Challenging Monolingual Norms: TESL Teacher Education to Advance Learners’ Plurilingual and Pluricultural Awareness

Abstract

Multilingualism is the norm in many societies across the globe, and Canada is no exception. Colonialism, immigration and mobility have transformed the way people use language(s) and navigate relations of power in society. Despite this diverse reality, language education continues to follow a one-language-only approach, and learners are expected to perform based on standard monolingual norms. Previous research shows that while language teachers value linguistically and culturally inclusive language classrooms, implementing pedagogical change is still a challenge. To address this issue, our chapter presents pedagogical resources developed as part of a Quebec-funded project in a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) teacher education program in the multilingual and multicultural city of Montreal, Canada. To facilitate teacher development in plurilingual pedagogies, we drew from the theoretical concepts of plurilingualism, pluriculturalism and identity to design educational materials that consisted of a YouTube Playlist with tutorials, VoiceThread discussions, an action-oriented task template and pre-service teacher reflections. We discuss how our resources can facilitate a shift in teachers’ mindsets from monolingual to plurilingual approaches to teaching additional languages in Canada and other multilingual and multicultural contexts. We end the chapter by discussing implications and challenges such as monolingual and bilingual policies that can undermine learners’ plurilingual identities.

Appendix: Task Template

Context and Student Population

• 1. Students’ age: 6–7 years old

• 2. Students’ CEFR level: A1/A2

• 3. Type of ESL program: Regular

• 4. Grade (if applicable): Primary 1st Grade

• 5. Location of the Program (neighbourhood, city, province, country): Montréal, Québec, Canada

• 6. Approximate number of students per class: 22

• 7. Information about your students’ identities, background, family, socio-economic status, etc.

The City of Montréal is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in North America. In this particular student population, we can find multicultural groups such as Syrian, Algerian, Moroccan and Haitian. However, none of these students belong to white Canadian population. This class has French as their second, third or fourth language.

90% of the student population have parents who speak English. As a result, these children are exposed to English at home, and they have receptive skills in English. While they have A1 and A2 CEFR levels of English, they are able to understand a large amount of spoken English in class.

Approximately 70% of the children’s parents belong to the middle class and 30% are part of the low-income families. The latter is part of the last wave of Syrian refugee’s migration. As a newcomer population, most of these parents are in the adaptation process both linguistically and culturally to their new country.

Information About the Action-Oriented Language Task

• 1. Describe the scenario of your task

  One of your friends is not feeling very well today. When you ask her what happened and why she looks sad, she explains that on the way to school, while crossing the road, a big truck driver honked the horn extremely loud. The driver stopped the truck right next to her. Her heart started beating real fast but luckily nothing happened. Now, she is scared to cross the road alone again. You want to help your friend so that she can feel safe while crossing the road so you will help her with road safety rules.

• 2. What existing material(s) will you use?

  • Sidewalk Safety Video:

    ICBC. (2019, October 3). Bike safe. Walk smart—k to 3—sidewalk safety [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/KtaMYFptmvc.

  • Busy Traffic Sound Effects:

    Easy English Conversation. (2020, February 8). Busy traffic sound effects [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvc63Ez6DM.

• 3. Backwards Design

  CEFR Descriptors: Choose five descriptors that are most applicable to this task.

  CEFR descriptor scheme	Mode of communication	Activity, strategy or competence	Scale	Level	Descriptor
  1. Communicative language competences	N/A	Linguistic competence	Vocabulary range	A1	Has a basic vocabulary repertoire of words/signs and phrases related to particular concrete situations
  2. Communicative language competences	N/A	Linguistic competence	Vocabulary range	A2	Has sufficient vocabulary for coping with simple survival needs
  3. Communicative language competences	Reception	Audio-visual comprehension	Watching TV, film and video	A2	Can follow changes of topic of factual TV news items and form an idea of the main content
  4. Communicative language competences	Production	Oral production	Overall oral production	A1	Can produce simple, mainly isolated phrases about people and places
  5. Communicative language competences	Production	Written production	Creative writing	A1	Can use simple words/signs and phrases to describe certain everyday objects (e.g. the colour of a car, whether it is big or small)

• 4. List five things students will be able to do/learn based on the CEFR descriptors above. Please do not copy and paste the descriptors above. Modify/adapt the descriptors according to your task

  By the end of the task, students will be able to…

  • 1. identify the actions (stop, go and slow) linked to the colours (red, green and yellow) of traffic lights

  • 2. use their senses of sight and sound to cross a road safely by looking left and right and listening for vehicles before crossing

  • 3. watch a video about road safety, know how to cross a street safely and combine this information with other information/ideas and language and his/her own ideas and personal linguistic repertoire to navigate throughout the world safely; for example, crossing a train track

  • 4. form simple sentences to describe how they can use their sense to cross roads and intersections safely

  • 5. identify and write the parts of the human body that are sensory organs (the eyes, ears, etc.).

