Learning a new language is both thrilling and frightening. Language acquisition can have an impact on our social wellbeing, identity development, sense of cultural belonging, or even experiences of discrimination.

 

Growing up as an English-Japanese-French speaker, I strongly believe in the power of multilingualism and want to celebrate it in my students. In my teaching, I pursue an additive approach of English language learning which aims to support the students linguistic development in both English and their mother tongue language. Students should feel proud of their cultural and linguistic background and think of it as an incredible gift they possess and can share. 

​

My goal is for students to not only attain proficiency in academic English so that they can confidently participate in class and read and write with fluency, but also for students to fully develop English used for basic interpersonal communication skills to make friends, communicate with people and express themselves. The best way for students to learn a new language is through having authentic motivation: wanting to sing a popular song, befriend someone from class or read an exciting book.

My goal is to provide students with the tools and environment that will allow them both academic, social, and emotional growth with language being an asset, not a barrier.