Supporting Multilingual Learners: Proven Strategies for the K–12 Classroom

[00:00:02] Speaker A: If I'm, as a teacher, if I see an English learner, you know, not doing well in my classroom, I have to step back and I have to say, okay, what am I doing? And look at, you know, all of my research. Because sometimes we forget and, you know, what, what we're doing because we're in the midst of things. But I have to. This is a daily thing. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Hello. Welcome to Localization Today, where we explore the intersections of language, localization, leadership, learning, much more. My name is Eddie Arrieta. I'm the CEO here at Multilingual Media. And today we are joined by Dr. Marian Hasso, Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, whose expertise in modern pedagogy has transformed classrooms and schools alike. Dr. Hasso has spent years teaching English language and literature, challenging honors students, and guiding struggling learners to success. She has served on curriculum enrichment and Common Core update committees, mentor new instructors to improve teaching outcomes and reduce turnover, and author three books to help educators and administrators manage effective learning environments. Today we will talk about her fourth book, which is coming December 2025. Marianne, thank you for being here to share your insights on educational leadership and classroom excellence. Welcome. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. [00:01:34] Speaker B: Thank you so much. And of course, I like to get started with the biggest question to me, which is, you have a new book coming up. This will be your fourth book. What does it feel to have a fourth book? Some are thinking about their first book. What does it feel like for you? [00:01:52] Speaker A: It feels like somewhat of a huge weight has been lifted. I'm still going through the editorial process, and it's still not in publication, but it does feel good to have it in motion, getting through the process. [00:02:07] Speaker B: Kind of like having it being inevitable, I guess. Is the feeling right? [00:02:12] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:02:15] Speaker B: And that's great. Off the recording, we were talking about the book. We were talking about the questions that we would cover. And to me, the biggest one is, so what's the impetus for this book? You've done three why does it exist? Why is it going to be a thing? December 2025. [00:02:35] Speaker A: So this book is mainly to get people to start thinking about how multilingual learners learn the different ways that they process information and communicate their ideas, you know, through different, multiple modalities, you know, whether it's, you know, with the somatics or with their verbal gestures. And it's just a. It's a way for people to understand different strategies for multilingual learners, how to learn in the classroom. [00:03:19] Speaker B: And of course, you've done some of this work in your professional Career. How does this fourth book relate to the previous conversations that you've had and the previous spaces that you've had experiences with? [00:03:31] Speaker A: Well, it discusses how students are in the classroom, their perceptions and how they process information. You know, most multilingual learners learn with video, with, you know, with sounds. They have to see things. So they're very visual learners. They have to see how it is, they have to sound, they have to hear how it is and they usually succeed and thrive in that sort of environment. So right now I am teaching in a, in a credit recovery class with many multi lingual learners where English, they don't know any English but when they get in front of a computer and they're learning English, they are thriving with the videos and with the things that they have to hear more so than they are in front of a teacher who may only be speaking to them in English. Because every teacher has a different way of sort of doing things in their classroom which they're allowed to do. But in the videos, you know, they have, they have videos, they have pictures, they have sounds they can hear and they have like little acting, they have little clips of like, you know, little actors acting out what's going on. Whether it's they're learning history or English. So the students can sort of interact with what's going on and they're thriving. I have a student that knows no English. He passed an English class online with an A because, because of the way it was delivered. [00:05:10] Speaker B: Does the book has a name on this is the focus then a lot on these success cases. Let's call. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, the, the book that's coming out right now. Are you asking what the book. Oh, Supporting Multilinguals Understanding and improving how K12 multilingual hot. [00:05:35] Speaker B: And this will be available in all of the or where will it be available for those available? [00:05:41] Speaker A: Everywhere, all over the world. [00:05:44] Speaker B: Fantastic. So we'll probably share a link when this comes out. Hopefully we'll also have a review of the book within Multilingual magazine. We'll find someone to, to, to. To do something like that would be exciting. [00:06:00] Speaker A: From those who have. It's not, it's not too long to read so hopefully, I mean there it is. Pretty, pretty long but not too bad. So it'll be easy for the reviewer to read. [00:06:10] Speaker B: But go ahead and of course yes, for our listeners sake, they do understand that one of the topics that we cover is language