aren’t with us anymore. But I remember and I’m forever so thankful and grateful.

But remember, colleagues, that sometimes we’re the last resort for some of our kids. So, carry on. And remember, language is everything.