Examining Students’ Experiences as a Foundation for Multicultural Curriculum Development

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the findings of a narrative inquiry into the development of a classroom–based experiential and multicultural curriculum in the context of an urban, public, and culturally diverse K–8 school in Canada. We present the implementation of multicultural curriculum activities that drew upon students’ lived stories of culture, immigration, and settlement to explore the social and linguistic impact of such activities for English Language Learners (ELLs). We further illustrate in this paper the potential of students’ experiential narratives of schooling, culture, and cross–cultural movement for expanding the possibilities of teacher preparation and development for engaging in curricular situations and interactions with diverse student populations.