committed. KNOWLEDGEABLE. DEDICATED. 

A Bilingual & Multilingual SMART School is committed to better understanding and supporting their bilingual and multilingual learners (BMLs, EAL, ELL, ESL students).

They know these learners are the fastest-growing student group in English-speaking schools and they take action to ensure their staff have the essential knowledge-base they need to best support these students.

We know from the research that most teachers around the world never receive any training to understand the unique needs of BMLs. That’s why Bilingual & Multilingual SMART Schools are different.

These are schools that make a commitment to whole-school training in order to enhance expertise with bilingual and multilingual learners. Teachers learn about the related research, best practises and approaches that make a difference to the lives of BMLs and their families. For instance, they learn the value of students’ home languages, cultures and identities. They understand that some policies and practises can be harmful to BMLs’ language development and academic growth. These schools care deeply about helping their BMLs thrive.

The acronym ‘SMART’ represents the essential traits we aim to engender across our Bilingual & Multilingual SMART Schools:

S – SUPPORTIVE (understanding how to support BMLs in all areas)

M – MULTILINGUALISM (promoting the value of)

A – AWARENESS (understanding the unique needs and issues related to BMLs)

R – RESEARCH (understanding the most relevant research)

T – TEACHING APPROACHES (learning the best approaches and strategies for BMLs)

You can quickly recognise a Bilingual & Multilingual SMART School because they use our SMART School Logo and certificate. We also publish the names of all SMART Schools on our website (below). To maintain their status, each school commits to ensuring their new teachers receive training so that the majority of their educators and administrators (at a minimum of 80%) are working with a strong BML knowledge-base. 

If you’d like to become a Bilingual & Multilingual SMART School, you can contact us to learn more about booking whole-school/group courses. Simply email us at: hello@educatorsofbmls.com