This is an ongoing project meant to examine language acquisition as a storytelling vehicle. Viewing language learning as mode of sharing stories allows us to see it less as a means to an educational or practical end and more as an experience that teaches us about ourselves and others in a global context. This project also points to a larger question of how learning language can build skills beyond vocabulary like empathy, self-awareness and other socio-emotional skills.

I took an interest in language acquisition as a storytelling device in 2019 when my husband and I left our home in California. While I am a US Citizen, my husband was a DACA recipient and that year we made the decision to leave the United States to find a home outside the shadow of the US immigration system and the political gridlock that prevented its reform. The following two years were filled with travel and new experiences, some delightful and some devastating . During this time I began creating flashcards of the words I learned while traveling that stood out to me. Some were words I found to be particularly poignant based on the particular time, place and political climate I was traveling in. Some were words I found delightful. Others were extremely specific to my journey and the difficulties I was navigating.

In the process of making these flashcards, I began to see language acquisition less as a means to an end (fluency) and more as an experience ( an act of learning about a place, its people, its climate and the nuances of daily life). When viewed as a collection displayed in linear order, I also began to see the way the words I learned told story. Not only did they tell a story of life in whatever country and city I was in, but they also told my story of navigating life and the pandemic as one half of a couple with two different passports.