Reviewing the Canon: Teaching Chicano Literature in the Bilingual Classroom

Abstract

The implementation of bilingual programs in the Spanish teaching curriculum has led to the importance of teaching English language and culture as one of the main aims of this new curriculum. As one of the key competences, cultural awareness and expression can be approached in the bilingual classroom to know, understand, and appreciate the different cultural and artistic demonstrations in the English-speaking countries. English varieties of the language and culture can be taught in the bilingual classroom, but there is no trace of teaching the bi-culturalism that exists in the US regarding US-Latino culture. Nowadays over 40 million people speak Spanglish in the US, and Chicano Literature reflects this reality that faces bilingualism and biculturalism. This paper shows the importance of teaching to our bilingual students how Spanglish is used in order to improve their cultural awareness by including a model on how to teach biculturalism through Chicano Literature.

Keywords

• bilingual classroom
• clil
• spanglish
• chicano literature