Research and Case Studies

Language Contacts

First mention of 'code-switching', when those who are rasied in multicultural households or enviroments, can 'switch' between the two languages and behaviors normal within that culture. When two cultures/ languages make contact.

A few semesters ago, I was absorbed in the idea of code switching and the mixed identity experience that I could relate to more than being bilingual, because I am not in fact bilingual. But from a young age I was aware of the differences in how I could present myself in different spaces, being my mexican household and my predominatley white school.

There seemed to be different definitions of the word "code-switching" when I first started my research. It seems like it was regarded as a more negative thing in the black community as it was not language but behavior and vernacular that was changing. And there was a bad connotation because for many people it felt as though they were hiding an essential and honest part of themselves from the world. I don't necessarily feel the same in that my Spanish self is somehow more true to myself, than my english self. In truth I do feel very different when presenting both sides of myself, but neither feels false or like I'm suppressing anything real. It could possibly be that I was so young and introduced early to both Mexican/ Spanish and American/ English cultures that both had a decent hand in shaping who I am. Both feel natural and real to me. I don't mind this difference in myself, there are a lot of contradictory parts of being a person and so that's what I compare it to.

This study was a great find, as it is the creating and definition of code-switching. Hans Vogt explains this as something that happens to children of parents with different cultures and languages. The parents teach both, and the child's development is influenced dramatically. At first there is a grace period for the child, it takes a bit longer for language capabilites to develop, but they happen sim(fix). The child can tell the differences between the different cultures and do have seperate behaviors, or personalities. Haha I sound like John Dewey.

Con Amor [with love]

A Case study of two mothers, and how they percieve their contributions to their children's education. Both felt they had obligations to provide, and guilt for what they could not. The emotional aspect of the childs upbringing is something they both felt had signifigant importance. The study examines the history of education in the United States and the disporportionate resources and interactions avaliable for white students compared to black and latino students. With this background information considered, Geneva M. Rico interviews and observes the lives of two mothers to get a more in depth understanding.

I found this study particularly helpful, as I really would like this project to become something more meaningful. As a woman of color of course I could also understand the mothers struggles and concerns surrounding these ideas, and could relate it to how my own mother raised me. Personally I think Love is a big deal and I want it to be a big deal in this project, so this whole experience seems interesting both personally and educationally. One of my philosophical references is about including love in the creation of games, and of course it goes beyond that, being something necessary for everyone but concerning games? I was so drawn to the idea and the unconventional suggestions in that reference. I was even thinking about how I could challenge the user and then realized, why do I need to? I mean leanring a language is already so challenging why do they need to do more than that. Looking at this study, and that reference I think that ultimately I want to challenge the user but in a more emotional way, as a person. So making something that makes the person reflect on their decisions or beliefs. But that might be strange for someone who has only been alive for six years lol.

Sesame Workshop's Play Everyday

This study takes places in three different countries, Mexico, South Africa, and India. The object of the study is to encourage and find the benefits of play in children's development. Provided workshops would teach and encourage interactions between caregivers and children, as well as different methods and experiences with play.

I was hesitant to include some of these resources from Sesame workshop, I wans't sure how to catagorize them or if the statistics they found would really be helpful to my project, but so many of their ideas and findings I found interesting and their philosophy as a whole as well, and theory way they deal with tough? topics, explaining everything to kids in a way they understand but aren't watering down the issue.

Infants sensitivity to cultural differences around 11 months

While my project targets an older audience, 6-10 years of age, seeing this study really cemented the idea and importance of teaching children these ideas while their young. I stumbled upon many studies similar to this one, where they observered the interactions between infants and those who were similar or different from their race. Seeing how young kids are when they start to percieve and make judgements about racial identity, it's no reach to say that kids in kindergarden and pre-school are considering race in how they interact with others. Most of the development for childrens brain (90%) happens before the age of five. (cite sesame wkshop)

I already mentioned some of the stuff in an earlier entry, but this is kind of related to so much of my research and so I think it's probably one of my most important statistics for this project. I've even thought about including a number of the studies that are similar to this one, because there is so much out there supporting this. It really forms the basis of my project, which is that even when we're young we already begin to understand and generalize about racial identity and cultural identity. It's important to have these conversations about race because if we wait, we'll have to answer later in life and it may not be so easy to introduce these ideas once they have a more cemented bias of the world.

Not to mention, that as a POC, my experience with race as a young child were not something that my family could just choose to ignore or put off until I was old enough. I remember being treated differently and having specific aspects of my apperance and language being pointed out as different or strange.

Love and Compassion

John Miller advocates for Love in children's education, in every element of learning. Loving others, loving ourselves, loving teaching, loving learning and so on and so forth. I think it's quite cheesy the way he expresses this sentiment, but it's great that he doesn't hold back either. It's an important element I think the American Public education system forgets, that kids are just little humans that can do things as well as we can. I say "The American Public Education System" a lot because I think that public education in particular needs much improvement. There are a number of great solutions and programs avaliable but they often are private institutions, require lots of money, or just are widely known/ avaliable.

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