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This week’s blog post includes a linked audio file. Just click on the link below if you would like to hear the post read aloud. Scroll down to read the text.

Our guest blogger this week, Daisy Martinez, tells us: I am currently working as a French Immersion, high school science teacher in Regina Saskatchewan. I completed a Bachelor of Science with a major in Biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan before completing a Bachelor of Education at the University of Regina. I am currently in my second year of graduate studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. My interests include heritage languages – particularly, the experiences and perspectives of Spanish speaking parents and their efforts in maintaining the Spanish language. Outside of university, I practice yoga and really enjoy quilting, hiking, and a good game of chess. I live with my husband and our sweet dog, Apollo.

My upbringing in Regina, Saskatchewan was in a bilingual household, and I can affirm that it takes a great deal of effort to prevent heritage language loss in an English-dominant society. My parents (first-generation immigrants from El Salvador) worked tirelessly to ensure that I learned to speak Spanish. To be honest, they worked tirelessly, period. Building one’s life from the ground up, learning a new language, and raising three children is no easy task. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and fortunately, my village was composed of many Spanish-speaking families, which helped me maintain my heritage language.

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