Eric Lee describes language access barriers for multilingual students and families

Hello, good afternoon.

To begin, I'd like to acknowledge and thank Chair Dinowitz and members of the City Council for allowing this conversation.

My name is Eric Lee, and I'm currently a senior at Queens High School for the Sciences.

I'm also a youth advocate with the Asian American Student Advocacy Project, ASAP.

I believe that academic preparedness plays a crucial role in helping multilingual students like me thrive.

As a student, being academically prepared does not simply mean having access to the information needed to succeed academically.

Rather, it means having access to the resources necessary to learn without fear or self-doubt.

Multilingual students require much more than just translation.

They require instruction that acknowledges their identity and supports them through teacher training that specifically addresses multilingualism and diversity of language background.

Secondly, for me, an effective communicator is someone who has a supportive environment to communicate their thoughts and ideas regardless of culture or language barriers.

Students should be able to express themselves freely without concern about the judgment of others based on their language skills.

Schools should provide an environment where all students'voices are valued, where language differences or barriers do not limit the voice of a student.

As a student from the AAPI community, I frequently translate school documents for my parents.

In addition, due to the lack of systems supporting immigrant families at school, I had to act as a translator between my family and teachers.

I've also observed some of my peers refrain from speaking up during classroom conversations because they fear how their broken English will be judged.

These examples provided are not unique to my own story.

When students are denied adequate language access, they are unable to...

to fully participate in class discussions, restorative justice circles, or collaborative learning activities.

While the DOE assesses test scores and graduation rates as indicators of student success, they do not assess whether students feel linguistically supported or if they believe they have the ability to speak.

With pressure placed upon teachers to prepare students for standardized testing, opportunities for educators to engage students through restorative practices or multilingual engagement continue to decrease.

We need to invest in real language access from translated materials to inclusive school environments so every student can participate fully as an effective communicator.

We need to embed a culturally responsive curriculum, including AAPI history, so students feel represented, supported, and academically prepared.

Finally, we need to measure belonging, not just test scores, so schools are held accountable for creating environments where all students can learn, speak, and thrive.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

And I do want to highlight two important things.

One is you have a Queens High School for Science.

Is that right?

You have a great graduate right here.

Our committee counsel, Alejandro Carvajal, also went there.

He just graduated two years ago.

So he's, you know, the same age as you.

And also, you know, I think it's so important for all the different communities around our city to be seen and heard.

And that's why this council has invested, I think at this point, millions of dollars over the years in the AAPI curriculum.

So, you know, we're doing this work in this council, but of course it means nothing without students like you coming to testify and sharing your voice.

So thank you for testifying today.

And last in this panel.