The MITACS Research Team
Researcher Spotlight
In this video, Karam Noel, PhD student, introduces himself and speaks about the impact that his childhood school experiences had on his current research interests and his interest in joining the ESCAPE Projects led by Drs. Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman and Jim Cummins.
Emmanuelle Le Pichon- Vorstman
Principal Researcher / Chercheure Principale
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
These three projects are very close to my heart. Apart from my work, I am also the mother of 4 children who grew up between 3 languages and cultures, changing school systems several times and I know the richness of plurilingual and pluricultural education. But to get the most out of an education like this one, we need to create more inclusive classrooms: the goal is to support all students, without exception, in all subjects, including STEM subjects! I have explained the reasons that led me to develop these projects in this article.
Jim Cummins
Principal Researcher Professor Emeritus, OISE, University of Toronto
When I was first introduced to the Binogi platform in 2017, my immediate reaction was that this will dramatically change education as we know it. Not only is curriculum content presented in a multimodal and multilingual way, but it also has the potential to enable students to progress at their own pace and to engage parents and caregivers in their children’s education. As we move towards greater flexibility in combining in-class and online learning in a post-Covid world, I believe that the potential of Binogi will be appreciated by an ever-increasing number of educators.
Zahra Safdarian
Research Assistant
PhD Student, OISE, University of Toronto
What has most enthused me about Binogi project is my immigration and settlement history in Canada. When I immigrated to Canada with my 9-year-old daughter, I bitterly experienced how practicing monolingual and subtractive education system in multilingual contexts can result in life-long sufferings such as academic and social integration impairment which in turn cause mental health issues for emergent bilinguals. I believe that Binogi platform revives critical pedagogy through weaponizing STEM educators against monolingualism in the current globalized classrooms. Binogi is a unique manifestation of the way digital literacy can evolve the quality of multilingual education through investing on students’ and parents’ funds of knowledge and practicing translanguaging in classes. To me, Binogi is a huge step towards the ultimate goal of education which is “No child is left behind.”
Leanne (Rempel) Adegbonmire
Research Assistant
PhD Student, OISE, University of Toronto
I joined the ESCAPE Projects team in Fall 2020 when Emmanuelle approached me. I have a background in language teaching – both English and Spanish (in Canada and Chile). I am really interested in getting families engaged in their children’s learning, as well as working with communities of practice.
Mai Naji
Research Assistant
PhD Student, OISE, University of Toronto
For most students, it takes more than academic abilities to successfully navigate any education system, particularly in STEM-related subjects. My transnational trajectory both as a student and an educator spanned multiple educational systems and during this time, it became clear that the challenges I faced in overcoming language barriers and adapting to new cultures and ways of learning were not unique. Many students don’t have the support they need to succeed and this is why I am very excited about this research project. I believe that introducing an innovative multilingual online learning resource—Binogi—into the classroom has the potential to offer much-needed support not only to students but also to teachers and parents.
Rosalia Cha
Research Assistant
PhD Student
OISE, University of Toronto
When I first joined the ESCAPE Projects team in 2020, I was genuinely excited about the goals of the research projects that are pertinent to both the multicultural and digital society. As an immigrant and an educator, I recognize the struggles English Language Learners (ELLs) experience and the challenges teachers encounter in their classroom of diverse population. With the understanding of difficulties experienced by different perspectives, I am thrilled to be part of this research project team to develop resources for teachers that implement Language Friendly Pedagogy, online learning tools (ie. Binogi), and parental/community involvement. I look forward to finding out how the participating teachers utilize the resources and how students response to them. Moreover, I am delighted how this research project creates a platform for the project team and teachers to collaborate and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences in order to enrich the project and one’s professional growth.
Sudhashree Girmohanta
Research Assistant
PhD Student
OISE, University of Toronto
As an Indian, I had the privilege of growing up in a linguistically diverse environment. I have joined Escape projects to represent my community, many of whom are proficient English speakers and at the same time deeply connected to their mother tongue. My contribution, therefore, goes beyond the concept of using heritage language to support English language learners and their families as it sheds light on the importance of including the mother tongue for all.
Karam Noel
Research Assistant
PhD Student
OISE, University of Toronto
In 2005, when I first immigrated to Canada with minimal English skills, I, fortunately, had teachers who recognized and valued the role that the L2 played in instruction and assessment. As a result, during my elementary years of schooling, I was able to use multilingual resources (in both Arabic and French) to help me understand and solve math and science problems in English. Therefore, I firmly believe that multilingual and multimodal resources like Binogi can provide much-needed linguistic and academic support for students of migrant backgrounds as they come to adapt to the host school culture and leverage their full linguistic and cultural knowledge.
Xiaoyue Chen
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
MEd STUDENT
OISE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
“My language is my home.” For many of us, as newcomers to a new country, our languages are the connection to our past, our roots, and our home. The linguistic repertoire of each individual in the world is so unique and rich that it shouldn’t be blocked because we do not share a common language. Languages are bridges, not barriers. Working on this project with this amazing research team, I have witnessed how much it means for our heritage language sto be acknowledged and used to voice our “funds of knowledge.”
Mehdia Hassan
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
PhD STUDENT
OISE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
What excites me most about this project is the thoughtful integration of plurilingual students’ diverse learning contexts and funds of knowledge, as important resources in their own learning; this includes active engagement with students’ families and communities. As a plurilingual student, who speaks Farsi (Dari), French, and English, I enjoy the intercultural dialogues and translanguaging that naturally occur int eh dynamic processes of translation; I recognize how beneficial this can be for students inside and outside classrooms, when learning about STEM. Through meaningful discussions with my dad, who provides Pashto translations and learning resources for the project, I have noticed how this project has also simultaneously enriched my own active learning of Dari and Pashto – two inherited languages that reconnect me back to my Afghan linguistic roots.
S. Emre Ergüt
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
PhD STUDENT
OISE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Some linguistic and cultural elements in math & science may affect linguistically and culturally diverse students’ success. Therefore, efforts to create multilingual and multimodal resources for students, families, and teachers are crucial for achieving learning expectations without any unequal process. The ESCAPE Projects have been striving to reach this goal and supported many diverse communities and educational partners. This excited me to attend the team, and I thought I could help to expand the scope of the study by including the Turkish language. Moreover, I wanted to have a role in contributing to my community for more just and equitable education by creating resources in our mother tongue.
Vivian Lee
Research Assistant EdD Student, OISE, University of Toronto
For most students, it takes more than academic abilities to successfully navigate any education system, particularly in STEM-related subjects. My transnational trajectory both as a student and an educator spanned multiple educational systems and during this time, it became clear that the challenges I faced in overcoming language barriers and adapting to new cultures and ways of learning were not unique. Many students don’t have the support they need to succeed and this is why I am very excited about this research project. I believe that introducing an innovative multilingual online learning resource—Binogi—into the classroom has the potential to offer much-needed support not only to students but also to teachers and parents.
