Lacey’s Story
Hey there!
My name is Lacey & I never thought I’d be writing a blog for people to read…. but here we are! 2020, the year that all bets are off, right?! My hope is that through my portion of the blog you will get to know a little bit more about me (the woman behind the papercuttings & art of Bitty Bao), the language journey that my family will be making with our daughter in our quest to support her in becoming trilingual, and also learning about Bitty Bao’s bookmaking process.
Background
I worked in the public school system in both Southern and Northern California for 12 years - as an elementary teacher (this is where I met Lulu!), English Learner coordinator, instructional coach, and eventually an assistant principal. Upon returning back to Southern California while pregnant with our daughter, Madeline, my career in education is now on a short hiatus. I hope to one day return back to the school setting, eventually as a school principal in the next few years.
I am a second generation American born Chinese woman living in Southern California. Unfortunately, the Cantonese language did not get passed down to my generation (my sister or any of my cousins) from our parents or grandparents. When our grandparents immigrated over to America, they made it their priority to work hard to get a solid foundation in America and assimilate into American culture. It was a sense of pride to be able to speak English (and even some Spanish) in the humble Chinese restaurant that my paternal grandparents owned in East LA.
I honestly never really thought about my lack of meaningful connection to my Chinese heritage and language before I traveled to China in 2014. I had applied and been accepted into a teach in China program for the summer. This program selected a handful of teachers to pair up with teachers in China to share best teaching practices in language acquisition – this was my first trip out of the United States. I remember getting off the plane and riding the escalator down to baggage and immediately being flooded with a swirl of emotions of gratefulness and reflection. I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of pride, curiosity, and happiness the moment I set foot in the country my family had originated from - an experience my parents, aunts and uncles, sister, and cousins had yet to experience. Prior to beginning our teaching assignments, we were toured around various cities in China. I was the only American teacher selected that was also Chinese. As time passed, I discovered that I was especially confusing to the people in China. Outwardly, I looked like I could possibly fit in, but upon approaching me, it was instantly evident to them that I did not speak the language nor fit in. I felt like I was straddling two worlds.
Language Hopes
I taught for four years in a Spanish dual immersion program in Los Angeles. I was an English kindergarten teacher and had an amazing partner teacher that was in charge of teaching our students Spanish. We planned and worked together to make sure that all of our students, whether Spanish was their home language or Spanish was completely new to them, ended the year meeting (or exceeding) the kindergarten standards in both languages. During my time teaching dual immersion, I fell in love with the strong sense of community, culture, enrichment, and engagement we were able to provide our students and families. I was blown away by the students and their ability to so easily pick up English and Spanish simultaneously. Bilingual education has come a long way from its infancy and the current dual immersion/dual language model of simultaneously working to help students build and keep both languages with high academic standards in use has definitely contributed to the sudden boom in dual immersion offerings in the last ten years.
My husband is Nicaraguan and immigrated to America when he was in elementary school. Spanish was his primary language growing up and he still remembers when he was first tasked to learn English at school. He has two children from a previous relationship and both of his boys attended a Spanish dual immersion school for the majority of their elementary and middle school years. His two children, with the support of their mom and dad, extended family, and their dual immersion programs have been given such a great gift of academic biliteracy and bilingualism.
Mauricio and I now have a daughter, Madeline, who is currently 15 months old. Mauricio speaks to her only in Spanish and I speak to her exclusively in English. We are eyeballing Mandarin preschools in the area to enroll her in when COVID-19 levels out and are planning to utilize our public-school district’s Mandarin dual immersion program from K-8 when the time comes. We’re excited to give Madeline the opportunity to be trilingual.
Bitty Bao Bookmaking
It’s funny - when Lulu approached me about publishing some bilingual books for our kids, I really naively believed that it would be only a small blip of my time, energy, and world. Bitty Bao quickly proved, to both Lulu and I, to not be so bitty an endeavor, and instead more like a new baby – demanding of our time and attention, growing like a weed, and super confusing at times. We have learned A LOT over the past few months and I look forward to share our process in future posts and hopefully help some of you self-publish your own books and start up your own small business, (if that too is your jam!).
Lacey Benard
A firewife, mom of a wee bitty babe, and the other half of the dynamic Bitty Bao Duo - meet Lacey. As an American-Born-Chinese woman, raised without the gift of Chinese as a second language, Lacey is hoping to now prioritize language acquisition for her bitty babe through bilingual books, cultural events, and their school district’s Mandarin dual immersion program. Lacey can often be found in the middle of the night hand cutting tiny bits of paper into cute images for the Bitty Bao books and hopes that you enjoy seeing them come to life in the books as much as she does.