learning in Multilingual because we believe language to be one of the critical elements for social development and economic development. So it's A critical conversation. How is language which been taught and what things are being taught? Those of us that will have the opportunity to read it, whether we're private or public sector or policymakers. What would you want your reader to take away once they read the book? And we'll get a little bit into the details of this challenge of multilingual learning in a bit, which is something that we'll discuss here. But what do you want your readers to take out of the book? [00:07:00] Speaker A: I want them to remember that multilingual, that first of all, multilingual learners are the hardest working students you will ever meet. They want to learn, they want to understand. They are very, they're very open to different ways of learning. They, they like working with, they like working with their friends. They like working with people. They like collaborating in groups. They are, they're the, they're nice students. Their English, if it's limited, they can still, you know, understand it. They're willing to try, they're willing to try different ways of learning. They are more comfortable in their home language, but when you move them away from their home language, they're receptive to learning the English language. So I think that those are some of the things that I would want people to take away from the book. And there's multiple strategies for them to learn. The different ways of applying the different ways of helping multilingual learners in the classroom that are easy for the teacher to sort of do with students. They don't necessarily have to know the language of the student to communicate these things. And those are some of the things. And they love using apps. They'll use their apps to help them learn the different ways of learning the English language. And I think another thing that they would really be great is if teachers, you know, are adaptable to their needs, like be flexible with the students, you know, learn along with them. You know, as much as we want to learn, you know, teach students, you know, the English language, we do have to adapt to sort of their environment, their worlds, whatever worlds that they're coming into, you know, into the classroom. A lot of them are going through culture shock. A lot of them don't even know, you know, what to do in a classroom, how to behave in a classroom, how to do all these things. So how to make the classroom inviting and welcoming and where they understand, you know, that they are welcome here and they, you know, so those are some of the things, I guess, that we want them to take away from. [00:09:32] Speaker B: This is very interesting because I have seen these types of studies right, where you look at the. Those that know several languages or have been in the process of learning several languages and how these individuals showcase soft skills that translate or transfer, rather, into other activities. So I assume you are, in a way also saying that you have superheroines and superheroes there for the classroom because they have been forced to learn. So they have learned to learn, and now they have some transferable skills that can probably be beneficial even to the environment, to the classroom environment that you would have, Right? [00:10:19] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So you're asking about the transferable. Yeah. The book is basically saying that multilingual learners are able. The skills that they're picking up can be transferred to multiple classrooms, not just the English classroom. It can also be transferred to the math classroom, to the history classroom. So going back to that one particular student where he was, you know, knows no English, he was taking an online English course past that easily. And he was also taking a history course, which had nothing to do with English, but more to do with history. And he was able to watch the videos and, and understand what was going on. And he was. He's also able to transfer those skills to his other regular classes and succeed in those classes. So, yeah, it' listening skills. The visuals, the different modalities teachers use in the classroom are what help them thrive and what help them sort of develop their skills for the classroom, academic places, and for the real world. [00:11:33] Speaker B: MARIAN and of course, depending on the environment, these multilingual students, these multilingual learners could have a good or a terrible time. And, you know, as we were preparing for this conversation, you kindly suggested the direction of the conversation so that, you know, our listeners and the readers of your book can start understanding how this works. So could you tell us a little bit about the role of school boards and school learners in ensuring multilingual learners receive optimal support in the classroom and what that optimal support looks like. [00:12:11] Speaker A: Right, right. So the way it works here, like with my district and with many districts around, like California and many other states, is the district decides the curriculum. The teachers have some sort of input in terms of what kind of curriculum is available. So the district, along, like the administration plus the school boards, decide what type of curriculum they're going to use. And then they come together and they tell the teachers, okay, these are our options, obviously, with a budget that they have in mind. And so what do you think? Like, which type of curriculum should we use for all the