Same Same But Different - School and Society Paper

This portfolio entry is related to the I hate English read aloud, also outlined on this portfolio. It also makes mention of the modifications made for one ELL student. It explores a bullying situation and potential perspectives, both from the ELLs (English Language Learners) and other students involved. The names and place names have been changed, to protect the people involved.

Safety of a learner in the environment is paramount, and this paper explores the situation and attempts that were made to alleviate it.

School and Society – English Language Learner Bullying

Michelle Hobbs                       April 4, 2012

            Fairbrooke Public School is located in a diverse neighbourhood. Most of the students attending are visible minorities. In my class, many students were of South Asian (Indian, Bengali and Pakistani) Muslim background, and were second generation (having been born in Canada or the United States). For many students in my class, English was not their first language; however all of the second generation students knew the language by grade five. My class consisted of twenty seven grade five students, two of whom were classified as ELLs (English language learners). Before my practicum began, it was apparent that an issue was emerging with the bullying of those students classified as ELLs, and whose level of English proficiency was lower. The English language learner bullied more often, although the ethnic and linguistic background was similar, to the majority of students in the classroom. Kumashiro states that, “oppression is a situation or dynamic in which certain ways of being (eg. Having certain identities) are privileged in society, while others are being marginalized.” (25) Oppression (in this case in the form of bullying) can exist among people with similar, yet different backgrounds. Developing world views and perceptions, along with being the majority within a community can sometimes guide where students feel themselves to be within a hierarchy.

            For the purposes of this paper, the two ELL students in my classroom will have their names changed to Nawol and Samina. Their personalities and backgrounds will be described, to aid in better understanding and dissecting the events. Nawol is Ethiopian, female, Muslim and speaks Amharic as her first language. As far as I am aware, no other student in the classroom spoke this language, or was of an Ethiopian background. However, other Ethiopian students attended Fairbrooke, and were present in other grade five classes. Nawol has lived in Canada for three years, and her level of English is relatively high. She shows a great desire to learn English, will not hesitate to ask questions if she does not understand. Generally short and simplified explanations clear up any confusion that she is experiencing. She is an introverted student, however, when she has something important to say in group work situations, she makes herself heard, and does so with a quiet confidence. On the surface, she appears to have very few anxiety issues with her English. Although she appears to have no close friends in the classroom, I feel like Nawol is a fairly well accepted member of the classroom community. Her level of confidence likely serves as a buffer from bullying.

            Samina moved from Pakistan two years ago, is female, Muslim and speaks Urdu as her first language. At the start of the year, my associate teacher asked the class if anyone spoke Urdu. At the time, none of them stepped forward. In March, a male student in the classroom stated that he spoke the language, and began stepping in with explanations, when Samina needed help. The two other students in the classroom, that I was aware spoke Urdu, were male. Samina was not friends with them, and had no close friends in the classroom. The ESL teacher informed me that Samina is good friends with a female grade five student in another class, who speaks Urdu. In the classroom, all the students spoke English to each other, even when they shared another language and were friends.

Samina’s English proficiency level is still fairly low. She understands a lot more than she can produce (in speaking or writing), and can answer some simple surface level questions that involve scanning for answers within a text. She frequently struggles with vocabulary, however she can sometimes understand with visuals, simplified explanations and hands on applications. At times, she finds it difficult to ask for help. Some of this hesitance may stem from the cultural norms she is familiar with in her country. A teacher I spoke with, from a similar background, stated that it is not common to be vocal and ask for help in Pakistani school culture. Other reasons for her lack of desire in asking for assistance, may relate to her personality or level of comfort in the classroom. It is also possible, that by receiving help she risks being teased, or having feelings of worthlessness when a teacher explains, and she still does not grasp a concept.  When an Urdu speaking student helped explain concepts to her, sometimes she would get defensive. She might have reacted in this fashion, due to anxiety or frustration.  

It was often hard to gauge Samina’s academic knowledge, since she was not confident speaking English, had anxiety issues and possibly depression. The bullying situation in the classroom likely contributed to some of these issues, which in turn manifested into frequent absences and passive participation in class. Whenever Samina was absent, that then increased the likelihood that she would not understand the material or build a solid foundation in English, which may have increased her anxiety and sadness in a vicious circle.

