Video narration
Imagine a teacher asks a question, and a student stays quiet, even though they know the answer. The hesitation may not come from a lack of understanding. The question is in an unfamiliar language, while the student is thinking in their mother tongue-the language they know best. That gap makes speaking risky, reducing participation and confidence. In the classroom, silence is easily mistaken for disinterest or inability. But the real barrier may be the medium of instruction: the language used to teach, when it differs from the language the student understands most comfortably. Multilingualism can be a resource because students bring more than one language and way of understanding. Yet that resource stays blocked when the lesson makes their knowledge hard to express. So when a student stays quiet, look beyond the silence. Language choice shapes whether they can understand, speak freely, and take part.