Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Illustrated Guide
By Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Valentina Gonzalez
(Corwin, 2025 – Learn more)
Reviewed by Melinda Stewart
Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Illustrated Guide is a practical, accessible and engaging resource for educators who work with multilingual learners.
As a secondary multilingual instructional coach, I’m always looking for resources that I can share with colleagues. Through a combination of clear explanations, real-life strategies and vibrant full-color illustrations by Valentina Gonzalez, this book is just that.
Fisher, Frey and Gonzalez have created a rich visual and interactive guide that makes the complexities of teaching multilingual learners actionable. This book is a unique tool for teachers beginning to navigate the world of multilingual education and for those who coach teachers working with multilingual learners.
I really enjoyed the experience of reading Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners because it was just that, an experience. The authors break down the often overwhelming task of teaching multilingual students into digestible, well-structured concepts.
The book’s presentation could serve as a model of content accessibility to other authors and publishers. As I turned each page, I felt like I was engaging in a masterclass demonstrating how to scaffold for a variety of proficiency levels.
Source at Corwin website.
The book engages with illustrations and diagrams that simplify key concepts and provide visual examples of strategies. These illustrations, designed by Gonzalez (a career multilingual teacher and coach), make the content approachable and help educators visualize how to apply the strategies in the classroom. Combined with concise text, they produce an ideal learning tool for general educators who might be looking for quick yet relevant guidance. The supports ensure that the book reaches a broad audience, including those who may find dense academic texts intimidating or inaccessible.
Expert research-based advice
As a multilingual advocate, I appreciated the book’s focus on proven, practical strategies that foster language development and academic success. The authors provide numerous examples of techniques and methods for scaffolding instruction to support language acquisition while promoting content mastery.
Fisher, Frey, and Gonzalez also continually emphasize the importance of creating a classroom environment where multilingual students feel welcomed, respected, and encouraged to engage. From the first chapter, they emphasize the significance of building relationships with multilingual learners and recognizing the rich cultural and linguistic resources that these students bring to the classroom.
When we honor the languages and cultures of multilingual learners, we are taking the critical first step in creating a culturally responsive classroom. And reframing multilingualism as an asset, rather than a barrier to student success is empowering for both teachers and students, as it shifts the focus from “catching up” to “moving forward together.”
My biggest “want” as I read Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Illustrated Guide was that I wished the pages were perforated! As I explored the beauty and clarity of the sketchnotes, I just kept thinking about laminating them and hanging them on our staff workroom walls or organizing them in a binder to use as prompts during my coaching conversations.
I guess I’ll just have to buy a couple of copies of the bookI
Melinda Stewart has been an educator for 30 years. She has an MA in Teaching, Education and Learning and has done graduate work in the areas of English as a Second Language, Reading, Spanish, and most recently English Language Arts. She is currently working as a Spanish teacher and peer coach at Fairmont Junior Senior High School. Melinda is an MEA and AFT professional development facilitator and trainer who has a deep passion for learning and equity.
