How to Welcome Multilingual Learners’ Home Language in the Math Classroom

Georgina Rivera, M.Ed., K-8 Mathematics Coach, Educator, Administrator, and NCSM VP

We know how important it is for every student to use the language of math, or mathematical discourse, to talk about their own mathematical thinking. But, of course, we all articulate the language of math through our home languages, and if you are a teacher with a classroom full of multilingual learners, promoting mathematical discourse may feel like an overwhelming task. Here are just a few steps you can take to ensure that a flourishing, vibrant discussion about mathematics is inclusive of every voice in your classroom:

Reach Out to Families

Family engagement is key for all learners, but with our multilingual students, it’s particularly important. Try using a survey to ask your students’ families language(s) they speak at home. A simple survey like the one below will help you uncover what languages students speak at home predominantly as well as the languages they may know besides the one that you’re hearing within your classroom. It will also help you get a deeper understanding of your student’s relationship to mathematics and how mathematics is treated or talked about in their home.

It’s important to connect with families and get to know the languages that they bring into your classroom so you can bring in resources and tools to help your students.

Allow students to speak their first language in math class.

Leverage your knowledge of your student’s home language by allowing them to speak their first language when they’re in the math classroom. We know that students bring lots of mathematical knowledge, so using that first language is very important to both the students and to us as teachers to better understand the mathematics that they’re doing.

Even if they’re speaking in their first language, they can be modeling the mathematics that they’re doing and showing you the mathematics that they understand. It’s critical that we offer them the opportunity to verbalize their mathematical thinking in a way that is most comfortable for them.

Encourage Peer Sharing for Connection and Translation

While discussing their thinking in their home language, students can also share with a peer, who, if possible, could help them translate. Those peer-to-peer sharing moments are vital for ensuring that all our students see themselves as mathematicians. We want to be very careful to position our students as competent to themselves and to their peers, highlighting their strengths in mathematics as they share their mathematical knowledge through that first language. We know that all multilingual learners want to be seen and heard in the mathematics classroom, and they need a platform to speak the language of math in a way that boosts their confidence and shapes their understanding of themselves as “math people.”

Use Math in My Culture Boards to Explore Math in their Worlds

As math educators, it’s important that we understand the mathematics that students are doing beyond the classroom — in their homes and their daily lives.** **Math in My Culture boards, an example of which you can find below, are one way that you can better get to know the mathematics that your students do every day.

You can ask students to go home and make a Math in My Culture board, or you can have them create one within the classroom by drawing pictures or adding images of the mathematics that they do at home with their families or within their community.

All of these strategies provide context clues for us to know as math educators to connect the math that students do outside of school to the math that we do inside of school. It is critical that we make these connections so we can see the expertise that our students bring into the classroom that positions them as competent mathematics learners.

Multilingual Learner Support in California Reveal Math

In *California Reveal Math and national [Reveal Math](https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/program/microsites/MKTSP-GIP20M0.html), there’s a very special unit in Unit 1, Lesson 1 called Math as Mine* that provides a unique opportunity for all students to share the ways that they use mathematics in their everyday life. Multilingual learners can share the math that they do at home in their community and bring it into the classroom to share with their classmates. This unit also provides students with the opportunity to learn about the mathematics that their classmates do and to be able to see similarities and differences within the math community.

For more, read: https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/math/home

Georgina Rivera is a mathematics leader educator, coach, presenter, and author. Currently, she serves as the Principal for Charter Oak International Academy, an IB School in West Hartford, CT. Georgina has previously served as an Elementary STEM Supervisor, and district-wide elementary mathematics coach, and began her career as a middle school mathematics teacher. She serves on several boards including the CAS Activities Board, Vice President for the National Supervisors of Mathematics and co-designed a National Conference, and serves on the advisory board for Math Teacher’s Circle for Social Justice. As an author, her titles include Math by the Book (Grade 1), Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Math, K-5 and 6–8 Reveal Math Textbook Series by McGraw Hill, and Culturally Relevant Mathematics Leadership. Her most important role is working with teacher leaders to create equitable math classrooms for every student.