Employing Trauma‐Informed Language Pedagogy with Newly Arrived Multilingual Learners: Lessons from a New York City School

Abstract In New York City, more than 50,000 asylum seekers arrived between 2022 and 2023, and K‐12 public schools saw a dramatic increase in the enrollment of students in need of English language instruction. While multilingual newcomers—defined as students who have been in the U.S. for fewer than three years, come from all grade levels, and often are at earlier stages of English proficiency than other groups learning English—were already a common presence in New York City schools, this most recent group of students possessed a set of different learning needs because of the often traumatic circumstances leading to their migration to the U.S. In this Forum article, I share my experiences as a volunteer language teacher for recently arrived asylees in a New York City elementary school, including interviews with teachers who were working directly with students who had recently experienced trauma. I argue for a more thorough understanding of how forced migration can impact language acquisition as well as greater support for teachers at all levels to view language instruction through a trauma‐informed lens, thus ensuring that curriculum and pedagogy can best meet the unique needs of their students.