The socio-cultural differentiation of student populations which has appeared in Greece during the last two decades has created urgent needs concerning the intercultural competency of teachers (Frangoudaki 2004). Students who come from diverse cultural environments are usually considered to be "culturally invisible" in the classroom, thus being marginalized or having difficulties in language communication and literacy practices in a wider sense. On the other hand, the use of multimodal texts in a culturally sensitive school curriculum can create educational contexts emphasizing denotative, connotative and symbolic meanings, thus offering opportunities for complex communication among learners. Drawing on the multimodal theory of representation and communication (Kress and van Leeuwen 2001), as well as Bernstein's sociological theory on pedagogic discourse (1990), this case study reveals how the immigrant "silent" students of a classroom were prompted to actively participate in educational procedures that placed them in a state of empathy and encouraged them to share feelings of confidence and support. Moreover, it provides insight into characteristics of those teachers who struggle for intercultural competency, thus taking initiatives for socially transformative education. (Contains 2 figures.)