Francesc Borrull · 2026 · Bilingual Education · Language Pedagogy
Author’s Note
This chapter was originally written for an edited volume on narratives of non-English L2 language teachers. I ultimately chose not to pursue publication in that venue and am sharing the work here to make it publicly available. Rather than presenting empirical findings, this piece offers a narrative, theory-informed account of language teaching across two sociolinguistic contexts—Catalonia and the United States—grounded in lived experience. I share it in the spirit of practitioner scholarship, with the hope that it may resonate with language educators, teacher educators, and scholars interested in bilingualism, language ideology, and teacher identity.
Abstract
This narrative essay traces my journey as a language educator from Barcelona to Chicago, examining how experiences teaching Catalan in a minoritized linguistic context shaped my approach to teaching Spanish in U.S. public schools. Drawing on sociolinguistic theory, bilingual education research, and over twenty years of classroom practice, I reflect on culturally responsive instruction, heritage language development, bilingual program advocacy, and writing-centered pedagogy. The chapter offers a reflective account of teaching across distinct yet parallel language ecologies, highlighting how language ideology, identity, and policy shape classroom practice. By situating personal experience within broader theoretical conversations, this work contributes to practitioner scholarship on bilingualism and aims to engage educators navigating multilingual classrooms in diverse sociopolitical contexts.
Keywords: bilingual education; bilingualism; language pedagogy; sociolinguistics; heritage language learners; Catalan; Spanish; language ideology; teacher identity; culturally responsive teaching; multilingual education; practitioner scholarship
Suggested Citation
Borrull, Francesc. “Fostering Bilingualism: A Language Teacher’s Journey from Barcelona to Chicago.” 2026.
Francesc Borrull 