In a maths class there are students from six different language groups and the teacher does not speak all the languages of the students. The formal language of instruction is English.

The teacher was teaching a lesson on how to find the volume of three-dimensional shapes.

The teacher first reviewed vocabulary: volume, cone, prism, and cylinder, and then held up objects and asked students, ‘What is this?’ and ‘What are some examples of these in real life?’

For each object, the teacher asked students with different languages how to say the word in their language and to write the word on the board, if they knew how to do this. In some cases, students saw that the word in their language looked or sounded similar to the English word.

The teacher then had students make notes in their home language or in English to answer the questions: ‘What is volume?’ and ‘How do we determine volume of a 3-D shape?’

Next, the teacher put students into same-language groups to find the volume of different shapes and told them that they could use their home language or English to solve the problems.

When they were finished, each group reported in English how they had solved the problem. They wrote down their solutions in English.

(Adapted from Freeman and Freeman, 2017)

• Asking students to share vocabulary in their home languages.
• Pointing out similarities between languages.
• Placing students in same-language groups to discuss and solve problems.
• Allowing students to use home languages, English, or both.
• Allowing students to make notes in home languages or English.

These methods are known as ‘translanguaging’.

Translanguaging draws on students’ language resources and is not the same as ‘translating’. It is about having students use words and thoughts in their local language to make sense of the language of instruction. Translanguaging helps students to learn subject matter and the language of instruction, as you saw in the example of the maths lesson on volume of three-dimensional shapes.

Translanguaging has been proven to support and facilitate learning, not hinder it, but is not a replacement for learning and using the language of instruction – it is a strategy that works within formal and standard languages in education.

Around the world teachers use translanguaging methods in planned and purposeful ways to help students learn the language of instruction and subject content at the same time. Being able to learn in the mother tongue can have a big effect on student achievement, especially for girls.

(GEC, 2017)