For decades, traditional educational systems have mistakenly viewed a student’s native language (L1) as an obstacle to be cleared rather than an asset to be cultivated. As a Professor of Bilingual Education, I know the cognitive research refutes this deficit-based model.
Our foundational premise as educators must be clear: a student’s L1 is the primary cognitive bedrock upon which all subsequent academic and linguistic structures are built. We do not "subtract" the native language to make room for English; we leverage it through additive bilingualism to accelerate conceptual development and second-language acquisition.
The native language is not an impediment, it is the single most powerful instructional tool in your classroom.
To support your classroom practice and help you navigate the cognitive architecture of biliteracy, I have synthesized the empirical evidence, developmental timelines, and practical diagnostic tools into an executive briefing.

On April 20th, I had the incredible honor of presenting at the 2024 BESO Spring Leadership Institute alongside my esteemed colleague, Dr. Apolonio "Polo" Trejo. Held at the University of Texas San Antonio, this year's theme, "Expedición de educación bilingüe: Trazando el camino por delante" (Bilingual Education Expedition: Charting the Path Ahead), set the stage for an inspiring day of connection, learning, and growth for BESO members across the state.
Our session, titled "BESO Empoderado" (Empowered BESO), was designed with one goal in mind: to empower the next generation of bilingual educators. We shared practical strategies and innovative ideas to support these future leaders in creating culturally and linguistically responsive classrooms that truly reflect and celebrate the diversity of their students.
Highlights of the Session

1. Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices
   We explored what it means to honor the cultural wealth and linguistic assets students bring to the classroom. Future bilingual educators learned actionable strategies to engage students in ways that affirm their identities and create meaningful connections between home and school.
   
2. Engaging Culturally Diverse Communities
   Empowering bilingual educators is not just about classroom strategies—it’s about understanding the broader context of their work. We discussed the importance of family engagement and shared examples of how educators can build relationships with culturally diverse communities to foster trust, collaboration, and inclusion.
   
3. Leadership in Bilingual Education
   Our presentation encouraged BESO members to see themselves not only as teachers but as advocates and leaders in the field of bilingual education. We shared tools to help them take ownership of their campuses’ bilingual programs, inspire their peers, and champion the needs of multilingual learners.
   

The Energy of the DayThe energy in the room was electrifying. BESO members are some of the most passionate and dedicated future educators I’ve encountered. They engaged fully in the discussions, asked insightful questions, and shared their own experiences and challenges. It was clear that the future of bilingual education is in excellent hands with this generation of aspiring teachers.
One of the most rewarding moments for me was hearing from participants after the session. Many shared how they felt inspired and ready to take the tools and strategies we discussed back to their own BESO chapters and campuses. That’s what this institute was all about: empowering individuals to create ripple effects in their communities.
Final ThoughtsBeing part of this event was a reminder of why I do what I do. Bilingual education is not just a profession—it’s a mission. It’s about giving students the opportunity to thrive in a world that values their language, culture, and identity.
To all the BESO members who attended, thank you for your enthusiasm and dedication. You are the future of bilingual education, and I can’t wait to see the incredible work you’ll do.
And to the organizers, thank you for creating a space where ideas can flourish, connections can be made, and leaders can rise.
If you missed the institute, don’t worry! Stay tuned for more updates and events. Let’s keep charting the path forward together.

El 21 de enero de 2024 conmemoramos el 50º aniversario de la histórica sentencia Lau v. Nichols del Tribunal Supremo de EE. UU., un hito en la legislación educativa que reconoció el derecho de los estudiantes que hablan un idioma diferente al inglés a recibir una instrucción comprensible y adecuada a sus necesidades lingüísticas. Esta decisión subrayó la responsabilidad de las escuelas de adaptarse a las características variadas de los niños, en lugar de esperar que los niños se ajusten a un programa educativo estándar.

El caso, presentado por el abogado Edward Steinman en nombre de aproximadamente 1,800 niños chinoamericanos en San Francisco con dominio limitado del inglés y que no recibían asistencia especial en las escuelas, llevó a un fallo unánime que determinó que proporcionar los mismos recursos educativos sin abordar las diferencias de idioma era una negación de la igualdad de oportunidades educativas.

Siguiendo la decisión de Lau v. Nichols, se establecieron directrices para que las escuelas cumplieran con el fallo. Esto marcó el comienzo de una era de reconocimiento y valoración del bilingüismo y la educación bilingüe como herramientas esenciales para el aprendizaje del inglés y el éxito académico.

A lo largo de los años, hemos visto un progreso significativo en la forma en que se aborda la educación de los estudiantes bilingües. Como profesionales de la educación bilingüe, nuestro compromiso se extiende más allá de las fronteras de los Estados Unidos, abrazando los beneficios del aprendizaje de segundos idiomas y el bilingüismo en todo el mundo.

En este aniversario, no solo celebramos un hito histórico, sino que también renovamos nuestro compromiso con la equidad educativa para todos los estudiantes. Continuamos abogando por programas que respeten y fomenten la diversidad lingüística y cultural, y que preparen a los estudiantes para ser ciudadanos globales competentes en un mundo interconectado.

