Imagine facing a language barrier everywhere but your hometown, or being constantly singled out for looking or sounding different. What would it be like to dread going to school because you don’t understand the teacher? These are common challenges faced by ethnolinguistic minority communities.

There isn't one commonly accepted definition of ethnolinguistic minority communities. Generally, these are communities who speak a first language that is not the predominant language in the society of which they are a part. This language is a significant part of their cultural identity, even though it is not the language of schooling, government or business.

Ethnolinguistic communities often desire to learn other, more widely spoken languages such as the national language of their country or English. Parents especially have a strong desire for their children to learn a language that will help them further their education and gain access to better economic opportunities.

Unfortunately, learning the predominant language of a society often comes at the expense of their first language, and parents do not realize that they are hindering their child's learning achievement by minimizing their first language. Research actually shows that learning in the mother tongue first, and then learning multiple languages, improves children's learning and self-confidence.

In a globalizing world, ethnolinguistic minority communities need to have access to multilingual approaches to education and development, so that their children can be proud of their heritage and gain the self-esteem and skills to adapt in a rapidly changing environment.