Mother Tongue Project oversees a set of integrated programs and partnerships.
MOTHER TONGUE PROJECT ACADEMIC ENGLISH
College: MTP@Santa Fe Community College—English 1110 for Parenting Students
Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) offers a Mother Tongue Project section of its first-semester English Composition I course that is topically focused on issues relating to parenthood. Adapted from MTP’s high-school English curriculum, MTP@SFCC’s introduction to college-level academic reading, writing, and discussion is taught and supported by SFCC faculty and MTP staff.
MTP provides student parents with:
class/school supplies;
all curricular materials not freely accessible via Open Educational Resources (OER) agreements; and
virtual and/or in-person tutoring sessions convenient to student parents’ home, work, and/or childcare locations.
High School: MTP@Capital High School—English III/IV, Pre-COVID
This reading and writing seminar provides teen parents with an alternative English III/IV credit. Its academic standards are high and its materials and the lens through which we examine them reflect the experiences of teen parents, combining rigor with relevancy. Independent reading requirements can be met by students’ documented individual reading practices and/or reading with their babies. At the end of the course, successful student personal essays are published on The Santa Fe Reporter’s “Mother Tongue” blog.
Prior to COVID 19 attendance patterns, the Project worked with Santa Fe Public Schools and Capital High School (CHS) to offer the course at CHS.
MOTHER TONGUE PROJECT LIBRARY
We cannot expect students with low-level literacy skills to seek out literature with few links to their experiences. A student discovering the richness of a book that speaks to her life, however, is more likely to seek out another book.
College: MTP@Santa Fe Community College Library
MTP works with the SFCC English Department and SFCC Library to make accessible hard copies of MTP@SFCC English Composition I materials, as well as thematically linked independent reading titles for a wide range of readers, from newborns to college students.
High School: MTP@Capital High School
Most high schools and libraries do not have diverse, high-quality collections that address issues of sexuality, teen pregnancy and parenthood, shifting identities, sexual politics, and the roles of maternal voices. The Mother Tongue Library fills this gap in consultation with teachers, librarians, and teen parents. Mother Tongue books are shelved in the Teen Parent Center/Mother Tongue English classroom so students can easily check them out. The Mother Tongue Library also includes class sets of books for the Mother Tongue English Class that students may check out for the year.
MOTHER TONGUE PROJECT MENTORS
College: MTP@Santa Fe Community College
MTP works individually with interested student parents to find former student parents in the greater Santa Fe community who can offer mentorship, career advice, connection, and social capital.
High School: MTP@Capital High School
Mother Tongue Mentors are former teen parents who have achieved academic, professional, and personal goals: They are real-life role models who can further young parents’ resiliency through connections of common experiences and by modeling values of perseverance and achievement.