• 5. Describe the activities that the teacher will do so that students can accomplish the overarching goal of the task

Step 1: Warm Up/Hook

Introduction to the Traffic Light:

The teacher will show the picture below (Fig. 5.3).

Fig. 5.3

Teacher resource—picture copyright free from Pixabay.com

Students will be asked what the colours of the traffic light represent. The teacher will ask students to write the action related to each colour on the board in the languages in their repertoire. The indications of the green, yellow and red colours will be discussed.

Traffic Light Game:

A total physical response game will be played to practice the imperatives. The teacher will write green go, yellow slow and red stop on the board. The teacher will ask students to stand up and follow the directions. The teacher will say green go, yellow slow and red stop while holding up paper circles of various colours. Students will listen and respond to the teacher by acting physically: running, walking slowly or stopping. The teacher will eventually increase the challenge level by naming the colours randomly: yellow, green and red. The teacher will also add some colours that do not correspond to the traffic light. This game will be played for about 3 min to activate students’ prior knowledge and be familiar with familiar vocabulary in English.

Step 2: Road Safety

Watch the Sidewalk Safety Video:

The teacher will show the Sidewalk Safety Video and ask students to pay attention to the superpowers listed (super eyes can see when the way is clear, super ears can listen for cars and trucks, and super feet can stop wherever they feel danger). The video supports plurilingualism by including children from different ethnic groups and linguistic backgrounds who name the superpowers in the languages in their repertoire. The teacher will ask the students about the three superpowers that they should use on the road: stop, look and listen.

Practice Superpowers: Look, Listen, Stop:

The teacher will prepare an area in the classroom by sticking white tape on the floor to imitate a pedestrian crossing. Students will be asked to practice their three superpowers to cross the road. They will stop by standing still, look on both sides by placing their hands above their eyes and listen by placing their hands next to the ears as a demonstration. The teacher will play the traffic sound from the video Busy Traffic Sound Effects. When the way is clear and safe, students will cross the road.

The activities above (the game, working in teams, etc.) in addition to the students’ participation throughout the lesson will be considered as informal ongoing formative assessments through teacher’s observation.

Step 3: An Artifact Production

Presentation of the Scenario and Creating a Poster:

The teacher will ask students to create a poster to have their friend from the scenario of the task. Students will be reminded that with the knowledge that they acquired in the class about road safety, they can create a poster in teams of 3 to explain the superpowers that can help their friend stay safe on the road. The teacher can show the sample of the road safety poster below to help ease the cognitive load (Fig. 5.4).

Fig. 5.4

Artifact

Superpower words like eyes, ears, feet, look, listen and stop may be written on the board to make it easier for the students to write them down on their poster. They will have the choice to include the superpowers in their own languages next to the English words on the poster. When the posters are completed, they will be hung in the high circulation area where all students can look at them and learn about road safety. This will be the formal assessment of the lesson.

Superpowers Checklist

Students will be given the superpowers checklist below (Fig. 5.5):

Fig. 5.5

Checklist

They can take the checklist home and share what they learned in class with their family members in the language(s) they speak at home. They can go for a walk with their caregiver/family member and practice their superpowers by completing the checklist. Once the checklist is completed, they will be returned to the teacher. The checklist will be considered as an informal way of giving the teacher insight and feedback and to show students how their lesson is relevant to and be applied in real life.

Artifact

What is the artifact that will be produced as a result of this task? Explain how the artifact relates to real-life application

A Road Safety Poster similar to the sample provided in step 3 will be produced. It relates to students’ real-life application, because they will practice these superpowers in their everyday life right from the moment they step outside the classroom. Creating a poster provides students with an opportunity to express themselves in English and visual representations (drawing, collage and colours). Students will understand that their posters can help other students in the school to practice road safety. Students will also complete the Superpower Checklist with a caregiver/family member. This promotes taking what was learned in the classroom outside of its walls and into real life.

Plurilingual and Pluricultural Strategies

What plurilingual strategy(ies) from the YouTube Playlist did you use? Describe how this strategy can ensure that your task is linguistically and culturally inclusive to your student population

Two strategies were used: translation and translanguaging. Students’ prior knowledge as a result of learning other languages in their linguistic repertoire is utilized in the scaffolding needed to produce their artifacts in this action-oriented lesson. The lesson simulates autonomy and teaches students to use what they already know, as well as other resources at their disposal, in order to learn what they still do not know.

The lesson accepts the students as their authentic self by allowing them, at every occasion, to use languages in their linguistic repertoire other than English as long as this leads them to learning English and serving the objectives of the lesson (traffic sign colour names in step 1, superpower names in step 2, including other languages in the poster in step 3). A non-threatening environment is a prerequisite for better language learning, and by giving space to marginalized minority languages, students will further feel their identities validated.

By exposing the students to languages they are not familiar with, as well as allowing translanguaging and translation during the lesson, they are encouraged to be in plurilingual situations in real life without resistance.