In this segment of Let’s Talk Design, Farnaz sits down with Ruba (PhD candidate in Language and Literacies Education) to explore what decolonizing ESL education can look like in everyday classroom practice. Throughout the conversation, Ruba shares practical examples (that move beyond tokenism and surface-level diversity) to illustrate how small acts of resistance and intentional classroom choices can shift power and create more meaningful learning experiences. Farnaz and Ruba also reflect on the realities of precarity in the field, exploring how educators can stay connected to their core values while working within rigid systems and institutional constraints.

ESL= English as a Second Language

LINC: Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada

CLB= Canadian Language Benchmarks

CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

Ruba's Student's Afghani Jewelry & Clothing Store: 3085 Hurontario St. Mississauga , ON L5A4E4

Ruba Kallab is an educator and teacher trainer specializing in trauma-informed, plurilingual, and inclusive language education. With experience across adult ESL, settlement, and higher education contexts, she supports multilingual learners and mentors educators in second language acquisition, literacy, and conflict-responsive pedagogy. Her research explores how trauma-informed teaching is understood and enacted within adult settlement education in Canada. Grounded in social justice and decolonial perspectives, Ruba advocates for language classrooms as spaces of belonging, agency, and meaningful participation for newcomers.

⁠⁠⁠www.learningoffthesyllabus.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: @learningoffthesyllabus

Email: learningoffthesyllabus@gmail.com

Theme music:

Periscope by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/