Jim Cummins, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, challenges the dominant monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. He argues that three key assumptions—using only the target language (TL) without L1, avoiding translation between L1 and TL, and keeping the two languages rigidly separate—are not supported by empirical evidence and are inconsistent with current cognitive psychology and applied linguistics theories. Cummins proposes a set of bilingual instructional strategies that can be used in conjunction with monolingual approaches to enhance language learning and cognitive development. He provides concrete examples of how these strategies can be implemented, such as encouraging the use of L1 for social and cognitive purposes, promoting translation activities, and fostering cross-language cognitive processing. The paper emphasizes the importance of engaging students' prior knowledge, interdependence across languages, and the dynamic systems nature of multilingualism. A case study of a bilingual instructional project involving Urdu-English students illustrates how these strategies can empower students from marginalized groups and enhance their identity and academic engagement. The conclusion reiterates that students' L1 can be a valuable resource for promoting L2 proficiency when used through bilingual instructional strategies.Jim Cummins, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, challenges the dominant monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. He argues that three key assumptions—using only the target language (TL) without L1, avoiding translation between L1 and TL, and keeping the two languages rigidly separate—are not supported by empirical evidence and are inconsistent with current cognitive psychology and applied linguistics theories. Cummins proposes a set of bilingual instructional strategies that can be used in conjunction with monolingual approaches to enhance language learning and cognitive development. He provides concrete examples of how these strategies can be implemented, such as encouraging the use of L1 for social and cognitive purposes, promoting translation activities, and fostering cross-language cognitive processing. The paper emphasizes the importance of engaging students' prior knowledge, interdependence across languages, and the dynamic systems nature of multilingualism. A case study of a bilingual instructional project involving Urdu-English students illustrates how these strategies can empower students from marginalized groups and enhance their identity and academic engagement. The conclusion reiterates that students' L1 can be a valuable resource for promoting L2 proficiency when used through bilingual instructional strategies.