Navigating between cultures
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
A teacher’s reflection on immigration, identity, and intercultural understanding
By Yin Tsia, teacher, Pitt Meadows
When I immigrated to Canada, the transition was far from easy. I arrived with hope, of course, but also with the weight of uncertainty, cultural complexity, and the quiet struggle of learning to belong. Immigration isn’t a single moment of crossing a border. It is an ongoing process of negotiating identity, adjusting to unfamiliar norms, and reconciling who you were with who you are becoming.
My understanding of these complexities has deepened recently—not only through my own professional learning on intercultural understanding but also through my personal experiences caring for my mother, navigating health-care settings, and then ultimately arranging her funeral. Those moments forced me to confront cultural conflict in a very real way. At every step, I found myself asking the same questions: Do I honour my Burmese traditions? My Chinese roots? Or follow Canadian customs?
If I, as an adult, felt that much confusion in balancing cultural expectations, imagine the emotional load carried by the English language learners (ELLs) in our classrooms.
Educators often talk about “knowing about culture,” promoting multiculturalism, or building cultural understanding. While these are valuable, I believe they are only the beginning. What we truly need is a deeper intercultural understanding: the ability to navigate between cultures, recognize the tensions students experience, and respond with empathy and authenticity.
When I talk about intercultural understanding, I mean more than learning about cultural traditions or differences. It is the ability to reflect on our own cultural assumptions, recognize different cultural norms, and intentionally create space for multiple ways of being, communicating, and learning. Rather than expecting students to fit into a single cultural framework, intercultural understanding asks educators to navigate the space between cultures with empathy and care. For many English language learners, immigration brings layers of challenges that are often invisible. Here are the top three challenges that come to mind:
1. Identity conflicts
Identity shapes how students see themselves and how they show up at school. For ELLs, cultural identity is closely tied to belonging and success. Many quietly wrestle with questions like these:
Who am I in this new country?
How much of my culture should I keep? How much should I change?
Am I too much of one culture and not enough of another?
These internal conflicts often remain invisible, yet they shape how students see themselves and how they participate in school.
2. Adapting to new cultural norms
Classroom expectations in Canada (from communication styles to classroom routines) may look very different from what students are used to. ELLs are learning how to read new social cues (eye contact, body language, gestures, etc.), adjust to unfamiliar routines, and navigate shifting family roles. Often they are caught between different and sometimes conflicting expectations at home and at school.
3. Navigating social-emotional needs
Alongside academic learning, ELLs carry a heavy emotional load. Many experience grief for the people and places they’ve left behind, stress related to immigration, and pressure to adapt quickly. Some take on the emotional work of translating for their families—not just language, but the new culture as well. For some ELLs, their journey may also include experiences of trauma.
And on top of all this…
ELLs are learning a new language and expected to keep up with the academic demands of the curriculum. They are building vocabulary, decoding new language structures, and making sense of content, while navigating identity, cultural shifts, and emotional changes. The cognitive load is immense, and it requires educators to approach their learning with compassion and intentionality.
What educators can do
To truly support newcomer and multilingual learners, educators must go beyond teaching strategies and focus on building relationships, trust, and a sense of belonging:
Get to know your students—deeply. Their cultural identities, linguistic backgrounds, immigration journeys, and lived experiences shape their learning far more than we sometimes realize. Educators can use student surveys, identity maps, or informal conversations to learn about students’ languages, cultures, experiences, and interests.
Validate all parts of their identity. Create space for students to bring their whole selves. Educators can invite students to share their home languages, traditions, cultural knowledge, and personal experiences in class discussions and assignments so every part of who they are is welcomed and valued.
Recognize the emotional load of immigration. Safety, trust, and belonging are prerequisites for learning. Educators can create predictable routines, check in with newcomer students, and provide opportunities for peer connections so students feel safe and included.
Engage in intercultural reflection. Examine your own cultural lens and how it shapes your expectations, assumptions, and interactions in the classroom. Educators can reflect on how their own experiences and cultural perspectives influence how they interpret student behaviour, participation, and communication. We can ask ourselves: What can we learn from our students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge? When a student behaves in a way that surprises us, could there be a cultural explanation we have not yet considered?
Create culturally responsive environments. Representation, language support, and inclusive classroom practices help students see themselves as capable and valued. Educators can include diverse texts, multilingual visuals, and culturally relevant examples so students see their identities reflected in the learning environment.
Ultimately, supporting ELLs begins with understanding that their stories are rich, complex, and unique. Before we teach language or content, we must first show students that we see them.
Because when we truly know students, we not only strengthen their learning—we honour their identities, their journeys, and the cultures they carry with them.
