I listened to the "Ramirez" audio section of the big assignment. The woman narrating the audio talked about the range of emotions associated with "culture shock": anxiety, depression, excitement etc. On a personal note, My when my mother-in-law came over from Romania almost 20 years ago she went through a period of depression as well. I spoke with her briefly about her experience and she said for about 2- 2 1/2 months she tried not to speak any native English speakers in fear that she would get ridiculed or put down. She was basically living in fear of the unknown.
After she started to make friends that helped immensely but when she first arrived everything was intimidating, even the people. I asked her what finally broke her out of her shell and she said in addition to her new friends, two language teachers that she had been studying with told her that pretty much all ELL's share the same emotions and this consoled her...
A tip I took away from this were that as teachers we need to be willing to listen, not just for academic related issues but for emotional concerns as well. any similar stories?
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sorry everyone, I actually think it's part 1 of the big assignment!
I'm having a little trouble with Part 4. I'm not sure I'm prepared enough to plan a lesson as involved as this, but I'll give it a go. This should be our written assignment - it is going to take a lot of thought and time to do!!
Coming to a new country with a new language must be so difficult. I can only imagine the emotions I would feel if I moved to a new country. I would feel so different and out of place. That is why we must be patient with ELL students. They need our support.
I am again reminded of the first class that we had when we wrote down what was most important to us and we realized how much many ELL students have given up to come to this country. It seems at times that the langauge barrier may be the least of worries for some of these families. I can't even begin to imagine how tough it must be for these students and also the rest of their families. I think it is important that we as teachers go out of our way to make these children feel welcome and accepted.
I am an emmigrant and I did experinced how difficult was to be in a new country everything was new, and scary at the same time, I came dirently to HS and you have to hide it from others because you don't want to feel stupid!!
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