Teaching Assistants' Training Program

With increasing internationalization, teaching and learning in a multilingual context has become common for both multilingual and native English speaking TAs. Have you ever wondered how to effectively engage multilingual students or how to better navigate language barriers while grading or teaching? This workshop will address issues of multilingualism in the classroom from both TAs’ and students’ perspectives. How do we work as part of a multilingual teaching team to meet the learning needs of a diverse student population? Participants will learn strategies for overcoming language and communication barriers in the classroom and leveraging their own multilingualism and diverse cultural experiences (or those of their teaching team peers) as a strength. We will address issues such as how to grade ELL (English language learners’) writing and presentations, how to encourage participation in ways that overcome language barriers and respect students’ diversity, and how to address challenges we face with respect to our own language fluency and norms. During the workshop, participants will develop a list of concrete strategies applicable to their own teaching contexts, and analyze case study scenarios for solutions to common challenges in this area.