Teacher Newsletter
Supporting Multilingual learners, January 2025
It is the middle of winter in Victoria and a good time of the year to focus on stories and storytelling. All schools should have now received a Multi-faith Calendar for 2025, published by AMSSA. Please have it on display somewhere that people can see and feel free to order more. Please use this and other resources to build awareness of teachable moments to help develop a welcoming and inclusive school environment. It is opportunity to educate yourself and acknowledge this at your school.
Please send any suggestions for inclusion in future newsletters to jbarber@sd61.bc.ca. Feel free to send photos that show any special projects you and your students have worked on. Resources can be placed in the shared Google Doc.
As a heads up, next month (February) is Black History Month and there is a plethora of special events, celebrations and learning opportunities around Victoria all month long. March is Ramadan and many our Muslim students will be fasting. Newsletters for these months will contain helpful resources.
Lunar New Year - Many events across the city
In many countries, the Lunar New Year is celebrated during the last week of January. For 2025 it begins on January 29 and many of our students will be celebrating. Here is a list of a few countries that celebrate: China, Bhutan, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam.
Lion Dancers in Victoria
Zodiac Origin Story: The Story of the Great Race
Online Books - Multilingual
Books in Tagalog
Wattpad Books:
Detective Files by ShinichiLaaaabs
Project Loki by AkoSiIbarra
Where's the X
Who's Deduction Show
Chronicles of the Q.E.D club
Moriartea Cafe
Online books available in many languages and free of charge:
UniteForLiteracy
StorybooksCanada
ELL Planning Tool on the BC ELL Standards website
ProD Opportunities
Reminder: Wednesday, January 15 is the last SEL session for counsellors and ELL teachers.
A group of 22 ELL teachers and school counsellors representing the span of K-12 schools have met three times throughout this year. We have teamed with VICCIR and focused on social emotional learning for multilingual learners. Wednesday, January 15 will be final session.
ProD day on January 24 - Elementary and Middle
The middle school collaborative ProD day on January 24 will be held at Central Middle. Middle school teachers have been provided with a list of session options for that day. There is one session being offered for any teacher or EA to attend which is focused on strategies and how to support multilingual learners in the classroom.
January 31 - CASLT Virtual Conference
This virtual professional learning conference day is has offerings in both French and English. There are sessions in English on using Movie Talks and TPRS, for those who signed up to get access to this online language resource a few weeks ago.
SIOP Training
Use your ProD funds to take this self-paced course on how to support newcomer Immigrant and Refugee students in any classroom using the SIOP.
Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Students - Infographics...
Strategy for Teaching SLIFE
Trauma Informed Practice: Unspoken Tears -- National Film Board of Canada
Anti-Racism Resources
An important new resource, Anti-Racism: A Guide for Teachers, is now available. Developed by a team of B.C. IBPoC educators, this guide will give B.C. teachers additional tools and strategies for including anti-racism education in their teaching practices to help foster learning through an anti-racist lens to address discrimination and celebrate diversity.










