Season 1
Heritage Language: Complexity Is Not a Flaw. But We’re Making This Harder Than It Needs to Be | Ep. 40
We often treat human complexity like a problem to solve instead of a normal part of being alive. In this final mini-episode of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month, Michelle explores the hidden assumptions people project onto heritage language speakers — and why these misunderstandings are not harm...
Family Gave Me the Language. Life Shaped the Rest. | Ep. 39 with Mai I.
Family gave us the language. Life shaped everything else. In this episode of WeCultivate: The Pod, Michelle sits down with her longtime friend Mai for a deeply personal conversation on heritage language, identity, belonging, and growing up between cultures as Asian American women. Together, they exp...
Heritage Language: Labels Cannot Tell Individual Stories | Ep. 38
In Mini Episode 3 of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month, Michelle explores the limitations of labels and the growing problem of cultural gatekeeping within heritage language conversations. From “not Asian enough” rhetoric to assumptions about fluency, culture, and belonging, this episode examines...
Heritage Language: There Is No Universal Experience | Ep. 37
In this second mini episode of our Heritage Language Spotlight Month series, Michelle explores a reality that often goes unspoken in multilingual and immigrant communities: There is no universal heritage language experience. Even people raised in the same household can develop completely different r...
Heritage Language: Why Does This Matter? | Ep. 36
It’s officially heritage language month on WeCultivate. In this first mini episode, Michelle introduces the new Inherited, Interrupted series and explores why heritage language deserves a deeper and more nuanced conversation. From passive bilingualism and multilingual identity to classroom experienc...
AI Is Moving Fast. Education Isn’t. | Ep. 35 with Karl P. The Action Hero Teacher
What happens when education systems built for another era are forced to face the speed of AI? In this episode of WeCultivate: The Pod , Michelle speaks with educator, author, and consultant Karl C. Pupé about classroom learning in the AI age, why so many education systems still lag behind the world ...
Back in Mainland China: Reflections on “Worth” + New Heritage Language Substack Series | Ep. 34
I recently went back to mainland China for the first time in 15 years. Not as a student. Not through the lens of my family. Just… as myself. This episode isn’t a travel blog recap. It’s a set of reflections on what's changed in the last decade and a half. The journey of embracing who I am , show...
Multilingual Kids. International Families. Intertwining Cultures. Everyday Life. (Jovana T) | Ep. 33
What does multilingual family life actually look like? In this episode, Michelle speaks with Jovana, host of the @realmomstalking podcast and Serbian mother living in Germany with her Cuban husband, about raising three children across four languages: Serbian, Spanish, German, and English. Their conv...
Intercultural Love Is Beautiful. It’s Also Work. (Inside Our Multilingual Marriage) | Ep. 32
In this bilingual Valentine’s episode, Michelle and Yann reflect on intercultural love inside their multilingual marriage. Through parallel responses in French and English, they explore how language, culture, and identity shape listening, conflict, boundaries, and emotional expression. They unpack t...
Between Two Cows – A Personal Conversation with the Unpaid Intern (Yann T.) | Ep. 31
What happens when we slow down and talk about language without shortcuts ? In this episode, Michelle is joined by Yann (yes, WeCultivate’s unpaid intern!) for a personal conversation recorded early in their journey of working together. They reflect on Yann’s experience growing up in France, learning...