How does America say hello?

Oct 6, 2026 · Dustin Purdy | @MrPurdyMath | Original blog post

Overview

Nearly 1 in 4 people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home. This data talk uses real 2024 Census data to bring that fact into the middle school math classroom. Students start with "What do you notice? What do you wonder?" and then use percents, ratios, and estimation to explore which languages Americans speak, how that changes from state to state, and what it means for fairness in their communities. The talk builds toward one closing question: Who is missing? Each slide plants a small seed for that question, so by the end students are ready to think about who the data leaves out and why that matters.

Grade level: 6–8

Time frame: 10 minutes 

(Short on time? Use Slides 1 and 2 and go straight to the closing question.)

Resources: Google Slides

CCLS alignment

• 6.RP.A.1 Use ratio language to describe a relationship between two quantities.

• 6.RP.A.3c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100.

• 7.RP.A.3 Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems.

• 7.EE.B.3 Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation.

• 6.SP.B.5 Summarize data in context, including how it was measured.

• 7.SP.A.1 Understand that a sample gives information about a population, and that inferences are valid only if the sample is representative.

• MP3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. MP4 Model with mathematics.

Math topics

• Percents as "out of 100"

• Part-to-whole relationships

• Ratios and proportional reasoning: scaling

• Multiplicative comparison: asking "about how many times bigger?" instead of "how much bigger?"

• Estimation and mental math: making reasonable estimates before calculating

• Reading data displays: interpreting a 10-by-10 grid and bar graphs

• Comparing data

• Samples and populations

Key vocabulary

• Percent

• Ratio

• Proportion

• Multiplicative comparison

• Data

• Survey

• Population

• Sample

• Representative sample

• Bias

Plan

On every slide, start with: "What do you notice? What do you wonder?" Give 30 seconds to think, 30 seconds to share with a partner, then take a few answers before asking the questions below. Record wonders on the board, since several will come back during the closing question.

Slide 1: If the US were 100 people (2 minutes)

• How many people out of 100 do not speak another language at home? How do you know without counting?

• If our class of 30 matched the country, about how many students would speak another language at home?

• Does 23 out of 100 seem higher, lower, or about right for our community? What makes you think so?

• This data counts people age 5 and older. Who isn't in these 100 squares?

Slide 2: Which languages?  (2 minutes)

• About how many times bigger is the Spanish bar than the Chinese bar?

• Why might one language be so much bigger than the others?

• What languages do you hear in your community that aren't shown on this graph?

• The last bar groups dozens of languages together. Whose languages are hidden inside "all other languages"?

Slide 3: It depends where you live  (2 minutes)

• California's percent is about how many times West Virginia's?

• Where do you think our state lands? Why?

• Could our town or county be very different from our state's number? What might cause that?

• What can a state average hide about smaller communities inside that state?

Slide 4: Speaking English "very well"  (2 minutes)

• Out of 100 people who speak another language at home, about how many speak English very well?

• What could make school, a doctor's visit, or voting easier for someone still learning English?

• People rated their own English on this survey. How might that affect the numbers?

Closing: Who is missing?  (2 minutes)

Ask: "Who is missing from this data?" Give students think time, then a partner share. Use the wonders on the board and the student responses from each slide to guide the discussion.

Ideas students may raise:

• Children under 5, who aren't counted

• People who speak languages grouped into "all other languages," including many Indigenous languages

• Smaller communities that state and national averages hide

• People who didn't respond to the survey, since the data comes from a sample, not a count of everyone

• Differences between how people rate their own English and how they actually use it

Optional Follow-up questions:

• Why does it matter if some groups are missing from data like this?

• Who in our community might be missing from this data? How could we find out more about them?

• If decisions about schools, hospitals, or voting materials are based on this data, who might be left out?

Assessment and extensions:

Formative assessment

• Exit ticket: "Write one thing this data tells us and one group it might be missing. Explain why that group matters."

• Math check: "If a school of 600 students matched the U.S. rate, about how many would speak another language at home? Show your reasoning." (About 138, since 600 × 0.23 = 138.)

Extensions

• Local data: Look up your county or school district in Census Table S1601 on data.census.gov and compare it with the national and state numbers.

• Sampling: Discuss how the American Community Survey picks households. Ask students how they would design a fair survey of their own school.

• Make a graph: Have students turn one slide's data into a different kind of graph and explain which one tells the story better.

• Take action: Students identify one place in their community, such as a school office, clinic, or library, and propose a way to make it more welcoming for people who speak other languages.

Source

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 (language spoken at home, Table S1601 and detailed language tables), as compiled by USAFacts. "Very well" is how people rated themselves on the survey. These are survey estimates, not a count of every person.