Helping Multilingual Students Adjust to a New High School

Jave, a 20-year-old senior born in El Salvador, arrived at school every day carrying more than a backpack. She told me that she wanted to improve her English skills and help other new students learn English, too. She described herself as “cheerful, sociable, and hardworking.” I’d agree with all of those character traits.

Like many newcomer students, Jave was learning English, adjusting to a new country, and navigating changes in family relationships. School was important to her; she wanted to be a lawyer and loved history, but she struggled to balance her significant responsibilities. She missed half of her classes in the first quarter while working nearly full-time at a restaurant and paying for her own rent and phone bill. Her story reflected what I repeatedly heard while conducting years of dissertation research and serving as an assistant principal. During my conversations and research with 391 new students from 34 countries, almost everyone mentioned trying their best to find their place in a U.S. high school.

Community members sometimes assume that attendance and academic performance explain whether a student feels connected to their school. However, that’s not always the case. A student can show up every day and still wonder whether they belong. They might rack up frequent absences but still feel like school is their second home.

Across surveys and interviews, five school-based factors consistently contributed to students’ sense of belonging:

• Support networks
• Language
• Participation opportunities
• Safety
• Recognition

The good news is that teachers can influence all five of these factors every day. Here’s how.

Note: All names are student-chosen pseudonyms.

Explicitly Teach Collaboration

Many newcomer students told me that collaborative learning experiences helped them make friends, learn English, and feel more comfortable at school. Collaborative structures—meaning think-pair-share, talking chips, and stand-up, hand-up, pair up—are academically useful and also encourage a tight-knit classroom community.

Rather than assigning group work and hoping students figure it out, teachers can intentionally foster collaboration skills. As David, a 17-year-old sophomore from Honduras, explained to me, “If I don’t understand something and another student does, and he’s in my group, he gives me a hand. He helps me understand. It helps a lot to work in groups of four, because if one falls, there are the other three who can lift him.”

I recommend seating multilingual learners in mixed-English proficiency groups, so that students can learn from one another while expanding their social networks. Utilize discussion protocols that ensure every student contributes. Sentence stems, assigned discussion roles, and turn-taking structures enable students to join in with confidence.

Equally important: cocreate collaboration norms with students. Discuss the concept of respectful listening. Talk about how each group member can encourage more conversation. Make it clear that multiple languages, perspectives, accents, and communication styles are valued assets and never something to laugh at.

Maintain Linguistically Safe Classrooms

Teachers should normalize mistakes as a natural part of language learning. Errors are, above all else, opportunities for growth.

Separately, whenever it makes sense, allow students to strategically use their first language. They can brainstorm ideas, discuss complex concepts with a partner, clarify directions, or take notes in their first language before sharing in English. As an example: While going over parts of the water cycle, students can connect new vocabulary to words they know in their home language, which helps make meaning of a complicated concept. This practice ultimately supports comprehension while honoring a student’s full linguistic repertoire.

Intentionally Cultivate Peer Connections

One of my most consistent findings was the importance of peer support networks. As students transitioned to a new country (and a new school), they characterized their classmates and friends as critical sources of guidance and comfort. My research revealed that the first eight weeks after a student starts at a new school are especially crucial. Teachers should treat this “welcoming window” with extra care and intentional supports.

For instance: Consider assigning peer buddies to new students as they get caught up to speed. Create additional, structured opportunities for newcomers and native English speakers to interact during projects and classroom activities. Regularly rotate partners and groups so that students expand their connections over time.

Expand Access to Extracurricular Opportunities

Belonging does not stop at the classroom door. Students frequently brought up activities, clubs, celebrations, and school events as moments when they felt valued and connected. They also described feeling shy or nervous about joining said activities, particularly when language barriers existed.

Teachers can help mend that gap. Instead of simply sharing information about clubs and activities, try a more personal touch. Directly introduce students to a coach, sponsor, or student leader, and see if there might be a peer who can attend an initial meeting with the student, too. Sometimes, it helps to escort and walk with the student to that first meeting or introduction.

Build Belonging Through Daily Interactions

Belonging doesn’t require big, sweeping gestures. It begins when a student experiences school not only as a place of learning, but as a second home filled with people who genuinely know them and want them to succeed. And belonging flourishes as a result of hundreds of interactions and decisions that occur throughout the school day.

David, the 17-year-old student from Honduras, sometimes ended up in my office because of behavioral and academic issues. But he told me he still recognized his teachers and peers as “family,” a sentiment that perfectly encapsulates what everyone at a school should strive for while incorporating a newcomer.

“They help you, they give you support, they make you feel that you’re important to them,” David told me in Spanish. “They give you attention, respect, affection, and everything. So yes, for me it’s like a family: We spend eight hours seeing each other, five days a week.”