Chapter 7: Libro + Biblioteca = Libertad: Dual-Language Education and Humane Teaching at the Texas-Mexico Borderlands

World languages—with numerous manifestations and possibilities—can enrich our world and support our interconnectedness with our global neighbors as we attempt to name realities anew—or even name the unnamable that tugs at our yearning to understand, learn, and teach. Pat Mora (2008) reminded us, “Because language shapes as well as reflects our reality, exploring it allows us to see and to explore our world anew, much as experiencing the world with a young child causes us to pause, savor” (p. 11). As language teachers, we must be committed to purposeful language and literacy education that introduces and supports students whose first language is not English. Students can be guided toward dual ways of embracing their home languages and additional world languages for seeing, reading, and naming the world in their own lives for civic engagement and socially responsible literacies (Collins, 2014).