We examine an action research initiative focusing on youths who were born and/or began formal schooling in Canada but raised in homes where the societally dominant language was not extensively spoken. Concepts of place and situation were used as heuristics to extend secondary-level students' problem-solving abilities and literacy engagement and--using activities revolving around youths' locations within family, school, and community ecologies--to stimulate reflection on their personal and socially situated identities. The structure of secondary schooling, including its engagement of placemaking processes, is not conducive to the promotion of pedagogies that beneficially support the learning of this student cohort.