learners? And then they go through these tests of, okay, this has this, this has that, this has, you know, whatever, op, different strategies for all the learners and so with regards to that, and you know, you have many different teachers, many different perspectives, many different opinions about learners. There is somewhat of a, it can be a roadblock for, for the students because if you have some schools that don't have diverse learners within the district and you have other schools with diverse learners, and we only can pick one book or one piece of curriculum that may not be optimal for every learner in the district, then there are going to be barriers when we go to use it in the classroom. So if I'm, if we choose a book that's not friendly, multilingual friendly, and I have a classroom with English learners that know no English, and I have some, that know some English and I have some that are very proficient in English, then this one piece of curriculum is going to be hard for me to communicate with to that classroom. And so I, as a, as a researcher, and this is part of why I developed my passion for this, because no one really, no one really gives you any guidance on this in the beginning, in the beginning years of your teaching. So, so I took it upon myself to research it and to make my PhD about it and to make my first book about it and then to eventually evolve from there, but to find strategies to help them with learning. And so this third book is through a teacher's lens, excuse me, in terms of what, what will help students in the classroom. So it's mainly interviews from teachers and what's gonna, how they're doing it with the multilingual learners in their classroom, with the dual language learners. And you know, many of them talk about translating a lot of things, a lot of documents, allowing students to use apps, allowing students to use the computers to help them sort of guide themselves through what they're learning independently because they're not going to be with me all the time. I am a giver. I'm willing to give them everything that they need to thrive. But they may go into another classroom where the teacher is just going to say here. If it's a math classroom, they're going to say, here, here's a, here's a calculator. This is the worksheet. You're on your own in all in English. And they're not going to really guide the student through it. Whereas I, you know, I'm, I'm going to give them all the different scaffolds and all of that stuff. So going back to the school board question, you know, school boards don't, you know, don't really know what goes on in the classroom. So, and they have to take a collective. They have to make a collective decision on what type of curriculum they're going to pick. So they're going to take all the ideas from all the different schools where some of the school districts or schools in the district, they don't have diversity, where, you know, they don't have linguistic diversity. So they're going to, you know, decide on one particular book to use, and it may be limiting to different learners in the classroom. So. So that's where sort of the. That's where school boards sort of come in when. When there's decision making involved and where it could be a barrier for many school districts and their students, and it could be a barrier for their learning, and it could also be a barrier. Students are not doing well in the district. And so I've just sort of taken it upon myself to explore different strategies for those types of situations. [00:16:59] Speaker B: Thank you, Marianne, because you are, of course, talking a little bit about the solutions, and we kind of like read between the lines and identify some of the issues that are there. Some of the challenges, let's put it that way, that the multilingual learners face in schools in general. Is this particularly different in public schools? What are the primary challenges the multilingual learners face in that context? [00:17:26] Speaker A: I would say communicating. That's one of the biggest ones. Getting help. I have one particular student, so I have a few that don't know. I have one that's, I believe she's French. She's half French, half Spanish. I believe I have one that's completely Spanish, knows no English. So many of them, many of the ones that I've. I've dealt with don't know any English. So because I'm. I use Google Translate, I use those different apps to communicate with them. What I've done is I paired them with bilingual students that are completely fluent in English and completely fluent in Spanish. And that's being. That's very helpful. So I'll tell you know them. Can you please let them know this, this and that in. In. In Spanish or in French or in that. And it's very beneficial. And they're sor. My helper. They're their helper. So those are some of the strategies of, you know, what I do to sort of, you know, those are the barriers that they don't know the English language. Another barrier, sort of their. Their first time in a public school, in an American public school, they don't know where to go for help. Resources like the counselor, you know, if they get. If they get in trouble or where they go, if, you know, they need to go get their books, like the library, where to go there, how to navigate the library, how to navigate, you know, asking for help in the classroom. So those are some of the. The barriers that they face in the public school system and. And just being comfortable in the classroom. You know, are they comfortable? Are they. You know, are they. Are they comfortable speaking up? Are they comfortable speaking