Have you had a chance to read and watch my blogs? I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about the role and impact of language in our identity and that of others’ in the world. In my blogs, I explored how even simple words reflect a specific environment and cultural experience, and I invited you to do, too.
When my husband listened to my Episode 1 conversation with Sharon Deering, “With Language Comes Identity,” he was deeply moved, and said, “All teachers need to listen to this.” Sharon’s struggle had come from language loss through a stroke, but he pointed out that a learner’s struggle is similar: they know inside how much they have and want to say, and how few and how poor tools they have to express their thoughts, experience, emotions, and opinions. How have YOU struggled with making yourself known, be it in your native language or in a language you have learned (or attempted to learn)?
So keeping mind the power of words, language as identity, and the idea of struggle, I turned to my friend Linda Markley, a powerful and compassionate language educator and leader. I invited her to a conversation in an area in which she has a lot of national as well as local impact: advocating for language. I wanted to know what advocacy means in the world of language learning and language usage.
How do those of us who know the power and identity of language talk about it to others?
What does advocacy look like in what we choose to do with and say about language in our families and communities, or to teach if we are educators?
How does knowing that language lives in culture and differs according to environment and experience change how we approach using, learning, and/or teaching language?
As Linda asks us in this conversation, “What are we doing to change the old, tired narrative of ‘I took a hundred years of [language X] and I can’t say or do anything with it?'”
So I invite you to think about and share your experience with language, your struggle (and your victories!). If we are advocating for language because it reflects the breadth of human experience, what changes might be needed for “advocacy in action”? Let’s connect on YouTube (Fluency Online) and social media to continue the conversation!
As you listen to this conversation with Linda, think of these questions, too: What shall we pass on to those whose lives we touch with language? What have you done already? Do you know someone that has touched the world with their language insights and actions?
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Guest Bio
My guest for both Episodes 2 and 53 is Linda Markley. Linda has a passion and knack for advocating that starts when she is face to face with a frightened or disconnected student, with a new and overwhelmed teacher, with a legislator that has had a poor experience with classroom language learning, in short with anyone that comes across her path. This skill comes from Linda’s clarity of vision of what languages can do in the world.
It’s been fun and empowering to work with Linda on various boards of language education, since she brings her clarity down to the moment at hand, preparing to watch each action we take for its advocacy potential. And when I asked her to serve as a consultant for a language publisher, she brought the bigger picture of advocacy onto focus as she helped teachers to navigate now only the What but also the Why of resources, activities, and assessments.
Linda’s indeed a lifelong learner and teacher. Her passion and love of the teaching profession has sustained a 40+ year career of working with children and teachers. She has served on many professional educational boards and has advocated for teachers and students her entire adult life. Linda believes that there is a mighty advocate voice that can spring from every teacher’s heart when we tap into the power of our passion and follow our creative vision.
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Linda’s passion is catching! To get inspiration, resources, support and spark your passion, visit Linda’s website, www.spiritofteaching.org. Also, be sure to sign up for her weekly Sunday Spirit Spark and listen to the Teacher Tales podcast.
And to learn more about advocacy, go to:
For more tips and tricks specifically from Linda on advocacy for languages and educational programs, check out Linda’s professional development webinar “Advocacy for All: From Classroom to the World” and this presentation to the Florida Foreign Language Association (FFLA).
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Listening to Linda talk about advocacy for world languages; engaging her students, school, community, and beyond is so inspiring! It also felt very familiar as her experiences made me reflect on the many programs and activities I initiated to make language real for students and our school. Linda, thank you for advocating for all of us!