Cross Cultural Mental Health Conference October 6, :10 – 10:30

Lost Between Cultures: Teenage Immigrant Students Navigating Canadian Schools

Statistics Canada Census 2006

Greater Vancouver In 2000 Vancouver had the largest foreign- born population by percentage in the world.

Major Metropolitan Centres Washington, D.C. – 19.90% Montreal % New York, NY – 27.90% Melbourne – 28.90% Sydney – 31.70% Los Angeles – 34.70% Miami – 36.50% Vancouver – 39.60% Toronto – 45.70%

Burnaby, B.C. Foreign-born 50.51%

Richmond, British Columbia Foreign-born: 57.40% : Half of all immigrants were from the People’s Republic of China

ESL Students Vancouver – 60% ESL Richmond – 60% ESL

Canadian-Born ESL Vancouver kindergarten 60% ESL 60% of the 60% - Canadian-born

One Immigrant 5 years old Cantonese speaker Entered kindergarten – 0-level English Grade 3 – attended after-school Chinese classes

One Immigrant Learned to read and write Chinese Could not learn to read or write English Had trouble in school Grade 4 – ADD? Emotional lability Truancy from school Drop out – grade 8 But, he sounded like a native English speaker

ESL Terms Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) – 2 to 3 years Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) – 5 to 7 years

A Study 5,000 randomly selected Canadian-born students 5,000 randomly selected immigrant students

Grading Rubric Grade Conversions A = 4.00 A- = 3.75 B+ = 3.50 B = 3.00 B- = 2.75 C+ = 2.50 C = 2.00 C- = 1.75 D+ = 1.50 D = 1.00 D- =.75 F = 0.00 P = 1.00 SG = 1.00

Eighteen Secondary Schools

Disappearing Students

Why these differences? NOT intelligence Socio-economic differences Familial ability to scaffold students

Equal Access? ,272 graduated from grade 12 8% of Spanish speakers enrolled in university 9% of Hindi speakers enrolled in university 13% of Punjabi speakers enrolled in university 14% of Tagalog speakers enrolled in University 16% of Vietnamese speakers enrolled in University

Equal Access? 17% of Portuguese speakers enrolled in University 18% of Japanese speakers enrolled in University 24% of Polish speakers enrolled in University 28% of Korean speakers enrolled in University

Equal Access 33% of Persian speakers enrolled in University 47% of Chinese speakers enrolled in University

Family Socio-Economic Status Scaffolding

Secondary Schools – Difficult for Immigrants

I spend two years with no friends, no one. I spend two years not talking, anyone. I go school, I go home, I talk only my mother, my brother. Best friend United States. Cry, all time, cry. being sick, all time, sick, stomach hurt, head hurt, heart hurt, all time, bad dream, all time, all time (female, Kurdish, 16 years).

ESL students work so hard. Even if you do really well you just get an ordinary job. They have no future, that's why so many drop out. Kids have to work to make enough money for comfortable life, no, not even comfortable life. In school there's gangs, there's drugs, oh, it's horrible thing and school's so small, it's unhealthy. I have a few cousins, they all drop out. There's no future so what's the point? You pay extra to go to better class. Money is so important. Most parents can't afford it (female, Vietnam, 17 years).

I’m Kurd, Iraq. No one know (?), no one. Here, many India people, think we being India. Here Chinee people, think India. No one know I not India (male, Kurdish, 14 years).

They put us in this part where dogs are better than Russian are. We poor house, crowded. All around you see people with dogs, walk dogs. Dogs better than Russians. They put us with old blue ladies, lots of fags, everyone walking around with bags of dog sh--” (male, Russian, 18 years).

I learned English because the only ones who were friendly to me were Canadian students. The Chinese don’t talk to me and they don’t want to be friends because I am a Korean and I don’t speak Chinese and they don’t speak English, just Chinese (male, Korean, 17 years).

You can’t learn nothing if teacher doesn’t give it (male, Russian, 16 years).

In Hong Kong all we do, memorize, memorize, memorize, day and night, 5 hours homework every day. In Vancouver as we do is think, think, think, nothing more. It’s hard to think when the teacher doesn’t tell you what to do (female, Cantonese, 18 years)

“When I knew I was put in the ESL class, I was very disappointed. In the first week, I was totally upset and was in a very low mood because I didn’t have many friends, and all things around me were unfamiliar. Besides, I didn’t want to be distinct from others. I wanted to be a regular student. However, after the first day of integration, the master of hell told me where heaven was. As I first stepped in the regular classroom, I could easily feel the coldness and bitterness in the air. Everyone was indifferent to me. I was standing in front of the classroom like a fool waiting for the teacher to come. I was so embarrassed that I wanted to cry out and run back to the ESL class. As time went by, I made more friends in the ESL class and we studied together like brothers and sisters. We cared for and helped each other. But I remain an unconcerned visitor in the regular class after six months. I talk to no one. So now I am travelling between heaven and hell, back and forth” (female – Cantonese – Hong Kong – 15 years).

TeachersParents Teaching should be learner-centered Process is more important than product. Meaningful language is intact language Active learning is essential so students should contribute to discussions and activities Learning should be meaningful Speaking, listening, reading, writing, and watching are integrated, mutually reinforcing language activities The aesthetics of language are fundamental Language is functional The learning of content and the learning of language are inseparable Learning to read and learning to write involve the learning of process. Error correction does not encourage language acquisition Invented spelling should be encouraged since it fosters language acquisition Independence in learning is critical The teacher is the source of knowledge and should not be questioned. Correctness of form is important Learning should focus on skills Students should be told what to learn. It’s the teacher who should talk Learning should involve memorizing Learning the pieces of language is important. A focus on grammar is especially important. Language is a series of skills to be learned in order. Content represents a set of facts that should be memorized. Learning to read and write means learning phonics, spelling, and how to write. The student should learn to produce a good produce. Errors should be corrected and students should be aware of their mistakes. Poor spelling represents poor learning. Students should work on material given to them by the teacher.

TeachersParents Students should ask questions Students should explore and attempt to solve problems Workbooks are mindless make-work activities Skills are learned through interaction with good literature not through explicit teaching Assessment and evaluation should be holistic Problem solving should be deductive, learning should be exploratory. The teacher is the source of knowledge and should not be questioned. The teacher should show students how to solve problems. Practice is viewed as positive evidence that students are learning. The number of items correct is used to judge students' learning. Important skills are learned through explicit teaching and rote memorization. Assessment should focus on how many skills a student has learned. Problem solving should be taught and students should learn it through induction

University Life

One Immigrant

Thank you!