This was of great interest to me as on my father's side, I come from a family of Italian immigrants (my paternal grandparents moved to America in 1950). So, it was fascinating to read about the successes of Italian immigrant children in Canada in comparison to their monolingual Canadian classmates. Hence, it shows that ESL students should be equally exposed to their L1 and L2 language(s) in their everyday lives.

I can understand how students in this situation could develop low levels of academic proficiency in both languages. These students are being told to quickly learn a new language, and in the meantime practice using their native language less and less. This type of scenario provides for an academically uncomfortable situation which, in the end, puts the student at a disadvantage in my opinion.

I found this summary of the Santa Fe Bilingual Program and the findings from it, to be quite thought provoking. They showed us that students do not specifically need to be focused on one language all the time to be successful. I have heard before that learning a second language causes other parts of one's brain to fire/power on, which might explain how these students were so well equipped to surpass their monolingual peers.

I can understand how this intersection between reading and intelligence assessments can occur. During a shift from just reading a word to knowing what it means or how it is spoken requires more cognitive endurance. Kind of like going from rote memorization to deeper thinking.

From my own experience and what I have heard from fellow teachers, this situation is all to common in how ESL students progress through in-school second language acquisition programs. Which I think is a bad idea, because it takes away support all at once instead of gradually. Which in my opinion is not a great educational strategy.

This really spoke to my own lived experience of being a cultural mediator for my Italian grandfather. He knew English pretty well, but at times he just needed to state his opinions and thoughts in Italian. In fact, I dealt with a scenario similar to that of the example. One time in a Best Buy, when I was helping my grandpa buy a new television. It was quite the experience!

• Dominic

As someone who speaks other languages, I can appreciate the effort and perseverance Livia demonstrated as a trilingual person. I found it interesting how codeswitching was mentioned, because this helps to further clarify what exactly is meant when we say someone is codeswitching. In addition, it gives further insight into possibly why students codeswitch in the first place. Overall, this passage was of great interest to me.

• Dominic

This is similar to a personal story from early on in the Tongue Tied book. It reminded me how difficult it can be for ESL student's to strike this balance. I surmise it puts further pressure on them, during a time when they are already over stressed and emotionally drained.

• Dominic

I can understand how it could be physically and emotionally taxing on families. There is always the question of what language should be used when or how to equally use both languages in a fair manner. All in all, I surmise it is not easy to find a perfect balance in this situation.

• Dominic

I know nothing about newborns or their neurological functioning. However, I found it interesting how newborns can begin 'breaking the code' of language, at a stage in their lives when they cannot do much for themselves.

• Dominic