This is a qualitative critical narrative research proposal grounded on trust (Sousa, 2018). The main objective is to reconstruct the meaning of the Colombian teachers of English’s stories about their experiences as participants in an immersion program led by the Ministry of Education. Such meaning reconstruction will be based on the interpretation of their experiences told as participants in one immersion held in Colombia, which can also be contrasted with the reports and information provided by the MoEd about these programs as successful to the point that these have been highly replicated under similar circumstances and for various opportunities. The theoretical framework includes the key constructs that are pillars of this research, such as teachers’ stories and immersion programs for teachers. The Short Story Analysis model as an eclectic perspective (Gómez-Vásquez, L., & Guerrero Nieto, C. 2018) will be used for the analysis of the co-constructed stories with the group of colleagues; That is to say, that the stories will be classified in a matrix for better understanding and justify the categories emergence based on the existence of a who, (actor) when (time) and where (place). Additionally, the model of the three levels of stories coined by Barkhuizen (2016) will be used. Three (3) Colombian teachers (colleagues) will take part of the project, these colleagues demonstrated to be highly engaged during the immersion, also we continued to be in touch via a WhatsApp group which was created for all participants, however, they were three of the most active members and demonstrated willingness to be in this study. Likewise, these colleagues were selected based on availability sampling (Lavrakas, 2008). Reconstructing the meaning of these teachers’ experiences in this program will enlighten the design, organization, and execution of this type of strategies within the National Bilingualism Program (NBP), and therefore, for programs that are offered to teachers both locally and for similar socio-cultural realities overseas.

From the extensive research and publications that have been conducted around and about the National Bilingualism Program in Colombia (NBP) (Cárdenas, 2006; Guerrero, 2008; Sanchez & Obando, 2008; Usma, 2009: Guerrero, 2010; Maturana, 2011; Correa & Usma, 2013; Bonilla & Tejada, 2016; Gómez, 2017) it can be concluded that despite the strategies established by the Ministry of Education (MoEd) to promote the implementation of the NBP and to achieve its objectives, there are still various issues to look into, for instance: the pertinence of the program itself in the Colombian socio-cultural context, the lack of clarity of its aims and rationale, the lack of a clear definition of bilingualism based on our realities, considering the concept of bilingualism as the use of only English and Spanish to be so-called bilingual which causes immediate exclusion of other languages (even Colombian indigenous ones) and cultures, the roles of the participants and their relationships, its hidden agendas and their influences, among many others.

Accordingly, one strategy used within the NBP implementation is the open call for the Colombian teachers of English to participate in immersion programs. This strategy is named a benefit of the NBP for the teachers. However, this strategy promotes inequity from various perspectives because: first, it is only accessible for those teachers whose linguistic competence is acknowledged (not certified) as low (below B1 based on the Common European Framework of Reference CEFR). Second, those in-service teachers eager to participate must have at least two years of teaching experience as officially hired state teachers. Third, they must work for one of the few focalized schools in the country. Additionally, this benefit (as it is named by the MoEd) evidences that teachers continue to be seen from a deficit perspective (lack of linguistic and pedagogical competence) in words of López-Gopar, (2016) teachers are seen as “incompetent non-native speakers” of the English language (p. 196). All in all this strategy, called a benefit, that promotes inequity, should be added up to the aforementioned list of aspects to look into within the NBP.

Even though this strategy of the NBP promotes exclusion and inequity, teachers are still willing to take part in the immersion programs, this is based on the high number of applicants compared to the few places offered. Due to the limitation of spots to participate, these immersion programs are considered by the teachers as a prize, (as informed by some former immersion participants); therefore, teachers are willing to comply with the requirements of the application to win (not earn, they consider it as a lottery, since there are no clear selection procedures) the right to attend, so that after the teachers’ participation, they can belong to the exclusive (very limited number) group of those who have made it to these programs. Consequently, immersion programs for teachers as a prize evidences inequality and exclusion even within that already exclusive group of teachers who are part of focalized schools.

Furthermore, based on the top-down approach used by the MoEd, those in charge of the NBP and the design of these immersion programs, the so-called ‘experts’, know what teachers need to know what they need to learn, what to teach and how to teach it, too. This is reflected in the fact that teachers who participate in these immersions may have different interests, also do have different backgrounds and do come from different realities (some work in rural areas, whereas some others do so in urban schools). Notwithstanding, once teachers are the winners of a spot to be part of the immersion program, they are seen as if the linguistic competence level, were the only difference among themselves, this evidences the homogenization of Language Teachers made by the MoEd in this case.

The MoED shows its belief about nativespearism by including in this program a group of twenty-five so-called Native English speakers as models of the language for the teacher participants, which confirms what Quintero and Guerrero (2018) mentioned the fallacy of the English Speaker to homogenize worldwide English speaking based on the parameters of the Anglo-American model. In this program, the ratio of Formadores Nativos Extranjeros-FNE is one to five Colombian Teachers of English. Whereas, the ratio of Colombian Teacher Educators is one to twenty-five Colombian teachers of English.

Although all these FNE are foreigners, there are some whose first language is not English, they still were considered linguistic role-models for the participant teachers. As stated by González and Llurda (2016, p. 91) this practice is due to the “perceived superiority of Native Speakers” in Colombia.

Moreover, speaking a language (English in this case) seems to enable people to teach that language and become a language and a pedagogical model. This is reflected as well by the participation of a significant number of the so-called English Native Speakers (ENS) in the immersions as Formadores Nativos Extranjeros- (Foreign Native Instructors-FNI). The ratio in the immersions is one FNS to five Colombian Teachers of English. Although all these FNS are foreigners there are some whose first language is not English, they still were considered linguistic role-models for the participant teachers. Such consideration based on the “perceived superiority of Native Speakers” in Colombia, as stated by González and Llurda (2016, p. 91).

So far, the offer to the Colombian teachers of English to attend an immersion program as one strategy to achieve the objectives of the NBP was presented, strategy which promotes, beyond language learning and teaching, exclusion, homogenization and teachers’ invisibilization. Additionally, it disregards teachers’ knowledge, does not consider their socio-cultural realities, and privileges native speakerism as a role model, as the way to speak English (in this case) and to teach it. What has not been introduced is the participants’ contribution to the strategy within the NBP, their learnings, their ideas and opinions, their experiences, their stories about it either. It has not been because those are not included in the strategy, their participation has been only used as statistics to show the coverage of the strategy, the number of participants and places where they come from is just to highlight its impact as part of the NBP as well. Consequently, this is the gap this study aims at filling, this study aims at reconstructing the meaning of the teachers’ stories, their experiences around and about their participation in one immersion program. Immersion programs for teachers is an arena that needs to be explored in Colombia and specially from the teachers’ perspective.

Based on the information provided by a Representative of the MoEd during an interview, focalized Schools are understood as those schools that are given certain funds to execute certain project(s) according to very specific features of the strategies that the MoEd wants to develop. For example, for a school to be focalized in the Bilingualism program, the schools should have language teachers, also those teachers should be willing to conduct the project to demonstrate the impact of their labor as part of that strategy led by the MoEd. Accordingly, these institutions can receive teaching material, the participation of Native Speakers, also based on the results of the implementation of those strategies’more tools and funds can be granted to those same schools. There is not a clear profile or the schools to be focalized, because schools can become focalized for certain strategies, but not for others or all, that is to say, a school can be funded for bilingualism, but not for sciences or math.