¡Bienvenidos! to the first 2012 newsletter from the Bilingual Education Interest Section (BEIS). We are honored to have served as the editors of this nonthemed issue. Working with the authors of the articles presented here and with Kristin Snoddon, current chair of BEIS, has been an enriching dialogical experience. We have learned so much from them and their educational realities. And so will you, we are sure.

The articles included in this newsletter illustrate the different, yet common, realities of the main agents in the educational sphere: teachers and students. The article by Illescas-Glascock sheds light on the struggles faced by new teachers submersed in the educational seas without a life jacket. Illescas-Glascock shows how teachers, like herself, have navigated the system in search of their own identities as educators. Similarly, the article by Abraham addresses how an English-speaking teacher who could be considered deficient in Spanish uses her own bilingual emergence as a way to support her students’ bilingual and biliteracy development; this results in both the teacher’s and the students’ identities moving from that of deficient language learners to creative bilinguals. In her article, Stille demonstrates how researchers, as active teachers, are able to engage children and parents in projects that tap into diverse types of expertise often not recognized as legitimate in the classroom. By creating a school garden project, students and teachers roll up their sleeves in order to discover new ways of developing language and multiliteracies.

Following BEIS’ advocacy position with respect to bilingualism and multilingualism, Ng’s article provides a critical perspective on heritage language programs in Canada, which could easily be applicable to other countries. There is still a lot to be done in order to promote other minoritized languages besides English. Hence, we are pleased to include in this issue the article by Probst Lucena, which is written in Portuguese. This article, following from the pioneering and widely influential work of Paulo Freire, puts critical pedagogy into practice to develop socioculturally responsive language practices.

Even though much remains to be done in order to fulfill the BEIS purpose, these articles demonstrate that it is possible. We feel certain that there are thousands of teachers out there who promote multilingualism, value their students’ literacy and multilingual practices, and tap into the rich knowledge that students bring to the classroom. Hopefully, many teachers/researchers will come forward in future issues of the newsletter, so we can learn from them and continue to be inspired by their work.

Please note the call for papers for the themed newsletters edited by Francisco Ramos and Yvette Lapayese. Submissions can still be sent to framos@lmu.edu. In addition, take a look at the BEIS sessions scheduled for the TESOL conference in Philadelphia this year. We hope to see you there!

Mario López-Gopar, William Sughrua, and Angeles Clemente are professors at the Faculty of Languages of Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Mario holds a doctorate in second language education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His PhD thesis was awarded both the 2009 AERA Second Language Research Dissertation Award and the 2009 OISE Outstanding Thesis of the Year Award. His main research interest is intercultural and multilingual education of Indigenous peoples in Mexico.

William Sughrua is in the final stage of completing a PhD in applied linguistics from Canterbury Christ Church University in the United Kingdom.His research interests are in critical applied linguistics, reflexive ethnography, and alternative academic writing.

Angeles Clemente is chair of the Critical Applied Linguistics Research Group. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from the University of London, where she was a research fellow during 2000-2001. She is a member of the Mexican Researchers’ System and carries out research in the area of sociolinguistics in the context of Mexico.