Translanguaging in Action: A Proposal to Empower Multilingual Learners at Montbello

 

Bringing our students’ full linguistic selves into the classroom

At Montbello Middle School in northeast Denver, I work with over 200 international students from Latin America, Haiti, the Middle East, and Africa. Every day, these students bring with them stories, languages, and resilience that often go unrecognized in traditional classroom settings. Too often, their learning experiences feel fragmented, and their linguistic and cultural identities are left at the door.

That’s why I’m proposing a school-wide shift toward translanguaging, an evidence-based instructional approach that honors our students' full language repertoires. This post outlines how we plan to make this vision a reality.

What Is Translanguaging?

Translanguaging is more than just code-switching. According to García and Wei (2014), it's a pedagogy that invites students to use all their linguistic resources, Spanish, Marshallese, Dari, Farsi, Haitian Creole, English, to make meaning, express themselves, and thrive academically.

This approach:

Celebrates home languages instead of pushing them aside

Fosters identity and confidence in learners

Encourages deeper understanding of content through language transfer

Creates community by validating multilingualism as a strength

As Pontier and Riera (2024) explained, translanguaging is also about emotional well-being. When students feel seen, they’re more open to learning.

How We Plan to Implement Translanguaging

1. Collaborative Learning Groups

Students will work in multilingual groups to complete real-world tasks, such as producing a podcast episode in our Social Studies unit, Cuentos de nuestras familias. Students will take on roles, interviewer, translator, editor, using both English and their home languages to create content that reflects their lives and families.

2. Multilingual Writing Journals

Each student will have a personal journal where they can write freely in English, Spanish, or any other language they choose. Prompts like “What does home mean to you?” allow for personal expression and cross-cultural understanding. These journals will become spaces for reflection, storytelling, and voice.

3. Dual-Language Anchor Charts & Word Walls

Visual learning supports will be co-created by students using terms in English and other classroom languages. During a science unit, for instance, words like photosynthesis will appear as fotosíntesis (Spanish) or the equivalent in Dari. Students will also contribute real examples from their home countries’ ecosystems.

Why It Matters

We are doing more than just adding languages to posters. We’re changing how students see themselves in school. Translanguaging helps us:

1.       Close opportunity gaps by making content more accessible

2.       Support academic English through strategic use of home languages

3.       Strengthen student-teacher relationships through cultural validation

4.       Build student voice as they share, create, and reflect in authentic ways

Research (James, 2017; Pontier & Riera, 2024) shows that students perform better and feel more emotionally connected when they’re allowed to use the full range of their linguistic tools. This is not just best practice, it’s human practice.

Our Rollout Plan

We’re not rushing. This will be a thoughtful implementation across the school:

August: Staff PD on translanguaging and planning tools

September: Launch of multilingual writing journals

October: Podcast projects begin

November: Classroom visual supports and student-led vocabulary walls

We’ll collect feedback through observations, student work, and monthly feedback circles where students share what’s working, and what’s not.

This isn’t about a strategy. It’s about building a culture where our multilingual students feel powerful, proud, and ready to succeed.

References:

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.

James, C. L. (2017). Review of García & Wei. BC TEAL Journal.

Pontier, R. W., & Riera, D. (2024). Linguistic stewardship of Spanish in early childhood. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood.