Language brokering exposes youth to many kinds of oral and written language, as we discuss in this section for teachers. You, as a teacher, may have noticed that your bilingual and multilingual students understand the rules of language and have a sharp understanding of other cultures. But, maybe you never had a chance to discuss this with others, or brainstorm how to build upon youths’ multilingual dexterity. That’s probably because many conversations about students start from a “deficit” framing. That is, education too often focuses on what kids don’t know and can’t do, rather than what they can do, and what they bring to school. Even in educational programs that attempt to build on students’ strengths, there is little recognition of the sophisticated skills that are demanded – and thus developed – by language brokering.
In contrast, following a long tradition exemplified by scholars like Luis Moll and Carol Lee, we believe that activating the everyday skills and community-based “funds of knowledge” of language brokers can promote learning within schools. In this section of the website, we draw from a partnerships with teachers over the years to:
- Consider the skills involved in language brokering.
- Provide a host of teaching tips, mostly geared toward K-12 contexts, and mostly designed from studies and projects in the U.S.
- Share a few sample lessons.