Amanda Archbald
This piece comes from Amanda Archbald. Amanda is a Whole School Multilingualism Coordinator, educational consultant, and thought leader in multilingualism and inclusion, based in Abu Dhabi.
With over 15 years of experience in international education, Amanda is passionate about equipping teachers and leaders with practical approaches that remove barriers and strengthen outcomes for multilingual learners.
Find more of her insights at www.amandaarchbald.com.
Introduction
In most classrooms, the adult is assumed to be the expert. The teacher explains, models and guides. Pupils listen, practise and learn.
Yet in linguistically diverse classrooms, this assumption deserves closer attention. Many multilingual pupils walk into school each day carrying skills that most adults in the room have never needed to develop. They navigate multiple languages, interpret meaning when vocabulary is unfamiliar, and learn complex academic content through a language that is still developing.
For many of them, learning is not simply about understanding the concept being taught. It is about understanding the language through which that concept is delivered. If most teachers were suddenly asked to learn science, history, mathematics and literature through a language they were still acquiring, many of us would struggle to keep up. Multilingual pupils do this every day.
When we pause to consider this, the classroom dynamic begins to look a little different.
The invisible expertise of multilingual pupils
Multilingual pupils are often described in terms of what they are still developing. Vocabulary may be growing. Sentence structures may still be forming. Written expression may take longer to produce.
What is less often acknowledged is the remarkable cognitive work happening behind the scenes. A multilingual pupil does not simply “learn English”. They constantly negotiate meaning between languages, infer meaning from context, and hold fragments of language in working memory until understanding emerges. Many are processing two linguistic systems while trying to grasp new academic content. This requires a set of sophisticated skills.
They switch between languages when searching for meaning. They tolerate uncertainty when not every word is understood. They listen strategically for key vocabulary and contextual clues. They take risks in communication even when their language is still developing. These are not beginner skills. They are advanced cognitive processes developed through necessity.
Skills many adults have never needed to develop
Most adults have rarely experienced learning complex ideas through a language they do not fully command. Imagine attending a professional conference delivered entirely in Mandarin or Arabic. Imagine needing to take notes, ask questions and write an analytical response afterwards. For many of us, the cognitive load would be overwhelming.
Multilingual pupils experience something similar each day in school.
They listen to unfamiliar vocabulary while trying to understand new ideas. They interpret meaning from context when language is incomplete. They participate in discussion while mentally monitoring grammar, word choice and pronunciation. At the same time, they are trying to demonstrate knowledge that teachers are assessing. What appears to be hesitation, silence or limited language can often mask intense cognitive effort.
When the student becomes the teacher
When we recognise the skills multilingual pupils are using, an interesting shift occurs. The pupil in the classroom is no longer seen only as someone who needs support. They are also someone who possesses expertise. Multilingual learners often demonstrate levels of persistence, cognitive flexibility and resilience that many adults have never had to cultivate. They show us how to continue learning even when understanding is incomplete. They show us how communication can still happen when language is imperfect. In many ways, they are modelling the very qualities we hope to develop in all learners. In those moments, the student becomes the teacher.
The emotional reality behind the effort
What makes this even more remarkable is that multilingual pupils are developing these skills while navigating the social realities of school life. They are building friendships, establishing identity and trying to belong in an environment where language plays a central role in confidence and participation. They are expected to contribute ideas, complete written work and demonstrate understanding in a language they are still constructing. Many adults would find this exhausting. Yet multilingual pupils manage this cognitive and emotional balancing act every day.
What this means for us as educators
Recognising the expertise multilingual pupils bring to the classroom changes how we approach teaching. It reminds us that language development and intellectual capability are not the same thing. A pupil may have sophisticated thinking that is still searching for the language to express it. It encourages us to slow down language without lowering expectations, make vocabulary visible, allow thinking time and value contributions that may be linguistically imperfect but intellectually strong.
Making multilingual expertise visible in the classroom
If multilingual pupils are already demonstrating these sophisticated skills, the question for teachers is how we recognise and build on this expertise in everyday practice.
Small shifts can make this visible. Here are some practical ways teachers can recognise multilingual expertise in the classroom:
- Invite pupils to explain how they worked out meaning.
Ask questions such as “What helped you figure that out?” or “How did you know what that word meant?” This makes the strategies multilingual pupils use visible to the rest of the class.
- Build thinking time into discussions.
Multilingual pupils are often processing both language and ideas simultaneously. Allowing short pauses, paired discussion or quick note-making before answers can reduce pressure and improve participation.
- Respond to ideas before correcting language.
A pupil’s language may still be developing, but their thinking may be sophisticated. Acknowledging the quality of the idea first helps pupils feel intellectually valued while continuing to develop language accuracy.
- Use multilingual knowledge as a classroom resource.
Invite pupils to share similarities between languages, explain how a concept is expressed differently, or identify familiar roots and cognates. This positions multilingual learners as contributors to learning rather than only recipients of support.
- Acknowledge effort and persistence explicitly.
Recognising moments where pupils infer meaning from context, take risks in communication or persist through uncertainty helps validate the cognitive effort involved in multilingual learning.
- Make language visible throughout the classroom.
Visual vocabulary displays, sentence stems, dual-language resources and modelled examples help reduce cognitive load while supporting independence and confidence.
These small shifts do more than support language development. They communicate to multilingual pupils that the skills they already possess are recognised and respected.
A quiet expertise in our classrooms
Multilingual pupils are often described in terms of what they are still developing. Yet every day they demonstrate linguistic flexibility, cognitive stamina and resilience that many adults have never needed to build. Perhaps the most powerful shift we can make as educators is to recognise this. Because in many moments, the multilingual pupil is not simply the learner. They are also the quiet expert in the room.
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