What is it about?
Midwestern secondary teachers say their training left them unready to teach African immigrant and refugee multilingual students. They improvise—drawing on personal experience, listening to students and families—yet still struggle with language gaps, cultural misunderstandings and rigid school systems. The study urges teacher-prep and professional-development programs to center these learners, recognize their strengths and include their voices.
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Perspectives
African immigrant and refugee multilingual students are among the fastest-growing demographics in U.S. schools, yet teacher-prep still targets a bygone, monolingual classroom, forcing educators to improvise support. Tracking three Midwestern teachers, the article turns their frustration into evidence of a systemic preparation gap and shows how tapping students’ stories, rather than deficit myths, unlocks inclusive practice. By filling a research gap at the intersection of language, migration, and race, it sets a clear agenda for future scholarship and policy.
Professor Guy Trainin
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “I Just Don’t Know What to Do!” Teacher Preparedness for Multilingual Students of Immigrant and Refugee Background, The Urban Review, May 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s11256-025-00748-6.
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