ABSTRACT

This chapter outlines how the teachers at Joyce Public School (JPS), working with researchers at York University, utilized a project-based approach to collaborative teaching that welcomed linguistic inclusion into the classroom to create plurilingual learning designs: ways of including learners' and teachers' partial multiple language repertoire. Political entrenchment of multiculturalism in Canada in the 1970s welcomed immigrants, which Canada has historically received in large numbers. JPS welcomes children speaking a multitude of languages into each and every classroom. Though local after-school international language programs in Vietnamese and Cantonese offer a helpful support mechanism to some members of the JPS school population, limited after-school support provides an inadequate bridge for the majority of children at school. Educational systems have evolved in both public and private sectors for the support and teaching of international languages. These programs are a most welcome addition to educational possibility.