Bilingual Illustrations

“Encouraging discussion about the illustrations in books prompted genuine conversation critical to ELL studentsʼ developing literacy skills. When engaged in these types of discussions about the book illustrations or the artmaking project, students began to develop an arts-related vocabulary and learned to critique and make observations about art.” ― Carger 2004 This year, I was fortunate to illustrate a bilingual childrenʼs book. The story is of a bilingual little girl who is learning the advantages of being bilingual, and how to navigate that gift with her family and friends. Looking back at my experience in school being bilingual, being exposed to this opportunity now has made me appreciate being bilingual more. However, I wished I had exposure to books like these when I was in elementary school. I believe if the students who did not have experience with other languages has this book, they would be inspired to pursue other languages. The illustrations in the book translate the many instances a bilingual student may go through, like battling with Spanglish, not being able to communicate due to the disconnect of words, and being proud of a new skill. Studying education and being a part of this book has led to my decision to include linguistics in my classroom, opening my studentʼs creativity to multi-linguistic artists, bicultural lessons, and making my classroom inclusive to students who may struggle with language barriers.