Words Were All We Had: Becoming Biliterate Against the Odds (Language and Literacy Series)

''In this wonderful volume you are about to read elegantly crafted, heartfelt, and insightful autobiographical narratives. They both moved me and instructed me, as few writings have in our field of study.'' --From the Foreword by Luis C. Moll, University of Arizona
''The stories included in this collection reflect in extraordinary ways the importance of bilingualism and biliteracy for Latino children.'' --Guadalupe Valdés, Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Stanford University
This engaging collection examines the personal narratives of a select group of well-respected educators who attained biliteracy when they were young students, and in the era before bilingual education. These autobiographical accounts celebrate and make visible a linguistic potential that has been largely ignored in schools--the inextricable and emotional ties that Latinos have to Spanish. The authors offer teachers important lessons about the individual potential of their Latino students. These stories of tenacity and resilience offer hope for a new generation of bilingual learners who are too often forced to choose between English and their native language.