Samina takes science, math and social studies with the homeroom class; however the concepts are often difficult for her to grasp, as she is regularly missing key vocabulary words, including the words used to simplify a given concept. Given my observations, I believe that Samina likely feel more comfortable in her ESL class setting. She would often ask to go to the ESL classroom, when she was scheduled to be in the homeroom class. Perhaps she finds the ESL class safer, and less threatening. The ESL classes are smaller, more tailored towards her language needs, and possibly she feels a greater sense of belonging in the ESL classroom. Perhaps she feels a greater bond to students in the ESL classroom, since they are all going through a process of language learning and several are in the process of learning a new set of culture norms. In a homeroom class, students with a lower level of English language proficiency may often have to sit through explanations they may not understand or may only partially understand, before a teacher can come to them individually and clarify. Even when a teacher has a chance to teach a student individually, with so many other students in the room, often teachers cannot give each student the individual time that they require. Potentially, an ESL student then feels that they are frustrated, inadequate or incapable and might develop subsequent, increased anxiety. Samina also required language modified tasks and expectations, which might have served to further her feelings of anxiety, as she stood out as different or ‘othered’.

At the beginning of my practicum, Samina was frequently bullied by other students who refused to be her partner, or said she was unable to achieve particular tasks. They would deny her inclusion, take her place in line or steal turns from her. My associate teacher had, in the past taught Samina assertive strategies to deal with bullying. While I was in the classroom, it was rare that I would hear any assertions from Samina except, “Stop it!” To her classmates, she might have appeared aloof, awkward and rude. It is possible that Samina entered a cycle of feeling self-defeated, becoming anxious / losing confidence, and subsequently being bullied.  Bullying is never the fault of the victim, however children who wish to assert their power are often attracted to anxious people, since they constitute easy targets (in the bully’s mind).

People are complex individuals, with multiple identities and events to take into consideration. Samina presented herself a certain way in the homeroom classroom; however, in different locales (for example passing by in the hallway or in the ESL classroom) she seemed a little more confident and more willing to ask questions.  Samina’s personality, culture (religious, ethnic, familial, ect.), individual beliefs and neurological / subjective reactions all contributed to the way she presented herself, and was subsequently perceived. Of course, perceptions about individuals always involve at least two parties. The individual making the perceptions draws upon former experiences, conscious and unconscious judgement, and what one thinks they know. To an individual, this is their sense of truth, or their truth in the making. Unless knowledge is challenged and/or a person is open to change and is confronted with information/emotions that change their view, that perception will remain static.

Both the homeroom teacher and I were concerned about the well being of Samina. The home room teacher expressed her desire to call a community circle, about the issue. The following day, I led the community circle as my associate teacher observed, ready to come to my aid if there were additional points she wanted me to communicate. The two ELLs were out of the room at the time, so they would not feel on the spot during the discussion. Students were asked to imagine how it would feel to be new to a country, learning a new language. They were also told the responsibilities of the bystander and effect of bullying and language on others. When students were given a chance to talk about the issue themselves, one boy expressed that he now felt terrible about standing by as a bystander. Several students talked about the reason for their making fun of another, which was the result of other students being “weird.” This led to a conversation about what constituted weird and normal, and if there really was such a thing as “normal”. All of this was done in student friendly language, as it was essential to starting a dialogue. Kumashiro states that oppression is a privileging of the “normal.” (30)  It’s possible that one of the qualities students felt was normal, included knowing English, so they project negativity onto those who do not know the language. 

After this community circle, negative behaviour towards ELLs in the classroom (in particular Samina) seemed to improve. An Urdu speaking student, Abbud also began volunteering his Urdu/English translation services after this intervention. Of course, a teacher’s eyes and ears cannot be everywhere so it is possible that bullying and harassment continued to occur, however in a less overt/classroom present sort of way. When group work occurred, occasionally Samina was denied the right to participate, with students giving comments, such as, “she was in our group last time”, “she can’t do it” or “we don’t want to be in a group with a girl”. When these situations would occur, my associate teacher or I would ensure that she found a group to work with, and would talk with the students making these comments (even if it was just reaffirming that those words were not acceptable). However, that did not stop Samina from feeling like she was excluded, and was anxiety inducing.

