Implementing translanguaging pedagogy for refugee and immigrant learners
In British Columbia’s diverse K-12 classrooms, educators face the challenge of supporting language acquisition while fostering inclusivity for multilingual students, including those from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. To address this challenge, this 90-minute workshop, co-facilitated by a PhD candidate in TESL from UBC and an in-service English and ELL teacher from Metro Vancouver, introduces practical strategies for implementing translanguaging pedagogy. By leveraging students’ full linguistic repertoires, this approach enhances academic outcomes, nurtures socioemotional well-being, and affirms multilingual identities.
Participants will explore how translanguaging can support literacy development in both English and students’ home languages, fostering a more inclusive classroom environment. The facilitators will provide theoretical insights, share real-world examples like identity portfolios and memory memoirs, and guide participants in designing their own translanguaging activities. By the end of the workshop, educators will leave with practical tools to apply immediately in their classrooms.
All participants will be entered into a draw to win one of five copies of The Translanguaging Classroom (García et al., 2017).
Facilitators
Serikbolsyn Tastanbek (he/him) is a PhD candidate in TESL at the University of British Columbia with extensive experience teaching English as an additional language in Qazaqstan and Canada. His scholarship focuses on translanguaging, language ideologies, identities, and critical multilingual pedagogies, with the goal of fostering greater social justice in applied linguistics and TESOL. As an activist, he actively engages in dialogue with TESOL professionals to promote critical praxis and demystify the graduate school experience. His work has appeared in several journals, including TESOL Quarterly and the Journal of Second Language Writing, as well as in the edited volume Language Teacher Education Beyond Borders: Multilingualism, Transculturalism, and Critical Approaches.
Indervir Kaur Kang (she/her) is an educator in the Surrey School District. She is a graduate from SFU’s Professional Development Program and UBC’s TESL certificate program. Indervir has worked in the district since 2019, starting as an educational assistant (EA) and currently as an English teacher at Guildford Park Secondary. One of her core teaching principals is the belief in the transformative power and potential of a reciprocal learning environment. She firmly believes in honouring students’ first and additional languages in the classroom as a means of fostering their sense of meaning-making in the world.
