Goal 2

      How language use is viewed and valued can have an impact on language learners identities and that of the community. The value or lack thereof can come from the relationship between a predominately monolingual teaching staff to multilingual leaners. In an international school context, the predominate language of English often used for instruction and communication may be a minority language outside of the school and for the majority of the students and families. This can lead to biases and a deficit model of children and families rather than leveraging the strengths of linguistically diverse groups (Mellom et al., 2018). 

 

     This goal draws upon culturally responsive teaching and the process of language acquisition of Chinese learners to demonstrate how educators can access the strengths of these learners and communities to support and honour their identity. For example, Villegas and Lucas (2002), suggest that teachers need to build meaningful connections to the learning by using examples from the student’s lives. As well, they suggest multiple strategies for instruction, accessing curricular resources for children in their native language and defining relevant vocabulary. By navigating the murky waters of language practices and policies schools can evolve by building affirming views, and seeing children from non-dominant groups as capable, high achieving, and build upon their cultural resources they bring to school to empower and engage students.