Department of Curriculum & Instruction (CUIN) visiting associate professor Leslie Gauna recently published a chapter entitled In Between English and Spanish Teaching: the story of a linguistically diverse student becoming a teacher in a book entitled The Career Trajectories of English Language Teachers edited by Penny Haworth and CUIN professor Cheryl Craig.  The book is part of a collection called Oxford Studies in Comparative Education.  The series editor is David Phillips from Symposium Books.

The chapter recounts a novice Bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher’s story transitioning from being a student- teacher to a hired teacher. The narratives come from a Mexican-descent young adult male (named Oscar), who was born and raised in the United States speaking Spanish while attending a majority-in-English education. His narrative provides an opportunity to understand the challenges, sources of support, and negotiations experienced while becoming a teacher of non-English-background children.

The story tells of a loss in his naïve status after multiple attempts at securing a teacher position and then the challenge of not passing the Spanish proficiency test required for bilingual certification. This event aligned him with the many children who have been left without knowledge of the standardized version of their native language of Spanish.  Paradoxically, as an ESL teacher, he affirms the value of his Spanish language as a source for teaching and connecting with Hispanic students and parents. “Surprisingly, it is not languages (Spanish or English) that he emphasized as his most valuable resource when relating with Hispanic and Black students, but it was urban culture,” said Gauna.  “Oscar’s narratives help to understand students raised with a language other than English and envision them as learners with multiple resources and unique paths.”

Gauna is honored to have her chapter published in a book. “The story of struggle and triumph of one of my students who has been raised speaking Spanish in the Houston area is being read by a vast audience of educators and researchers,” she said. “It means that if it is published then several people behind the project judged that the narrative inquiry research behind the project was sound and worth its dissemination.”

Gauna graduated from the University of Houston, College of Education with a M.Ed. in CUIN with a specialization in Bilingual and English as a Second Language and an Ed.D. in CUIN with a specialization in Social Education and Bilingual Education. Gauna said that during her master’s program, Irma Guadarrama “taught me the cognitive and socio-political advantages of Bilingual Education with programs such as dual language as well as the cognitive advantages of bilingualism for all human beings not just for students raised in a language other than English, but for English speaking families.”  CUIN professor, John Ramsey also showed Guana the value of project-based-hands-on-learning.  “He proved to me that science is a way to understand our world,” she said.

During Gauna’s doctoral studies, Cheryl Craig was a huge influence.  “She showed me that the privilege of being entrusted with personal stories by our research participants is a valid way to do sound educational research.” Gauna also mentioned CUIN professor Cameron White as someone who inspired her during the program.  “He re-affirmed the belief and practice that social justice is the ultimate goal of education.” 

Gauna has recently accepted a tenure track position at UH Clear Lake, in the College of Education with the Studies in Language and Culture department.