Everyone is a Language Teacher: Peer Sharing and Learning

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Join our Free Info Session to learn what PeerSphere can do for you!

Every Teacher is a Language Teacher

September 13 (Saturday), 2025 | 12:00 - 4:30 PM
Shekou International School, Shenzhen
Hosted by Celina Matthews

Who Should Attend: EAL/ELL Specialist, Learning Support, Teaching Assistants, Content/Homeroom Teachers, Coordinators, Administrators

This professional learning event, grounded in the theme “Every Teacher is a Language Teacher,” brings educators together to explore how language development can be supported across all classrooms and disciplines. Through a collaborative Carousel Exchange and four focused breakout sessions, participants will share practical strategies, examine how to build stakeholder investment, explore inclusive practices for multilingual learners with exceptionalities, use data to inform responsive language support, and reflect on how classroom environments and instructional choices can foster a sense of identity and belonging. Importantly, this event is designed to bring all educators—not just EAL/ELL specialists—into the conversation, recognizing that language development is a shared responsibility that benefits every learner. By working together, we can create classrooms where multilingualism is seen as an asset and all students are empowered to succeed.

Host

Celina Mathews

Celina Mathews is an experienced educator and program leader who advocates for inclusive practices that support multilingual learners in content-based classrooms. She centers her work on embedding language development into every classroom and using data to guide responsive and intentional support for all learners. She believes that students flourish when their linguistic identities are recognized, valued, and leveraged during learning. Celina is also the founder of Fluency Compass, an innovative assessment platform designed to provide accurate, meaningful insights into students’ language skills. These insights help guide language support in all classrooms, showcase growth over time, and celebrate student achievement across all four language domains.

Agenda

12:00 – 12:15: Registration
12:15 – 12:30: Welcome Address
12:30 – 1:30: Breakout Session 1 (choose 1)
- Supporting Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities
- Using Data to Inform Instructional Practice
- It Takes a Village: Partnering for Language Growth
- Language, Identity & Belonging in the Classroom
1:40 – 2:40: Breakout Session 2 (choose 1)
- Supporting Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities
- Using Data to Inform Instructional Practices
- It Takes a Village: Partnering for Language Growth
- Language, Identity & Belonging in the Classroom

2:40 – 3:00: Break
3:00 – 3:45: Carousel Exchange & Sneak Peek into Fluency Compass Language Assessment Tool
3:45 – 4:00: Closing Address

Breakout Rooms

It Takes a Village: Partnering for Language Growth

Participants will explore how to build deeper investment and shared responsibility for language development across the whole school community—including administrators, classroom teachers, students, and parents.

Facilitator: Kairavi Ozo Bond

Kairavi Oza Bond (Kay) is an experienced educator with over 20 years of teaching and leadership experience in IB schools across four countries, she currently serves as the EAL Coordinator at Sias IS. As a multilingual herself, she is committed to creating inclusive learning environments that empower students to leverage their multilingual abilities and achieve their full academic potential. Driven by a passion for linguistic diversity and a dedication to student-centered support, she strives to design tailored programs that promote language acquisition, cultural understanding, and academic success for all learners.

Supporting Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities

Participants will examine how to better identify, support, and advocate for multilingual learners who may also have exceptional learning needs—ensuring these students are not under-identified, misidentified, or underserved.

Data Driven Language Support

Participants will explore multiple types of language-related data and share strategies for using that data to inform instructional decisions. The session will emphasize moving beyond isolated scores toward meaningful triangulation—combining multiple data points to guide responsive and actionable language support.

Facilitator: Françoise Raoult

Françoise is a passionate educator with over 16 years experience in additional language education (French and English). She is dedicated to supporting language and literacy skills for multilingual learners using evidence-based strategies. Since 2020, she has been working at Beijing City International School as an EAL teacher, coach and team lead. Her responsibilities focus on strengthening Tier 1 instruction, data-driven instruction and leading professional development. Françoise has her BA, BEd, MEd and is completing her second Master of Education in Reading Science.

Language, Identity & Belonging in the Classroom

Participants will reflect on how classroom environment, language practices, and instructional design contribute to a sense of inclusion and belonging for multilingual learners. The session will explore how to create learning spaces—physical, emotional, and linguistic—where all students feel valued, seen, and supported.

Carousel Exchange

A Strategy and Tool Exchange for Multilingual Learner Success

A collaborative space where educators share practical, high-impact strategies and tools that support multilingual learners across subjects and grade levels—building a collective toolbox grounded in real classroom experience.

Tools and strategies will be categorized into the following areas: