Introduction
Host: Hello, and welcome everyone to our podcast Cultural Kaleidoscope! My name is Eimy Portes and I will be your host. In today's episode Multilingual Perspectives in Education I am being joined by Kelly Going and Danielle Joshua. These two girls will take us through today with all the knowledge we need to know about multilingualism and the effect it can have on our students and their education. Here is Kelly Going to start us off on our first topic: Learning english in a school setting!

Kelly: Hi everyone and thank you so much for having me here today! I will start off by speaking about how difficult it can be as a child going into a school setting and learning english. When you’re in school you aren't just surrounded by educators trying to help you learn a new language, but by other students as well who are very familiar with english. Learning this language in a school setting has the ability to either bring a student's confidence up, or bring it down. We need to make sure we create a positive environment that ensures these students are welcomed and personally advocated for learning English in a school setting.

Host: Wow! Kelly I feel like you bring up two huge and important points to this topic. I'm so glad you mentioned the students' confidence and how the school's environment can either bring this up or down, because there are also other students there that can bring the child down for their differences. Can you talk to us about how being “different” can be challenging for these students?

Kelly: Yes of course, we all know being different can be very hard for students. It can lead to them being bullied or discriminated against. A Lot of times even having a slight accent can get you made fun of. So being considered “different” yes can be extremely difficult.

Host: I 100% agree with you on this. It's really sad you know, everyday kids get bullied or discriminated against just for being different. It is so important as educators to protect these students and make sure they are safe in our schools. But first we need to be educated first. There are many factors to being “different”, one of them is being multilingual. Can I please welcome Danielle into introducing the meaning of Multilingualism.

Danielle: Hi everybody, I'm Danielle and I will be introducing you to the term Multilingualism. The meaning is very simple. Multilingualism is the ability to speak multiple languages. A Lot of times knowing more than one language can be difficult. One of these languages could be English and not your first language. You may have had difficulties as a child learning this new language or even once you were older. Whichever way it was, in schools this could have led to the term known as translanguaging. Now this new term I'm introducing you guys to is the ability to move between languages. Multilingual students might use this technique as a vehicle to learn standardized english. For example, in a typical classroom the work instructed and answers needed might need to be in English but a multilingual student who translanguages will think in their mind or notetake in their first language to help them get their answer.

Host: Thank you so much Danielle for the definition of Multilingualism and I love that you also were able to connect that to translanguaging and give us the meaning of that term as well. Now that we know those two definitions and how well they go hand in hand. How do you think we can apply multilingualism and translanguaging in classrooms plus encourage it?

Body
Danielle: There are many ways we can apply multilingualism and translanguaging in classrooms. Like pairing up groups of students who speak the same languages that way they can help each other out if needed, we can include materials in the classrooms that can help translate problems and assignments, or even having an extra educator in the classroom there for the student that speaks their language to be there to help and advocate for them.

Kelly: I agree, I feel like all of these ideas would be so beneficial for students and would make them feel like they are welcomed and heard. If they see all the resources provided for them and their needs their learning experience will thrive.

Conclusion

Host: I want to add on here as well, those applications told by Danielle I also believe would be so beneficial for students. I feel like it would prevent some of the difficulties mentioned before by Kelly as well. They won't feel discouraged or scared to learn, but instead motivated. I encourage school faculties, teachers, educators, anyone involved in teaching to look into all these resources, all these problems, difficulties and solutions mentioned in today's podcast and apply them to their classrooms.

Kelly: Yea, you have to think about your students and how external factors can affect their ability to learn. Use these resources given and apply them to your classrooms.

Danielle: I agree, I also would like to add that internal factors matter as well, as an educator you have to think to yourself, am I accepting these differences? To create a positive outlook, you need to have a positive outlook first, because in your classroom those students are looking to you.

Host: Thank you both for such encouraging words. It is so important to understand other people's differences and challenges they may go through. But as educators we have to be patient because our priority is the students. We have to understand the different Multilingual Perspectives in Education. That is it for today's podcast. Thank you everyone who decided to listen in and a big thank you to Kelly Going and Danielle Joshua for joining me here today and sharing some words.

Everyone: Says their goodbyes and podcast ends…