out? So, you know, I always try to make sure that my classroom is very comfortable. It's very open. They can come to me for anything. I can communicate with them through the apps or through just my knowledge, my limited knowledge of Spanish, or through their friends, through the friends I pair them up with or the groups that I pair them up with. What I have noticed is because of these strategies, these helpful strategies, I have one girl, she's completely Spanish, and she's. She was very shy in the beginning with me, and as soon as I sort of opened her world up to these different things, she's become very social with the students on the campus, so making friends. And I found that she's grown from the beginning of the year when I had her to the end of the year, which I find great, that next year she'll be able to thrive with her friends and with her peers and be more successful in the classroom. [00:20:16] Speaker B: And, of course, part of this success is also related to the experience they are having. We assume, of course, that many of these students are migrating into the United States. You just gave us this example, you know, French and Spanish and then fully Spanish. How does the immigrant experience influence their educational journey? We'd have to assume, of course, they come from a different system. In most cases, they might have to be downgraded or upgraded or probably downgraded in most cases because of the language barriers, barrier. So. So how does that affect this. This whole journey for them? [00:20:52] Speaker A: So not downgraded. So in terms of the curriculum, I never downgrade anything for them. I still keep my standards very high for multilingual learners. I still keep it at the same level that I do for English language learners. So what I do is I just modify everything. Modify, meaning give them the material the way they like to, the way they learn best. So I had mentioned to you with the computer classroom and some of the students that are taking credit recovery, the English language, the English learners that are coming straight, you know, from Mexico or from other places, and they're. They. They have to come into the classroom and make up credits, make up classes through this computer class. So I give them videos, I give Them things that they can, I give them the content through, you know, music or through movies or through different, different novels that they have to learn. I give it to them through, you know, video, video clips and they're able to pick up from that. So I never, I don't downgrade. I just, I keep the levels up, but I feed it to them, if you will, through the different modalities, videos, visuals, pictures. I guide them, I say, you know, you can Google this. I allow them to translate anything that they want. The curriculum. The one thing that's nice about it, it could be a little bit difficult for them is that you can translate it online. So the students do use that, the, the technique to translate things. So they'll translate what they're getting, they'll translate the transcripts. And if they can't, I always guide them in that direction for how they can do it. And that seems to help them as well. So I try not to downgrade anything, but I try to, you know, keep it, keep it at level. And they're able to, again, they're able to learn from their peers, learn from me, learn the curriculum. And they're passing these tests at very high levels. I mean, there's no teacher, you know, in these, in these, in this credit recovery class. And remember when they're coming, they have to make up in the United States they have to take what's called A through G courses. So these A through G courses prepare them for two year colleges, four year colleges. So they have to take these courses that are very hard. So I try to always make sure that, and that prepare them for college, that these courses are easily digestible for them through videos, through music, through visuals, through scaffolding. Constantly trying to modify things to help them understand the material. [00:23:47] Speaker B: That's excellent. It's of course part of it sounds like the ideal world. And I was a multilingual learner myself where I had to jump into classes that were in English that I couldn't understand. And the great advantage is when you have mathematics courses and physics and chemistry, that's a different type of language. And certain things you have to translate, but not everything. Not like a literature class, English literature or philosophy or sociology or anthropology, the human social sciences rather. But it's great to see that there might be a structure, a type of roles that could make a huge impact. And I have to say probably North America, Europe have certain structure in place, but we're probably really far from it. A lot of things probably don't need any policy. It just needs kind of like the wheel of the educators and of the policymakers. And I guess that's a great lead for next question on what are the actions that you think educators and policymakers can take now to foster a more inclusive classroom, one classroom that it's ideal for these multilingual learners that we're talking about. