Practical strategies for multilingual learning, with Diane August, Ph.D.
In this episode, Diane August, Ph.D., shares her journey and expertise supporting multilingual learners, focusing on her transition from a Spanish language teacher to a widely recognized expert in literacy and language acquisition for multilingual students. August recounts her initial teaching experiences, her realization of the need for better support for language development, and her subsequent pursuit of a Ph.D. and further research efforts to deepen her understanding of second language acquisition and content integrated language teaching. August emphasizes the foundational importance of supporting multilingual learners through asset-based approaches, bilingual programming, and research-based instructional strategies, advocating for educational policies and practices that recognize and leverage the linguistic and cultural assets of multilingual learners from the very early grades all the way through the later grades.