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y mom wants to talk to you," said eight-year-old Nico as soon as he saw me. I was one of Nico's regu- lar tutors at the Mexican American Network of Stu- dents (MANOS) after-school homework assistance program (names of the program and participants are pseudonyms). I greeted his mother Evelyn and him, and then she said something to Nico in Spanish; he set down his backpack, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper. He handed me his language arts spelling test from the previous week. The first thing I saw was the large 55% written across the top in red ink.
Twenty-eight-year-old Evelyn had several questions and concerns to share with me about the score, and thankfully Nico was there to lan- guage broker between Spanish and English for us. I considered myself an emergent bilingual with regards to my Spanish, so I therefore depended on Nico to communicate with Evelyn. I looked over the exam to offer a quick analysis and sug- gest ways to improve his scores. I noticed two words omitting consonants ("baring"/"barin" and "cranky"/"craky"), two rearranged with let- ters in different positions ("protest"/"portest" and "market"/"martek"), and one word with an addi- tional vowel ("wading"/"weading"). Nico's teacher deducted 20 points for these misspelled words and another 25 points for incorrectly using the words he spelled correctly ( "grasp," "mar," "billow," "grum- ble," and "glance") in a sentence.
"Tell her that it looks like we need to practice with some of your consonants and writing sen- tences with your words."
He said to Evelyn, "Mami, Steve me dijo que . . . yo necesito ayuda con los . . . los conso- consonants y con mis sentences."
Evelyn nodded and offered Nico the Spanish translation of consonant, consonante-a cognate she understood in the context of her son's transla- tion. Evelyn, though, wanted further translation of "sentences": "¿consonantes y qué?"
Nico clarified: "Las líneas de las palabras." (The lines of words.)
Evelyn nodded, "Sí . . . las frases. . . . Sen-tan-ses."
I wrote the word "sentences," and Evelyn and Nico practiced it together, spelling it and using it in a sentence. Nico then further mediated com- munication between Evelyn and me when, as a trio, we strategized a plan for...