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Incorporating multicultural perspectives across subjects enhances inclusivity, broadens student understanding of the world, and helps all learners feel represented. By using these strategies, educators can create classrooms that celebrate diversity, foster critical global awareness, and equip students with the cultural competencies necessary for an interconnected world.

Strategy 1: Use literature from diverse authors and cultures to introduce themes, perspectives, and experiences into reading, social studies, and even science or math (Lopez, 2009).

This can look like pairing texts with reflective writing prompts or class discussions about cultural identity, colonization, or community

This can also look like using their stories as a jumping-off point for lessons on perseverance, logic, or real-world problem-solving.

Strategy 2: Incorporate global case studies to teach problem-solving, critical thinking, and cultural awareness within context (Lopez, 2009).

This can look like analyzing the deforestation crisis in the Amazon Rainforest, integrating Indigenous perspectives and local community responses.

This can also look like using finance case studies to explore poverty reduction and economic empowerment of women.

Strategy 3: Change traditional school lessons to show global events from many different viewpoints, not just the European perspective (Lopez, 2009).

This can look like teaching WWII by including the impact on countries like China, India, or African colonies.

This can also look like exploring the civil rights movement alongside parallel movements in Latin America or South Africa.

Strategy 4: Encourage students to explore and present their own or other cultures through guided research, presentations, or creative work (Lopez, 2009).

This can look like having students create multimedia presentations on holidays, traditions, or historical heroes from their own or another culture.

This can also look like hosting a cultural simulation where students role-play different nations or communities.

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Strategy 1: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy focuses on using students’ cultural experiences and knowledge as a foundation for learning. It helps students see the value in their own culture while achieving academic success (Landson, 2025).

This can look like encouraging students to share personal stories, traditions, and cultural practices through assignments or presentations

This can also look like facilitating conversations that connect lesson content with students’ real-world experiences

Strategy 2: Adapt instruction to align with students’ preferred learning styles, which are often shaped by cultural norms (Landson, 2025).

This can look like allowing students to choose how they want to complete a project; individually, in pairs, or collaboratively, based on their comfort level.

This can also look like allowing students to choose from different assignments that meet the same learning objective but cater to diverse interests and strengths.

Strategy 3: Recognizing that students come to school with deep knowledge gained from their family, community, and cultural backgrounds (Landson, 2025).

This can look like inviting students or their families to share cultural skills or knowledge, such as cooking, music, farming, or craftsmanship, and connecting these to academic content

This can also look like developing units around real-world topics students care about and integrating their personal or community experiences into research and problem-solving activities.

Strategy 4: The physical and social environment of the classroom should reflect and celebrate cultural diversity to foster inclusion and respect (Landson, 2025)

This can look like decorating the classroom with posters, flags, and artwork that reflect the cultures of your students.

This can also look like recognizing and celebrating a variety of cultural holidays and events throughout the year, allowing students to lead or co-plan activities related to their heritage.

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Fostering a Multicultural Classroom Environment

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Fostering a Multicultural Classroom Environment

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Creating an inclusive classroom that respects and celebrates cultural differences involves thoughtful planning in the physical environment, communication, and social dynamics.

Strategy 1: Physical Classroom Setup and Layout

This can look like decorating the classroom with multicultural posters, maps, student art, and literature from various cultures (Coulombe, 2020).

This can also look like including books in classroom libraries that feature diverse characters, authors, and themes.

Strategy 2: Language and Communication Practices

This can look like using student-preferred names and pronouns.

This can also look like modeling inclusive communication and correcting unintentional bias gently but consistently (Coulombe, 2020).

Strategy 3: Establishing Community Norms

This can look like co-creating classroom norms with students that prioritize respect, active listening, and empathy (Coulombe, 2020)

This can also look like using talking circles or restorative practices to resolve conflicts and strengthen community understanding.

Strategy 4: Culturally Responsive Curriculum

This can look like providing multiple means of expression and assessment that honor students’ cultural strengths and learning preferences (Coulombe, 2020).

This can also look like exploring history through multiple cultural lenses.

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Strategy 1: Design collaborative projects that connect students with community elders or local artisans to explore cultural history, traditions, and practices across different subjects (Mapp, 2025).

This can look like assigning students to conduct interviews, gather artifacts, or document oral histories.

This can also look like hosting a community showcase where students present their projects through digital storytelling, posters, or performances.

Strategy 2: Host quarterly cultural nights where families share their heritage through food, dance, storytelling, music, and dress (Mapp, 2025).

This can look like including student-led performances, cultural booths, and interactive activities.

This can also look like offering interpretation services and multilingual signage to ensure inclusivity.

Strategy 3: Invite parents and guardians to lead workshops on traditional crafts, languages, professional skills, or cultural practices (Mapp, 2025).

This can look like scheduling monthly “Family Fridays” where parents teach short, hands-on classes.

This can also look like linking workshops to curriculum topics

Strategy 4: Pair students or student groups with community mentors from different cultural backgrounds for semester-long mentorships (Mapp, 2025).

