In Valparaíso, Chile, walls do more than surround a city. Covered in murals, color, and visual storytelling, they tell stories about culture, identity, and community. For Monica Gold, those walls became a new way to think about how her multilingual students can tell their own stories.
Through the Cindy Edelman Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, Gold, an English Language Development teacher at Arlington Middle School, traveled to Valparaíso to explore how art can make learning more accessible and meaningful for multilingual students. Her project, Walls That Speak: Visual Storytelling for Multilingual Classrooms, focused on the city’s internationally recognized muralism and traditions of visual storytelling.
Gold returned with three ways art can transform learning: as an essence, an equalizer, and a narrator.
First, art can capture the essence of a community. Throughout Valparaíso, Gold saw how murals, poetry, and public art reflected the culture and experiences of the people who call the city home. Meeting local residents and hearing their perspectives helped her understand that the meaning of art extends far beyond what appears on a wall.
Second, art can be an equalizer. For students still developing English proficiency, traditional text-based instruction can create barriers to demonstrating what they know. Visual storytelling offers another entry point, allowing students to communicate ideas through images, symbols, and oral storytelling before transitioning into written English.
Finally, art can serve as a narrator. Gold plans to incorporate murals, photographs, and cultural materials from Valparaíso into lessons that help students explore identity and develop their own narratives. She will also share what she learned through professional development, model lessons, and resources for colleagues at Arlington Middle and beyond.
For Gold, the Fellowship was more than a trip. It was an opportunity to rethink what storytelling can look like in a multilingual classroom.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Gold shared. “I am a better teacher for having been awarded this fellowship.”
The walls of Valparaíso told Gold countless stories. Now, she is returning to Arlington ready to give her students new ways to tell theirs.