La sentencia Lau v. Nichols es un recordatorio poderoso de que la educación debe ser accesible y relevante para todos los estudiantes, independientemente del idioma que hablen. Al celebrar este aniversario, reafirmamos nuestra dedicación a crear sistemas educativos inclusivos y efectivos que reconozcan y celebren la riqueza del bilingüismo.

First of all, we would like to start by defining the concept of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning - coined in Europe in the early nineties (Coyle et al (2010)), and those concepts and key aspects around this approach. Many of which will need to be considered when designing activities for the CLIL classroom that will not help our students develop and improve their communicative and foreign language skills, but their learning process.

Why CLIL?​
The 21st Century educational landscape has undergone important innovations in the last decades, one of them is the introduction of technologies in the classroom and the other notable change is related to the teaching of languages ​​being part of a connected and globalized world, it should be one objective that everyone in the world can talk other languages ​​in addition to the mother tongue. This method started in Europe, due to the great language and cultural diversity of the country members of the European Union.

These two aspects, the introduction of ICT and the learning of languages ​​are well reflected in the White Paper on Education and Training: Teaching and Learning - Towards the Learning Society published in 1995 by the Commission of the European Community and in later publications1 where Action Plans to promote language learning and the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) are established. Both points are among the priorities for the member states in the document published in 2012 Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes where the priorities are "To increase the supply of transversal skills that increase employability, such as Entrepreneurship, digital skills and languages ​​"and" Intensify the use of ICT-assisted learning and access to high quality OER "(p.17).

Multilingual Programs

In this context, a great number of bilingual programs have been implemented over the last decade, many of which use the AICLE approach in Spanish: Integración de Contenidos y Lengua Extranjera; EMILE in French: Enseignement De Matières Par Integration D'une Langue Étrangère or CLIL in English: Content Language Integrated Learning. This method can be used with any language in the world.​

D. Coyle et al. (2010) distinguish two main reasons for the interest in CLIL within a country or region. One of them is a proactive reason, as a way to promote the learning of a language for political, economic and social reasons. This is the case of the French immersion programs of Canada, as a way of supporting bilingualism, or the CLIL programs that promotes the policy of the European Union to strengthen relations and mobility between the countries of the same. The European Union has essentially become a territory without borders, where all citizens have the right to live, study or work where they wish; However, not knowing languages ​​still represents an invisible barrier to free movement that needs to be eliminated and bilingual programs are one of the most effective measures.

From a pedagogical point of view there are many reasons why bilingual and CLIL programs are recommended:​

First, they offer advantages for students' cognitive development (Bialystock, 2009).
They bring significant gains in the target language (L2) as evidenced by numerous studies on language immersion in Canada and CLIL in Europe.
They favor the collaboration of teachers with each other and with the administration of the center since much of the community will be involved in learning the language and content.
He observes how in the following video Hugo Baetens, referring in bilingualism and CLIL of the Vrij Universiteit Brussel (VUB) alludes to the expressed in the previous point.

EU Policy Documents

EU Languages ​​and Language policy

The White Paper on Education and Training: Access to the document in its entirety. Available for download.

Languages ​​in education: support page for language learning and linguistic diversity of the European Commission.

See the Eurydice Report (2006) a study on how and where CLIL was being implemented in the European Union.

Coyle, D., Hood, P. and Marsh, D. 2010, CLIL. Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Usos de recursos educativos abiertos para AICLE by Aprende Intef cursos en linea is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional License.​

AICLE/CLIL - recurso estrella: clilandict
Me gustaria compartir este wiki que esta disenada para ofrecer recursos abiertos de AICLE y CLIL. Las siglas ICT significan "Information and Communication Technology", por lo que nos va a mostrar muchos recursos digitales para poder utilizar con nuestros estudiantes. Cual es tu favorito?

http://clilandict.wikispaces.com

En la columna de la izquierda pueden ver las diferentes opciones que les ofrece para su busqueda como asignaturas, videos y otros recursos.

Si queremos buscar algo mas especifico, escribimos en la barra "busqueda" y nos ofrecera las posibles entradas, webs y recursos relacionados con ello. Es importante destacar tambien que ofrece actividades y recursos para todos los niveles, desde Educacion Infantil a Bachillerato.

Un aspecto importante sobre las wikis es que se puede configurar su privacidad y todas las personas/usuarios que esten interesados pueden participar con sus aportaciones. Una de las mas significativas que nos ofrece es la siguiente: http://www.simplek12.com/

En http://www.simplek12.com/ encontramos una gran cantidad de articulos, webs con propuestas de actividades como por ejemplo excursiones virtuales que nos servira para realizar actividades mas divertidas y amenas en clase, y que ademas, invitaran a la participacion de nuestros estudiantes. Y lo mas increible, es que le puedes llevar al centro de un volcan!

Si lo que estas buscando son actividades, recursos e ideas lo mejor sera que visites Pinterest.