“Not a Deficiency: Nurturing Language with Dignity in Every Tongue”

Reading Virginia Collier’s "Teaching Multilingual Children" felt like a gentle affirmation of what I have always known in my bones as a Vincentian, nurse, advocate, and educator.  Language is not just a tool, but a vessel for identity, love, and human connection. Her work speaks to the heart of holism, where the whole child, culturally, emotionally, and intellectually, is honored.

One quote that reverberated deeply within me reads, "Do not think of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so-called deficiencies of your students". This is not merely a suggestion, but a cultural correction. It reminds me of the shame I once felt for my Caribbean accent… that Vincentian patois that was sweet sounds to our family’s ears, but grave dismissal in American classrooms. Collier demands we reframe what it means to teach language. We were never called to be the language police, but identity doulas, birthing and nursing our children in their cultural authenticity.

Collier expands, warning against the erasure of home languages, stating, "Don’t teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language". As a school nurse, I understand this intuitively. You cannot heal a child by cutting away the part of them that feels most like home. When I hear a student slip between their home language and English, I do not correct. I lean in and allow them to guide me to a deeper understanding, celebrate every portion of their being while allowing them to feel safe, secure, and seen.

Lisa Delpit’s work, The Silenced Dialogue, echoes this need for relational teaching, particularly when she writes about the miscommunication between educators and children from culturally diverse backgrounds. Delpit urges us to listen more than we prescribe and to honor the language of power without silencing the language of identity. Her call to action reminds me that truly effective teaching and healing must begin with listening to the voices we too often overlook.

Teaching, like nursing, is not about replacing but about integrating. Collier’s guideline to "teach the standard form of English and students' home language together with an appreciation of dialect differences" aligns with holistic nursing’s core values.  Patient-centered/focused/driven care rooted in true wellness that comes from harmony and transcendence not uniformity and standardization. I bring this mindset into my practice by using bilingual health materials, incorporating cultural remedies into wellness discussions, and ensuring that my tone, gestures, and presence meet students where they are linguistically.

Her reminder that "English-language learners who can chat comfortably in English do not automatically develop the academic language skills needed to compete" is one I see played out regularly in school health workshops. A student who smiles through a puberty lesson may still not understand the written materials we hand them. A child who converses fluently may still struggle with literacy concepts embedded in care plans or consent forms. As Collier notes, the ability to navigate academic English takes five to seven years, a fact overlooked by many policies that equate casual fluency with readiness.

As a Vincentian who learned to navigate between prayerful Creole, lyrical patois, and formal English, I know the power of code-switching. When Collier asserts, "Do not forbid young students from code-switching in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves", I nodded instinctively. In our culture, code-switching is not confusion or stupidity. We are creative geniuses. It is how my aunties taught me wisdom while chatting  at the market. It is how some of my patients tell me what hurts without saying the word "pain." Educators and health professionals alike must "provide a literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English-language learners". We cannot simply translate words for these children to memorize and spit back at us.  As educators we have the responsibility to transform how we deliver information to our MLL students to absorb and make their own. The use of song and storytelling, a tradition deeply rooted in Caribbean, is a creative way that we can engage our students and give them something to think about and remember both in and out of the classroom.

Collier emphasizes a balanced approach to the four language skills: "listening, speaking, reading, and writing". This resonates with the integrative methods I use when discussing sensitive health topics. I don’t just read aloud a flyer about puberty. I role-play with students, providing them with creative and self-expressive materials and activities, such as sketching, journaling, or meditative reflections.  This is not extra, but essential that we take the time and effort to provide culturally relevant care and trauma-informed teaching to ALL our students. Virginia Collier invites us to see multilingual learners not as problems to solve, but as knowledge-bearers to be honored. As a Vincentian, I carry my own language history with such pride and gratitude. As a nurse and educator, I hold sacred the privilege to meet children where they are, providing them with fertile soil to plant their seeds of influence and success to one day blossom into something fruitful.

We have a call to action as teachers, school nurses, and caregivers, always self-reflecting :

• How can I honor the home language of every child I serve?
• Am I listening to what students say between their words, through silence, switching codes, or discomfort?
• Have I created a space where identity is not corrected, but protected?

Start small. Embrace and celebrate each child’s entirety. Invite their stories. Shift your lens from correction to connection.

Please explore the captivating artwork of Zun Lee’s, photography that documents the  Zun Lee’s photographic archive "Fade Resistance" documents the beauty and resilience of Black family life.
Additionally, enjoy Jamila Lyiscott’s TED Talk: 3 Ways to Speak English, reminding us that language is not neutral, but weighted with history, trauma, pride and survival: Jamila Lyiscott's TED Talk on "3 Ways to Speak English"