When I first started thinking about what multilingual education might look like in practice these were the two main challenges I identified from my perspective as a practitioner:
--How can we possibly integrate the home languages and cultural knowledge of all our students into our core curriculum as a resource for content learning as well as facilitate home language development?
--If we don't know our students' home languages then how can we even think about assessing and helping them develop?
I soon began to understand that multilingual education is a major disruptor that requires a much more radical community-based and student-centred approach. I propose peer-to-peer coaching and assessment across grade levels as one solution to the two main challenges identified. We will share with you the action research my colleagues and I have initiated at MEF International Schools in Istanbul with Grade 2 primary students matched with secondary school student volunteer language coaches (as part of their Community Action Service component in the IB).