Recently, I conducted a site visit for Vera’s Unaccompanied Children Program, which helps legal service providers increase pro bono legal representation for immigrant children who have no parent or guardian to help them as they undergo removal (deportation) proceedings. The provider that I visited uses a host of child-friendly tools to inform unaccompanied children about their legal rights, the U.S. legal system, and why they are being removed. One of the most innovative tools I saw was the court tour.

A few weeks ago I was on a “What Works” panel at the 2nd Annual Hawaii Conference on Language Access. In addition to feeling extremely lucky to have an opportunity to swim, snorkle, and surf, I was excited to learn about language access issues in a state whose linguistic norms are very different from the rest of the country's. (For example, Hawaii’s Constitution recognizes Hawaiian as one of the state’s official languages.)
 

I grew up in a Spanish- and English-speaking household and feel comfortable speaking, reading, and writing in both languages. However, I’ve often wondered whether I could call myself truly bilingual.