Other than living in Lebanon for a year, Taleen traveled there every summer when she was a child to visit her extended family and learn about her culture. She also has experience with Spanish culture. She says that Spanish culture is "oddly similar" to the Lebanese culture that she grew up in. She finds that she can relate to her Spanish teachers and Latino friends very easily, and loves any opportunity to embrace and share their culture.

Arabic and English weren't difficult to learn because Taleen grew up speaking it. She doesn't have to think to translate things, it is innate knowledge to her. However, learning new things in Arabic is incredibly difficult for Taleen. The language is incredibly different from English and is generally a difficult language. The most difficult thing for Taleen to learn in Arabic is reading and speaking. Reading and listening, however, come easy to Taleen. She never lost the ability to understand Arabic and Lebanese Arabic, comprehension is something ingrained in her.

Taleen found Spanish very easy to learn. The sounds and accent came naturally to her. The structure mirrors English, and the vocabulary mirrors English or Arabic, so it was easy to pick up new things.

need to stop treating accents as a sign of intellectual inferiority." She continues to say that we need to be kind and patient with people who may be struggling with learning English. "We need to treat people learning

English with appreciation for taking the time to learn an entirely new language and respect for having the ability to do so in the first place."

Taleen says that she loves being a multilingual person. She finds that learning new languages is easy for her. She says that "My brain feels primed to pick up new vocab and grammar structures", and that she has a lot of support to find familiarity in new languages with her multilingual background. She enjoys being able to communicate with more people in her life, and she finds that people treat her as more intelligent when they learn that she can speak several languages.

be helpful."

Along with this, being receptive to student's cultures is incredibly important. Taleen was never made to feel othered, and she loved being a part of new cultures. as well as seeing her own culture in the classroom. This connects back to the SIOP techniques we learned about in Chapter 3. SIOP is designed to make content comprehensible, while also keeping students engaged. Using relatable sources helps students feel seen in the classroom while also increasing their understanding. This could include realia familiar to specific cultures, pictures, or multimedia (58-59).