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"Let
Me Take You There": On the Power of Language Mastery and Reading to
Transform Lives
Cindy Dodgion, Senior
Conference Coordinator and Event Planner
The author of popular young
adult fiction such as An
Island Like You and Call
Me Maria, Judith Ortiz Cofer frequently speaks to
educators at various conferences throughout the US. Through selected
readings from her works and discussions, she shares her personal
journey through language acquisition that began as a shy, silent
non-English speaking girl in the back of the class to becoming the
honored English professor, poet, and novelist that she is today.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Judith Ortiz
Cofer now makes her home in Georgia. She is a poet, essayist, and
novelist, whose work explores the experience of being Puerto Rican and
living, writing, and teaching in the United States.
As an English Language Learner growing up in the United States, Judith
recalls the role that words and language played in her life. She
chronicles these memories in her stories, poems, and essays. Through
her stories she inspires teachers and suggests activities in the
classroom that offer students the opportunity to share their story and
realize they have a voice that matters.
"After our move from Puerto Rico to Paterson, New Jersey, early in my
American life," Judith recalIs, "I discovered the power of language to
transform my reality, to shape my future. My reality then was
intrinsically connected to Spanish and to my native culture, which was
the small but familiar and safe world our parents could offer us within
the confines of our home and the boundaries of our barrio.
"When I began to master the English language, the language of survival,
I expanded my borders. I added new dimensions to my reality, new
options to my future. Little by little I reinvented myself as a new
American, one who could travel between languages and cultures, adding
rather than subtracting from each, taking what I needed for my
self-empowerment.
"This is how an individual identity may be born out of choice; how a
dream for one’s life may be created — by making an
active choice to live a meaningful live that one controls. The
alternative: Without mastery of the language of survival, without an
education life simply happens
to you, with or without your permission."
On writing, Judith observes, "Aristotle said that the task of the
historian is to record the events of human history; the poet records
the emotional history of humankind. As an educator and a writer, I have
a dual job. To present the facts of life in America as a Latina, as
accurately and objectively as I can; yet also to transform them into a
vision that will hopefully outlast my time in this world."
Students can read several of Judith's engaging stories in the Longman Keystone
series for grades 6-12. She also frequently speaks to teachers and
students across the country — "feeding their souls," as
one teacher in
Colorado recently shared.
Want to learn more about Judith? Interested in bringing Judith's work
into your classrooms? Visit her website
for a complete bibliography and bio.
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