#CdnELTChat: Intercultural Fluency in the LINC Classroom

November 22, 2019 · by · in #CdnELTChat, #CdnELTchat, PD Opportunity

downloadThis is a summary of the bi-monthly Twitter chat on the hashtag #CdnELTChat.

November 5, 2019 #CdnELTchat (Intercultural Fluency in the LINC Classroom)

by Bonnie Nicholas

On November 5, 2019, the #CdnELTchat team was happy to welcome Sandhya Ghai (@GhaiSandhya) of Mosaic BC (@mosaicbc) as our guest moderator for a discussion of Intercultural Fluency in the LINC Classroom. This chat was a follow-up to Sandhya’s Tutela webinar on the same topic. (Tutela members can log in to view the recorded webinar.) Thanks to Diane Ramanathan (@ramdiane), Tutela Community Coordinator, for facilitating this partnership between Tutela and #CdnELTchat.

Here are some key points raised by participants during the chat:A first step in developing intercultural fluency is to be aware of our own positionality and our own cultural identities.

  • Everyone has some intercultural experiences to draw on, even learners from countries that we might think of as being monocultural.
  • As instructors, we need to be mindful of our choices in learning materials and resources.
  • Think about having an attitude of curiosity and cultural humility.
  • Several participants reiterated the importance of integrating inclusive intercultural practices into everything we do in the classroom.
  • Create learning opportunities for learners to explore and share their culture.
  • Be kind to ourselves when we make mistakes.

Participants used these questions as a springboard for discussion during the chat.

  • What does it mean to be interculturally fluent?
  • What steps can instructors take to increase their intercultural fluency?
  • As teachers, we are always pressed for time. What are the most important concrete steps that we can take to make our classrooms more interculturally fluent?
  • How can intercultural fluency be embedded in the LINC curriculum?
  • Many of the students in our classes come from monocultural countries. How can we help them adapt to a multicultural environment?

If you’re on Twitter, you can find the conversation by following the hashtag #CdnELTchat, but we’ve also collected the relevant tweets using Wakelet, #CdnELTchat Summary on Intercultural Fluency in the #ELT Classroom.

The #CdnELTchat team is looking for people who would be interested in facilitating one of our bi-monthly chats.  Please let a member of the team know if you are interested in co-moderating a live chat, or in collecting and writing the summaries which are posted on the BC TEAL and TESL Ontario blogs, and shared with TESL NS. Other provincial #ELT associations are also welcome to share. If you would like to volunteer, or have ideas for chats, contact any of us: Jennifer @jennifermchow, Augusta @ELTAugusta, Svetlana @StanzaSL, or Bonnie @EALStories.  Post ideas anytime on our Padlet, https://padlet.com/BonnieJean/CdnELTchat.

 

 

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