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Well, I really believe that the first thing that needs to happen is in the colleges, so the preparation of teachers for how we are delivering and instructing students for a multilingual classroom. So we know with the new Trump administration what he's trying to do, you know, okay, but that's not working. We as teachers are not prepared for how to deal with a multilingual classroom students that come from different countries. So I think in terms of policies, it shouldn't just be because right now there is like what's called English learner authorization. Every teacher has to have it for their credential, for their teaching credential, but it's not, it doesn't really prepare them for a multilingual classroom. So I do think that in the colleges, there needs to be some sort of certification or added certification to all teachers on different strategies to implement for a multilingual classroom or for an English learner classroom instead of this little part of their credential, it needs to be incorporated with, with their general credential. So if I'm a math teacher, I not only want my teach, the university shouldn't only just focus on strategies for the math teacher to apply in a classroom for a, a regular classroom, but there also should be strategies for a multilingual classroom. You know, what do you do if you have a Spanish student or a French student or an Arabic student that's coming into your classroom fresh from, you know, wherever it is that they're coming, wherever it is that they're coming from. How would you deal with that in, in the classroom, what types of strategies? And if you don't know how to speak their language, what types of strategies would you give that student so they can navigate your classroom and in other classrooms? So I think the policies need to start with university preparation of teachers, getting some things in that aggressively support multilingual classrooms, Multilingual students in the classroom. [00:27:33] Speaker B: And when we talk about policy, of course, some of the most recent conversations that we've had even here at Multilingual Podcast, is related to the changes in funding for language learning in the public sector. Also, the officialization, we could say, of English as the main language or the only official language in the United States are those things, the things that the policymakers should be doing or which direction do you think policy should go? [00:28:07] Speaker A: I definitely don't think the, I definitely don't think that the policy should go in the direction of making English the official language where, you know, students that come from other countries where they, they feel like their language isn't less than I do. I push back on that. And I thank God that in California, you know, thank goodness in California they are really pushing back against this. Like Newsom and our Department of Education, they're, they're, they're pushing back on it. Our districts are standing firm on, you know, multilingual learner, English learner, you know, all of those different things, those are still intact for us and the different strategies are being applied. So it, I do think that we need to be more, you know, regardless of what's the noise that's going on in the teachers need to still continue to develop a classroom where everyone feels welcome, where every student from every background feels welcome in, in their particular classroom. I know I decorate my classroom with various successful people from various backgrounds that have struggled in their childhood and in their lives and become successful so that students feel welcome. So I push back on all that and I'm kind of thankful that in California we're not dealing with that because we still have funding for English learners. That hasn't changed. So we're still developing our, we still have the programs available. But I do think that there needs to be pushback on that, that we need to continue to work hard for multilingual lear because they are the hardest working students and they, you know, we need, we need to support them in every way possible. [00:30:11] Speaker B: It reminds me of that classic iconic meme video from Sofia Vergara where she's saying, you don't even know how smart I am in Spanish. [00:30:20] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:30:23] Speaker B: It's really funny, but I really, I really understand, I feel and feel for those that have very skill, are very skilled technically and then their communication abilities limit their professional growth. But from my personal professional experience, what I've realized is that doesn't matter how good of a communicator you are, at the end of the day, the skills end up putting things in their place. And I've seen those multilingual learners where with the weird accents succeed and thrive like beyond great communicators. Because it's not only about, you know, the, the being able to say things nicely, it's also about the, the essence of what you're saying and the texture that's behind that. [00:31:11] Speaker A: Yes. Through my, all my research and all my books, what I've learned about, like, multilingual learners is that they have a very strong passion for math and science and those different things, but they don't succeed in a classroom. That's not that, that's not eliminating those barriers, those language barriers. But when you eliminate those barriers, they, they do very well in math and science and history. But the reason why they fail is because, and I'm not the teacher doesn't have to know their language. They just have to eliminate the barriers. And that's not happening. You know, if you give an English worksheet that's all in English and you're not like translating it or allowing them to translate it, maybe they can upload it on their Chromebook in Google Chrome and they can go and translate it with Google Translate or whatever they want to use, then they can do well with that worksheet, you know, but when you have those different, you