Reanna, Janet, and Jaimyka are early childhood educators who are recent graduates of the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Diploma program in Aurora College in the Northwest Territories of Canada. They used storytelling and related follow-up activities to teach their Indigenous language, Tlicho, in their early childhood field placements in…

This article documents how my cultural identity as a Métis woman is inherently linked to Michif words and phrases that originate from the land. Through the Michif language I continue to situate myself directly on the Saskatchewan prairie landscape. And it is because of the collective efforts of Michif speakers and Métis Old Ones who work…

Two Anishnabek kindergarten teachers discuss four principles of Indigenous pedagogies in a project with a university researcher that created a context for children to engage in activities to learn their Anishnabek language and culture, and create positive identities. The university researcher sent a rabbit puppet named Niichii (Friend), who was…

"miskâsowin askîhk" is a nêhiyawêwin word that translates roughly "as finding oneself on the land." Throughout this paper, I aim to tell a story about the journey I have taken on the land, with the language. The paper also addresses a process of coming to find myself throughout these experiences and relationships with land and…

Indigenous languages are struggling for breath in the Global North. In Canada, Indigenous language medium schools and early childhood programs remain independent and marginalized. Despite government commitments, there is little support for Indigenous language-in-education policy and initiatives. This article describes an inaugural, countrywide,…

The colonisation of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, has led to the subjugation of Indigenous knowledges and the structuring of an education system that excludes the use of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. This paper makes space for and privileges Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) human development theory and articulates the…

Indigenous peoples have rightful aspirations for their languages and cultures, supported under international conventions, jurisdictional treaties, laws, policies and enquiry recommendations. Additionally, the inclusion of Indigenous languages in education can impact positively on Indigenous students' learning, engagement, identity and well-being,…

French immersion (FI) programs in Canada have historically served predominantly Canadian-born, English-speaking students and families in their endeavour to learn both of the country's official languages, French and English. However, FI programs are becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse as a result of increased global…

Research in international student success, satisfaction, and challenges seems still to be constructed around the colonial, imperial paradigm. Informed by deficit models of language, culture, and literacy teaching, such research portrays international students' challenges in terms of deficiency; discounts other languages, cultures, and literacy…

Literacy in a first language or in additional languages involves a set of complex cognitive, social, and linguistic skills that develop over time. However, pedagogical materials for low-proficiency English as an additional language (EAL) learners tend to target low-level literacy skills only, such as responding to fact-based questions. Materials…

This paper gives an overview of ongoing revitalisation efforts for Kanien'keha / Mohawk, one of the endangered Indigenous languages in Canada. For the Mohawk people, their language represents a significant part of the culture, identity and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The endangerment of Kanien'keha and other Indigenous…

Language planning and policy (LPP), as a field of research, emerged to solve the "problem" of multilingualism in newly independent nation-states. LPP's principal emphasis was the reproduction of one-state, one-language policies. Indigenous languages were systematically erased through top-down, colonial medium-of-instruction policies,…

This Perspectives article proposes a renewed vision of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) through a translanguaging (TL) stance, grounded in critical sociolinguistic inquiry and embodied practice. A TL theory of language asserts an activist agenda to dismantle mono/lingualism, inviting a more dynamic and expansive view of…

In the contemporary world, language, at the heart of all human communication, has experienced social change in new ways. Previously distant groups communicate with each other both because of new migrations and as a result of the use of the Internet and digital media. Intimate communication has been shaken to the core as a result of screen usage on…

English as a foreign language is taught almost exclusively as a school subject in most parts of the world. However, reported in this autoethnography is our practice in family language planning in English as a foreign language (non-native to either parent). The personal narratives of our bilingual parenting experience focus on our decision making…