This can look like providing structured activities like cooking traditional meals, attending community festivals, or exploring cultural landmarks.

This can also look like encouraging student reflection through journaling, presentations, or podcasts.

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Coulombe, M. (December 2020). "Supporting Multilingual Students in the Early Grades". Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/supporting-multilingual-students-early-grades

Ladson, G. (2025). "Culturally Responsive Teaching". National Equity Project. https://www.nationalequityproject.org/culturally-responsive-teaching

López, R. (2009). "Culturally Responsive Instruction: Resource List". Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/culturally-responsive-resources

Mapp, K. (2025). "Family Engagement Is an Instructional Strategy". Scolastic. https://education.scholastic.com/education/solutions/family-school-community-engagement-b.html

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Early Childhood Education

Five ways teachers can celebrate and extend the linguistic expertise of young students who speak two or more languages.

Many children in the U.S. live their lives in two or more languages: A child of Guatemalan descent may read bedtime stories in Spanish with their parents and learn in English at school-and perhaps speak K'iche' with their grandparents. Research has shown that these multilingual children may have strong math skills, conflict resolution skills, and executive function skills.

By welcoming the whole multilingual child, including their linguistic practices, we send a powerful message that children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds contribute to the vibrancy of our early childhood programs.

Multilingualism is an asset to be nurtured in our classrooms, and the following five strategies can help teachers strategically and intentionally celebrate and extend multilingual children's existing linguistic expertise as well as their participation in learning activities both in person and virtually.

Incorporate Children's Home Languages

All multilingual children are experts in their home language practices and come with a wealth of knowledge that should be respected. Provide space and time for multilingual children to use all of their languages to think and express themselves.

For example, during partner work, invite children to use their home languages to share what they know. All multilingual learners, whether they're new to English or completely fluent, will benefit from talking with a partner who speaks the same home language. Thinking and sharing in both of their languages solidifies their learning.

In addition, encouraging multilingual learners to make connections between new English terms and words or concepts they already know will support language acquisition. You can invite children to share their linguistic expertise by sharing how to say a new word in their home language. If your class is studying nourishing foods, you might show a pineapple and invite children to share the words they know for it in their home languages, if they feel comfortable doing so.

Teach Anchor Words

Keep in mind that anxiety and self-doubt greatly interfere with the process of acquiring a second language. These negative feelings become a barrier between the speaker and the listener that reduces the amount of language the listener is able to understand. This is called the "affective filter." It's important to keep the affective filter low so that language learners can be successful.

One way to reduce anxiety for multilingual learners is to preview some foundational concepts so that, at a minimum, they have an idea of what is being discussed and, at best, they are confident about what is being taught. Anchor words are vocabulary words such as "farm" or "eat" that activate children's background knowledge from their home language and give them a context for learning a new language.

Most children who speak English at home will not need direct instruction to learn these terms, but for children who are very new to the English language, these words will be absolutely essential. Make a list of relevant thematic words and preteach them to your multilingual learners.

Provide Sentence Stems

"I like..." and "I learned..." are two examples of sentence stems or sentence starters that expand new English learners' comprehension skills as well as oral language development. They provide a framework for children's oral responses when listening to stories or having group discussions.

Sentence stems provide an effective language model and help children to respond in the form of a complete sentence. Stems also provide scaffolding for children to focus on what they want to say rather than thinking about how to formulate their response. Teach a few stems and use them consistently.

Because of the other barriers that exist in the virtual classroom (e.g., kids needing to unmute themselves, feeling nervous sharing with the whole group, being camera shy), this strategy is particularly useful during the pandemic.

Incorporate Visuals

New English learners find themselves in a sea of language that can be tough to navigate. Visuals are a terrific tool for supporting comprehension. Use realia (concrete objects) if you are teaching in person or pictures if teaching virtually so children can "see" the terms you are using.

Try acting out new vocabulary words. If you're teaching children the difference between "washing" and "scrubbing," dramatize it by modeling the actions and then invite children to join you. Another way to incorporate visuals is to point or gesture at what you are referring to: If you're reading a book and referring to an illustration of a horse, point to the horse; when you're describing your thinking, point to your temple.

Use Layered Questioning

When you interact with children, how can you ensure that they all understand and participate, regardless of their stage of language development? One way is to use a strategy called "layered questioning," which means varying the type of questions you ask children based on their language proficiency.

You can ask a question that requires children to gesture in response ("Will you point to the pineapple?"). You can ask a question that requires a child to respond with either a "yes" or a "no" (Do you like to eat pineapples?"). You can ask a question that gives children an either/or choice ("Do you like to eat pineapples for breakfast or for lunch?"). You can also ask open-ended questions so children can share their thinking ("How would you describe this pineapple?").

When you vary your questions based on what you know about your children, it empowers them to express their thinking, extend their content knowledge, and be active members of the classroom community.

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Supporting Multilingual Students in the Early Grades

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Five ways teachers can celebrate and extend the linguistic expertise of young students who speak two or more languages.