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by Ann Marie Deer Owens

Ana Christina da Silva Iddings will never forget the day that she—as a Brazilian teenager who did not speak English—flew by herself to Las Vegas. Her parents sent her there to live with relatives she had never met.

“I grew up in Brazil under a dangerous, oppressive dictatorship that kidnapped young activists and journalists,” said da Silva Iddings, professor emerita of the practice of elective learning at Peabody College. “I was studying journalism, and my parents were frightened for my safety.”

Da Silva Iddings’ life-changing experiences in Vegas, where she became fluent in English and worked in daycare, set her on a path to help multilingual children who are simultaneously learning English as they learn other subjects in the classroom. “At first, I had to nod and smile a lot because I didn’t understand what people were saying,” da Silva Iddings said. “What I was going through as an immigrant while helping care for children of immigrant families created a lasting bond for me with multilingual learners.”

Why Norway?

“Norway has experienced a significant increase in refugee families arriving from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries ravaged by military conflict,” da Silva Iddings said. “I plan to visit schools in Oslo, conduct ethnographic observations and expand the knowledge space for multilingual learners to be able to build identities in their new schools.”

She said Norway is committed to providing a strong social safety net for the influx of immigrants from war-torn nations, so there is keen interest in integrating these children into school communities.

“We first need to understand what immigrants bring with them in terms of cultural and intellectual capital and how best to leverage those ‘funds of knowledge’ into   curriculums,” she said. “In addition, it’s helpful for schools to develop partnerships with immigrant families by reaching out in their neighborhoods.”

Impact of technology on multilingual learners

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Oslo, da Silva Iddings will study the effects of AI and digital platforms on multilingual learners. “We will look at how technology plays out as these children strive to build identities within their school communities,” she said. “Perhaps the digital platforms mediate some of their challenges, but at what cost? Can the students keep their cultural traditions and linguistic values?”

Da Silva Iddings noted that the use of the homogenous AI as a language model is a concern for all learners, but especially for those seeking to preserve their native language and heritage.

Sustained commitment to educational equity

A key theme throughout da Silva Iddings’ career has been building more equitable and just structures within educational systems, including curricula. She joined the Peabody faculty in 2001 as assistant professor of language and literacy after earning her doctorate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where her dissertation received the College of Education’s Dissertation of the Year Award. She served as director of elementary education programs at Peabody from 2002 to 2006.

Following a decade at the University of Arizona, da Silva Iddings returned to Peabody in 2016 as professor of the practice in the Department of Teaching and Learning, with an affiliate appointment in the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies.  She mentored more than 150 graduate students, engaging them in community projects involving Conexión Américas, Oasis Center, women’s shelters and other nonprofit organizations that serve vulnerable populations.

“I was active in Metro Nashville schools with high numbers of multilingual learners, including Glencliff High and Glendale Elementary (Spanish immersion),” she said. She emphasizes the importance of finding ways to help students reconcile a new language and academic knowledge at the same time—and also supporting teacher education.

“Whether it’s Nashville, Oslo or another city around the world, the goals are the same,” da Silva Iddings said. “We need to bring multilingual learners’ histories and cultures into the curriculum while emphasizing their shared experiences with other students. It’s vital to create that sense of continuity between home and school communities.”