know, issues in the classroom, then, yes, there, there's going to be problems and they're not going to succeed in those classrooms. And thankfully, you know, I'm very hard on myself. You know, if I, if I'm, as a teacher, if I see an English learner, you know, not doing well in my classroom, I have to step back and I have to say, okay, what am I doing? And look at, you know, all of my research, because sometimes we forget and you know, what, what we're doing because we're in the midst of things. But I have to, this is a daily thing. I look and I say, okay, what do I need to do to fix this? You know, and, and what do I need to do to correct this? And I think that's another part of my research is to self evaluate, you know, yourselves as a person, as a, a, as a teacher, like even, you know, I went to Greece last summer and I'm going to Spain in a few weeks in July. And sometimes, you know, that language barrier just, you're in the midst of, you have to like, self reflect. What did I, what was I able to communicate? What was I able to do right? How were they, how are they able to understand me? What did I do, where they communicated with me? And everything was understandable. And it's the same thing in the classroom. How are we, what are we right and what are we doing wrong? And we're, you know, constantly thriving to make things right for all of our learners, you know, because we have a mixed bag in our classrooms in America, at least in California. So it's a constant balance. Okay, We're Doing right here, we're doing. What do we. So I think that self reflection is very important and I think is a key piece of how to be a successful multilingual learning teacher. [00:34:15] Speaker B: Which by results, I presume that this is your estimation as well. I've seen it as well myself. Many multilingual classrooms, the outputs are more diverse. And that's what you were talking about with diverse classrooms. Right. Before we go, could you tell us a little bit more about what diversity looks and what is the optimal diversity? And there are so many ways we're talking diversity. We can't put any rules around it. But what do diverse classrooms look and sound like? I guess would be my question. [00:34:48] Speaker A: They sound. Sometimes they're very quiet, they're very shy, have very shy multilingual learners. They're very obedient, sometimes very obedient. Unlike American students, they're very quiet and respectful. But generally speaking, a diverse classroom is very chatty. They're very talkative. Sometimes they can. They like to talk. They like. They like to. They like to speak in their home language, which I allow, if they're talking, if I'm pairing them up with their friends to help me sort of guide them in the curriculum. That's all in English. I allow them to speak in Spanish, speak in whatever language. So it's very talkative. You'll hear. Talk about what their. The curriculum. Very chatty, very noisy. Almost like a noisy sort of train station, which is kind of exciting for me. I like that. But it can also be very quiet when they're concentrating as well. So when they're sort of understand what's going on and what needs to be done, then they're quiet and they're focused. So in my classroom, it's very engaged, they're very focused. And then if they need to talk, I allow them to talk, to communicate what I'm trying to teach. So it's mixed. [00:36:10] Speaker B: Thank you for sharing that insight. Perspective. Before we go, is there anything you like to mention to the parents of multilingual learners, to educators, multilingual school educators, policymakers, anything to the audience as a whole that you'd like to mention around your book, these topics and anything in between? Of course. [00:36:33] Speaker A: And keep doing what you're doing. You know, most teachers, parents, everyone is always doing their best for their child. Just, you know, try to keep an open mind with different ways, different things that are being, you know, different strategies. Support your child, ask them, you know, what are they learning in the classroom, how it's going to. But just be understanding of how they're going, how they're doing in the classroom and try to be at those parent teacher conferences. I know in our school they have an English learner sort of program for parents. So the parents that also don't know the English, they come to the school and they sort of learn about what goes on in the classroom and the curriculum of what's going on in the classroom. So, you know, try to keep, keep the lines of communication open between the teacher and the school and the parents, everyone involved, and just keep supporting your child to learn and to understand, to thrive in the world and in the classroom. [00:37:47] Speaker B: Well, thank you. That was our conversation with Dr. Marian Hasso, Ph.D. in educational leadership. Remember, we were talking about multilingual learners and the role of schools, of leaders, of educators, of parents, of students. And it was a great conversation to get a clear idea of what is the journey of a multilingual learner. Marianne, thank you so much for your time. [00:38:15] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate was a wonderful conversation. [00:38:21] Speaker B: And we will have Marianne back in December when she launches her book, her fourth a book already has launched three and we will be able to have a review here in Multilingual Magazine. Remember, my name is Eddie Arrieta. I'm the CEO at Multilingual Media and this was localization today. Thank you for listening. Until the next time. Goodbye. Goodbye, Mariana.