This article is a selective and critical review of literature on the development of intercultural classrooms in a school context. It presents a situated point of view on current perspectives and approaches for multilingual classrooms in Chile, and offers a concrete, simple and clear proposal for the implementation of classes of Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) in the local public school. After integrating information on the Chilean reality, current international perspectives, the role of writing in the development of SFL competence, and the Chilean educational curriculum, it is concluded that it is important to contextualize academic trends (generally Anglo-Saxon) and that SFL teaching is essential for non-Spanish-speaking students if transculturality is to be really promoted in public educational establishments.