The Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat in an interview with the CBC journalist Eleanor Wachtel states that her adaptation to her new life in the United States as a 12 year old as an experience entirely shaped by loss, "My primary feeling the whole first year was one of loss. Loss of my childhood and of the people I left behind and also of being lost. It was like being a baby learning everything for the first time".
This year, Edwidge Danticat published a compelling book about the life and tragic death of her dear uncle and in the CBC radio programme Words at Large Danticat eloquently talks about the sense of dislocation she felt as a young girl when she moved to the U.S. to join her parents. This podcast reminded me of the video we viewed this week Listen with Your Heart. I worked for my years in Latin America away from my family but as my Mexican husband points out to me again and again, "You got to return to your family in Canada". It seems like the pain of immigration is lost as generations adapt to their adopted land. My Great-Grandmother could have gone back to Wales to visit her country but she never did. However, as I watch my husband adapt to Canada his yearning for his family grows stronger and stronger.
This complete loss of everything can be so traumatic to students as they are cast into Canadian society. Some times the body of the new immigrant is in Canada but the heart remains in the country of origin. How can we as educators teach students that dwelling in the Borderlands/La Frontera with one foot in each culture can be a good place to be? At the being of the process of adaptation this state of being just "sucks". I wouldn't go up to someone in a Emergency ward with a major wound and say "Hey don't worry! That will feel better soon!" I found the video Listen with Your Heart so powerful because students were talking from their hearts about their feelings of loss, dislocation and frustration. Several theories present cultural adaptation as simple: a honeymoon period, anger, frustration, confusion and finally acceptance/adaptation. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were that simple? Adaptation is messy especially when learning a new language and culture. Students can think they are doing so well and one interaction can send them right back to Angerland! The challenge is that each student is at a different place in his or her adaptation to Canada. Isn't there a way for students to be able to express their feelings about learning English? I heard something on CBC about an ESL teacher using drama to get students to express their feelings. When I taught English and Spanish, I asked students to respond to ideas or literature using art or music and they were so creative. I love the idea of students helping students and I was glad to see a Grade 12 ESL student in my school working with an ESL beginner's class. She is able to share with the younger students about her adaptation process to life in Canada. Also, I was talking to a student this week and I think it helped her to hear me acknowledge that English is hard to learn and that it will eventually get easier. Compassion and understanding goes a long way to help students feel better about their journey.
How can I as a Teacher Librarian help students with the challenge of adaptation? The library needs to be a welcoming place for ESL/immigrant students. I am entering the second year as a TL and more and more I am realizing that I need to work more with teachers to make more of an impact. I need to help every teacher that comes to collaborate with me on a lesson to consider the needs of ESL students. My collection has books and resources of all levels and the collection is integrated so when a student searches for a book on the Renaissance there are a variety of resources for them to choose from. ESL resources are not isolated in a separate shelf. I do need to augment my collection of books on CD, as students like to listen and read along simultaneously. A Latina told me in a workshop I was facilitating that I was the only person she had met in Canada with an open heart and that other Canadians she had met were "cold". As a society, we need to have empathy towards new immigrants and welcome them!
E-resources:
http://www.cbc.ca/wordsatlarge/blog/2008/07/edwidge_danticats_memoir_is_bo.html
http://books.google.ca/books?as_auth=Edwidge+Danticat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwidge_Danticat
http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/wyrick/DEBCLASS/anzal.htm
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