Multilingual was a term that I had never heard for students who are learning an additional language, as someone who took schooling in french when that was not spoken at home it was difficult for me to remember all of the language rules. I was with all my peers who were in similar if not the same situations, so we would all communicate between ourselves in English, and so I have never experienced learning a new language where no one spoke my primary one. I think that multilingual is a great perspective for those who are putting in real time and effort to learn a new language. I do however think that expecting these students to speak and do research in English (or French) is a double standard. One way that the article suggests for increasing engagement would be allowing multilingual students to research in their primary or preferred language for assignments. This would allow them to write more accurate papers with a better understanding for their own topic, which is one of the main reasons for writing papers.

One of the methods that is talked about is Linguistically Appropriate Practice (LAP) which encourages students to continue to build their primary language and become bilingual instead of replacing their primary language with the dominant one. It is very important that teachers are able to communicate with students but it is also important that students are able to keep their sense of self by holding onto and nurturing their primary language. Allowing students to continue to use their own language in the classroom is important for everyone not just the student, it will ensure that they can build confidence in two languages. I have been fortunate enough to learn about language insecurity, where people don’t feel comfortable speaking in one language fully, and I believe that it is important to make sure that no one loses their most comfortable way of communicating.

One effective way to integrate multilingual instructional strategies into the classroom is by utilizing online resources like translation tools (which I know are not always extremely effective) to allow the student a chance to understand instructions for clearly. We as teachers can begin to learn new languages, especially if there is a large or growing population of students who all speak in one language. If we know that there are students who have knowledge in a particular language then they could be paired up for an activity to encourage both of them to enhance one language while teaching the other. As someone who has never had to learn a language from someone who does not also speak english at least a small amount, it is hard for me to fully understand the best ways that students learn. I would likely feel most comfortable sitting down with students, parents and maybe someone who can translate to come up with a strategy that works best for all of us.