Accents, Parents, Getting Ready for Practicum
Hi everybody,
Marin, I found your story about working with Hannah on "accent reduction" really fascinating. It almost encouraged me (and it certainly surprised me) to hear that young Hannah would object to your pronunciation because it didn't sound like her mother's. I think that in a high school context, most students have probably long since lost that unconditional respect for their parents' knowledge and ways of communicating. (If anything, I think a lot of adolescents may feel self-conscious or embarrassed about their parents' so-called accents--or maybe I'm making an assumption based on stereotypes about teenagers?) Right now, Sheena and I are working on a presentation about outreaching to the parents of ESL students, and we are finding that in many cases, interactions with schools can undermine parents' authority, particularly when they don't feel as linguistically or culturally adept as their own children. As teachers, what can we do to foster our students' pride in their families and communities of origin in the face of racism and linguistic elitism? (Okay, maybe I should rephrase that: it's not up to us to ensure that students are proud of their families or have good relationships with their parents, but I WOULD hope that whatever tensions there are within families are not exacerbated by linguistic or cultural doctrines kids are exposed to in the classroom...)
Speaking of parents, I have just learned that my practicum placement is at Lord Byng Secondary in West Point Grey. According to an online profile of the school, Byng enrolls about 200 ESL students, about one-third of whom are International Visa students who attend the school on a fee paying basis. From what I understand, this means that these students' parents may not be living in Canada... is that right? The students might be living in residences, homestays or with relatives? This makes me wonder what additional supports these students might need (although my expectation that they would need additional supports is probably rooted in an ethnocentric assumption that adolescents should normally live with their families, which might not be true at all in many communities. Still, the fact that living with parents is the Canadian norm for teens probably means that some International Visa students might feel different from their peers, even if the fact of living away from their parents poses no problems in and of itself.) Any thoughts?
I am also wondering about what special expectations these students or their families might have... the fee-paying part makes me nervous! I guess I associate paying for service with an expectation of documented 'results' (certification, standardized test scores, picking up the mythical 'neutral' Vancouver accent, whatever) that might place limitations on how or what I can teach. Again, I'm making a huge number of assumptions. Clearly, there are a whole range of possible motivations for studying abroad. I know that some students come to study in Canada precisely because they prefer a more constructivist or student-centred educational approach, or because they want to travel and experience a cultural exchange, or because they want to spend time with family who lives here... whatever. It's hard NOT to want to speculate in advance about what types of students I will be working with, but thinking in 'types' (especially before meeting the individuals involved) is probably never wise.
Marin, I found your story about working with Hannah on "accent reduction" really fascinating. It almost encouraged me (and it certainly surprised me) to hear that young Hannah would object to your pronunciation because it didn't sound like her mother's. I think that in a high school context, most students have probably long since lost that unconditional respect for their parents' knowledge and ways of communicating. (If anything, I think a lot of adolescents may feel self-conscious or embarrassed about their parents' so-called accents--or maybe I'm making an assumption based on stereotypes about teenagers?) Right now, Sheena and I are working on a presentation about outreaching to the parents of ESL students, and we are finding that in many cases, interactions with schools can undermine parents' authority, particularly when they don't feel as linguistically or culturally adept as their own children. As teachers, what can we do to foster our students' pride in their families and communities of origin in the face of racism and linguistic elitism? (Okay, maybe I should rephrase that: it's not up to us to ensure that students are proud of their families or have good relationships with their parents, but I WOULD hope that whatever tensions there are within families are not exacerbated by linguistic or cultural doctrines kids are exposed to in the classroom...)
Speaking of parents, I have just learned that my practicum placement is at Lord Byng Secondary in West Point Grey. According to an online profile of the school, Byng enrolls about 200 ESL students, about one-third of whom are International Visa students who attend the school on a fee paying basis. From what I understand, this means that these students' parents may not be living in Canada... is that right? The students might be living in residences, homestays or with relatives? This makes me wonder what additional supports these students might need (although my expectation that they would need additional supports is probably rooted in an ethnocentric assumption that adolescents should normally live with their families, which might not be true at all in many communities. Still, the fact that living with parents is the Canadian norm for teens probably means that some International Visa students might feel different from their peers, even if the fact of living away from their parents poses no problems in and of itself.) Any thoughts?
I am also wondering about what special expectations these students or their families might have... the fee-paying part makes me nervous! I guess I associate paying for service with an expectation of documented 'results' (certification, standardized test scores, picking up the mythical 'neutral' Vancouver accent, whatever) that might place limitations on how or what I can teach. Again, I'm making a huge number of assumptions. Clearly, there are a whole range of possible motivations for studying abroad. I know that some students come to study in Canada precisely because they prefer a more constructivist or student-centred educational approach, or because they want to travel and experience a cultural exchange, or because they want to spend time with family who lives here... whatever. It's hard NOT to want to speculate in advance about what types of students I will be working with, but thinking in 'types' (especially before meeting the individuals involved) is probably never wise.
posted by Alana Chuk at 9:16 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Alana:
At some point this week, let's brainstorm about what you might expect from fee-paying ESL/ international students. I have had some experience (but not much) with these type of students; very controversial topic from the Federation's standpoint.
Best,
Doug
Hey Alana,
There are quite a few ESL students at Byng who do not live with their biological parents/families.
There was not a lot of work within the school to integrate ESL students with English students.
As a teenager, it felt like the ESL abroad students did not want to integrate with us, the ESL students from Vancouver tried harder, but ended up spending most of their time with the ESL abroad students. When you walk around Building A (The 3 story buidling) you will probably notice that the 3rd floor is the "esl domain".... unless of course, things have changed...
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