Towards the end of August, whenever I drove past a school, I noticed that the parking lots were filling up again. At first it was just one or two cars dotting the pavement, but as the first day of school inched closer, entire rows of vehicles stood at the ready, some with trunks and side doors open as teachers carted in the materials they would need to start the year.

Every September this dedicated ritual occurs. And with each box of supplies carried into the school, educators are busy planning, anticipating what we will need to welcome, include, and teach students. And one of the most important aspects of that planning, that inclusion, involves first languages (L1) in the learning environment.

I’d like to share a story I read years ago that may help explain why.

I wish for the life of me I could remember where I read this story. I cannot recall whether it was a book or an article. Don’t remember the author. But I do remember stopping at one heartbreaking point. The passage recounted a graduation exercise, in which students were asked what they thought their teachers and classmates would remember about them. I hope I am accurate in quoting the response from one of the students: “They won’t remember anything. They didn’t know me. I never spoke my language.”

So integral is first language to our identities that this student felt no one knew him because of its absence.

As I have mentioned in numerous blogs, the importance of home languages in school and learning cannot be overstated.  Lost in Translation  explored the devastating impact of first language loss on identity and family connections; West detailed all of the additional thinking, abilities, and skills students are able to demonstrate when using L1 in learning tasks;  and Beginner ESL Class: Fluid Dynamics and Bernoulli’s Principle summarized one teacher’s success in using L1 to teach science curriculum topics to all students in her class.

But perhaps, through all the research and statistics and cited benefits, perhaps that one statement from a graduating student encapsulates it all: if a student’s language isn’t there, in many significant ways, the student is not there either.

But how to start? This year, what will we need to make sure that this essential aspect of identity and learning is meaningfully embedded in schools?

There are some initial considerations that may help …

We might consider if there are multilingual signs in the school, or translated resources for parents. Or if there are dual language books in the learning commons, or in individual classroom libraries. Perhaps dual language books could be included in home reading programs and nightly book bags, strengthening not only the student’s first language development but also parent partnerships. In day-to-day instruction, we might notice if there are opportunities to research curriculum topics in first language, using multilingual videos or books or conversations with peers, allowing students to more fully comprehend and negotiate curriculum content.

And finally, we might consider if it is normal to hear, see, use, and recognize the value of other languages in our classrooms …  for all students, not just MLLs. We might notice if our school is, intentionally or not, an “English-only” space, or if it posits the multilingual identities of students as central to learning and belonging, and just as important as English.

With September already in full gear, I have used several different multilingual resources with students so far. But I am still working on my inventory, still wondering about the ways I can bring first languages to the classroom.

And I cannot wait to see how this will help students to fully be there, too.

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