For the last century or more, western and northern models of education have dominated countries of the south or south-east these have seldom borne fruit in africa, south america, south and south-east asia because linguistic diversity and indigenous or organically developed educational practices have been largely overlooked such models have not met the needs of linguistically diverse communities on the margins this volume responds to that challenge it demonstrates successful practices in multilingual education, responsive to local conditions and with community participation, in low-income countries, even within limited budgetary investment the examples in this volume foreground the systematic use of the mother tongue or local language, alongside an international language of wider communication and possibly a third language with regional or national significance the case studies identify what works, as well as the risks and vulnerabilities the west and north have much to learn from the practices presented and what the research contributes towards current theories in linguistics and education - from Amzon