BC TEAL 2026 Annual Conference

LINC classrooms are among the most linguistically and culturally diverse learning environments in Canada, with learners bringing multiple languages, learning preferences, and varied educational backgrounds. This workshop introduces a research-informed framework grounded in multisensory engagement, translanguaging, and guided technology. Drawing on neuroscience and TESOL literature, the session first clarifies what each of these approaches involves and how they work together to strengthen memory, inclusion, and learner engagement.
The workshop then moves from theory to practice by presenting clear classroom guidelines organized across two stages. Stage 1 focuses on building comprehension and confidence through guided translation, structured word finding, and multilingual meaning making. Stage 2 emphasizes language expansion and production through reflective feedback, vocabulary development, and task-based speaking and writing. Participants explore how the same principles can be applied across both stages to support listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
Using examples from receptive and productive skills, the session demonstrates how passive “snapshot” technology use can be replaced with guided practices that promote productive struggle, metalinguistic awareness, and learner autonomy. Attention is also given to how translanguaging validates learners’ identities while strengthening classroom community. By integrating multisensory engagement, translanguaging, and guided technology across Stage 1 and Stage 2, participants examine ways to enhance learning efficiency while also making more effective use of teaching time.
By the end of the session, participants will be able to connect research to classroom practice, apply adaptable guidelines across stages, and integrate the three clusters to support engagement, accuracy, and autonomy. The final 15 minutes of the workshop are dedicated to facilitated discussion, allowing participants to reflect on implementation challenges and share practical adaptations for their own LINC contexts.

We can conceptualize language in different ways, and these conceptualizations shape how languages are taught, learned, and valued in society. For example, Ruíz (1984) proposed a framework of language as problem, right, and resource. He wanted us to reflect on “what is thinkable about language in society” so we can imagine new possibilities (p. 16). Among these orientations, the language-as-resource orientation has been widely embraced as a progressive counter to deficit perspectives (Hult & Hornberger, 2016). However, in contemporary conditions of neoliberal globalization, language-as-resource has increasingly been mobilized within market logics that treat language as a form of capital or commodity. The global expansion of English language teaching and high-stakes proficiency testing illustrates how language abilities are packaged, marketed, and consumed (Cameron, 2012).
This presentation argues that, while language-as-resource has opened important possibilities, it is insufficient for resisting the commodification of languages. I therefore propose a complementary fourth orientation: language-as-gift. Drawing on Robin Kimmerer’s (2013) work on gift economy, I conceptualize language as a relational offering sustained by gratitude, reciprocity, and responsibility. From this perspective, language practices are not merely transactions for individual gain but contributions to shared meaning-making and community wellbeing.
I ground this theorization in examples from my recent study of argumentative writing in English for academic purposes. Analysis of interview data and student writing samples suggests that the genre of argumentative writing can position language as a personal resource for displaying competence and winning arguments. In contrast, a language-as-gift orientation reframes argumentation as dialogue oriented toward understanding, relationship-building, and the co-construction of knowledge. The presentation concludes with pedagogical implications for EAL educators, including ways to design tasks, assessment, and feedback practices that foreground reciprocity, ethical communication, and relationality in a rapidly changing world. Attendees will leave with practical strategies and reflective questions for their own teaching contexts.

We've all heard countless talks about using AI to create academic material. This session instead explores practical ways language educators can adapt existing paper-based materials using AI tools. By digitizing and adapting familiar worksheets, teachers can create level-appropriate, interactive versions that better meet students’ diverse needs without starting from scratch.


We’ll walk through examples of how large language models can simplify, extend, or differentiate worksheet content, and discuss what this means for curriculum design, accessibility, and teacher autonomy. 


In this session, I will demonstrate how teachers can use AI to:

• Scan or upload an existing worksheet
• Deconstruct the worksheet into its functional components
• Render the content into an editable format
• Revise and differentiate the worksheet through a combination of prompting and manual editing

The emphasis is on adapting existing materials rather than generating new ones from scratch, with workflows that teachers can implement independently.

This workshop focuses on learning strategies in EAL contexts and explores why they are often overlooked or assumed rather than explicitly taught. While research consistently shows that learning strategies play a key role in learner autonomy and academic success, many EAL learners are expected to “figure them out” on their own while also managing new language, academic expectations, and unfamiliar learning environments.
The session begins with a brief overview of learning strategies, including cognitive, metacognitive, and affective strategies, and how they relate to self-regulated learning. This framework is then connected to everyday EAL teaching practices in listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Rather than treating strategies as an extra component, the workshop demonstrates how they can be naturally integrated into skills-based lessons before, during, and after classroom tasks.
Participants will take part in short interactive activities that encourage reflection on their own teaching practices, particularly moments where expectations around planning, monitoring, or evaluating learning may be implicit. Practical classroom examples and adaptable activities will be shared to show how strategy instruction can be made more explicit, accessible, and supportive for diverse EAL learners.
By the end of the session, participants will have a clearer understanding of why learning strategies are frequently neglected in EAL instruction, along with concrete ideas for embedding strategy instruction into their lessons. The goal is for participants to leave with practical, realistic approaches that support learner independence and help students become more confident and effective language learners in a changing educational landscape.