How do teachers handle linguistic diversity in classrooms

Linguistic diversity is both a challenge and a resource. It is a resource because children bring tacit knowledge of language to the classrooms. It is a challenge because our understanding of the different ways of using diversity as a resource is very gross. The paper tries to unpack the classroom black-box to see how teachers manage linguistic diversity. I will look at three schools, two of which are located in the Karnataka-Telangana border region and one in Bangalore city. The purpose of describing the ways these schools deal with linguistic diversity is not to tell a tale of success. Instead, it is to describe the existing situation and bring to light the struggles and reflections faced by the teachers in grappling with linguistic diversity in the classroom. The paper ends with a few suggestions for pre and in-service professional learning of teachers.