We/Us/Ours: Empowering Educators and Learners to Discuss LGBTQ+ Identities

Friday, October 7, 2022
1:00-3:00 PM 
at First Literacy
160 Boylston Street, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116 (across from the Boston Common)
Friday, October 28, 2022
1:00-2:00 PM (via Zoom only)
(Please note: This is a two-part workshop. By registering you are committing to both sessions.)

Workshop Description:
The presenters' goal for this workshop is for all participants to come away from these sessions with the understanding and tools to be more inclusive of LGBTQ+ learners in their adult classrooms and curriculum, to identify curriculum gaps where gender, sexuality, and family diversity are presented in such a way as to ignore, otherize, or erase LGBTQ people, and to navigate common dialogues when incorrect pronouns are used. You will practice and review language activities that participants can take back to their ESOL or ABE programs. As time allows, you will also reflect on structural ways to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ educators and learners in your programs, classrooms, and social networks. 

Workshop Learning Objectives - Participants will be able to:

• identify gaps in gender, sexuality, and family diversity in popular curriculums;
• share pronouns and understand motivations for doing so;
• use they/them to refer to individuals when gender identity is unknown, neutral, or they are trans or nonbinary;
• identify when the wrong pronoun is used for self or another; then correct self, correct others about self, correct others about others, apologize, and affirm a respectful and supportive stance.  

Presenters:
Alex Babbist (she/her) is the Program Coordinator of the Family Development Program at Julie’s Family Learning Program in South Boston, MA. Her professional work includes ABE, ESOL and family literacy teaching and program management. She lives with her wife and their 3-year-old in North Cambridge. You can usually find her at the public library.
Viktor Detwiler (he/they) currently teaches ESOL Basic Literacy at the Cambridge Community Learning Center in Cambridge, MA. Viktor is nonbinary and enjoys when people use "they/them" to refer to them, but "he/him” is also fine with them. They live with their boyfriend in Boston. 

This workshop is free to staff of all Massachusetts non-profit ABE and ESOL Programs.

Questions with an * are required. Thank you!