The perception of another person as different can be used to justify the treatment of others.  As Kumashiro states, “the ’knowledge’ many students have about the Other is either incomplete because of exclusion, invisibility, and silence or distorted because of disparagement, denigration and marginalization.” (32) Certain students were marginalizing Samina and (to some extent) Nawol, in excluding them and on certain occasions belittling them. It was thus, important to make students aware of how another person’s experience might differ from their own. An awareness and sense of developing empathy might encourage a stronger community of supportive students. Of course teachers should be careful with presuming that awareness leads to empathy, since:

the assumption that information and knowledge lead to empathy does not account for the times when feelings do not reflect intention, and, for that matter, when neither feelings nor intention gets played out in behaviour…even if empathy were achieved, it could be argued that it simply reinforces the binary of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ (35)

Community circles and read alouds sometimes lead certain students to feel empathy for others, or in some cases take action. However, it is necessary for students to recognize that the perspectives you (the teacher) are giving them are not representative of everyone from that background. In addition, constant reinforcement and an attempt to challenge student knowledge (especially in a situated way) is necessary for a desire for change to become habitual. (34)

A follow up lesson was done, using the book I Hate English for a read aloud. The book is about a girl from China, who moves to New York City and at first feels alienated, misses China/speaking Chinese and hates English. At the beginning of the lesson, we compiled a list of languages spoke in the classroom. We also spoke about identity / feeling a loss of identity, having difficulties with learning a particular subject, bullying and alienation. The lesson ended with having the students visualize with their eyes closed, pretending that they are new to a country, do not know the language, and are being bullied. They then completed a journal entry about a time they felt alienated. Many students wrote about being left out by a friend when playing a game, however, I feel the activity was still useful as they reflected on the theme. My intention with this lesson was to reflect on some of the issues raised in the community circle, while hopefully creating more empathy within them. It is true that empathy alone will not change the larger social construct; however it can serve to decrease the instances of bullying. Samina requires that bullying be ceased, in order to progress academically and provide an equitable classroom where she can learn and feel safe. The two lessons together appeared to aid in the process of inclusion, and decreasing the instances of bullying.

My classroom primarily consisted of second generation South Asians. Linguistically, religiously and culturally, they were quite similar to Samina, however perhaps they felt themselves to be different in their emerging identities. Samina did not move to Canada until age nine, and perhaps feels more culturally aligned to Pakistani culture, when compared with her classmates. Not taking into account religious head gear (taqiyah and hijab), she was one of only two students to consistently wear cultural clothing in the classroom. Possibly, she feels that by becoming a Canadian, she will be giving up some of her Pakistani identity. Perhaps her lack of adherence to a more western societal expectation and lifestyle, makes her an easy target for bullying within the classroom.

Twenty five of the students were born in Canada or the United States, and it was rare for me to hear two students speaking a language that was not English in the classroom, even when students shared the same language. At least six languages other than English were spoken by students (Amharic, Tamil, Arabic, Guajarati, Urdu and Bengal). It is possible that some students were more comfortable speaking English, than they were speaking their own languages. With a classroom this diverse, English also serves as a means to unify and create a community, so in that case, not knowing English can prospectively make you an outsider. Other students might have viewed Samina as being less intelligent, since she cannot communicate her ideas in English after two years of being in Canada (41). Students might not have spoken English in class, due to an unwritten rule – perhaps not having the desire to stand out, or feeling that it was not ‘cool’. At the beginning of the year, no students admitted to speaking Urdu, despite the fact that at least two students did.

Second generation visible minority Canadians often feel themselves to have a different identity than recent immigrants. They might have different cultural expressions, or a desire to assert themselves as different, since they feel distinctly Canadian (whatever they feel that Canadian means). In a school in North York, where Caucasian people are distinct minority, it is difficult to determine what students of this classroom felt was the/a Canadian identity, if they felt there was one at all. Given that this is a grade 5 class, topics of Canadian identity and immigration could have been explored through the “Aspects of Canadian Citizenship and Government” strand of the Social Studies curriculum. Perhaps an exploration of what it means to be a Canadian, and the multicultural tapestry would help students in accepting ELL students within their classroom. Fairbrookes (and several other schools in Toronto) are unique in the sense that the school is populated with minorities (or ‘others’) and within that ‘other’, there seems to exist a hierarchy or perceived hierarchy. As a result, often when students share a heritage or identity, their perceptions or feelings surrounding their identity differ. “All individuals have multiple identities, not all members of the same group necessarily have the same or even similar experiences with oppression.” (38)

What I struggled with the most in this situation was assessing what the classroom community (and the ELLs needed) and how to arrive at that end. As a teacher, professional judgement comes into play on a daily basis. While I would have liked to give Nawol and Samina a voice, I was reasonably sure that neither wanted to be put on the spot in that way. How can a teacher give a voice to students who are experiencing anxiety and have a language barrier, while maintaining a respectful classroom community? As a teacher, it is sometimes necessary to teach to identities that we are not overly familiar with. Every individual with multiple identities will have multiple experiences, and it is important to have discussions with students about the varieties of identities and ways in which they are constructed.

Bibliography

Kumashiro, Kevin K (2000). Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education. Review of Educational Research. 70 (25), 25-53.