TEACHING AND MENTORING REFUGEES
Being part of the solution, not the problem…
- Ask yourself how much time and energy you are willing to invest
- Research the country of origin of your refugee family, language(s) spoken, religion and politics, and why they likely fled their country. Learn a few helpful phrases in their language.
- Establish your educational and/or personal goals with the family.
- Familiarize yourself with resources for newcomers and with educational materials and challenges for L2 learners of their particular language…e.g. orthography is totally different.
- Develop or use a pre-existing framework for your teaching/learning experiences – e.g. CLB.
- Conduct informal needs analysis on Day 1 (literacy, orthography) and progressively assess specific language learning or literacy needs for family members.
- Be prepared to ‘go with the flow’ especially if there are children around or family members with ‘special needs’. This WILL take time.
- Understand that individuals in your family may suffer PTSD and that learning may undergo interruptions as a result.
- Be flexible, if possible, with your time and your resources and try not to miss out on a session – reschedule for another day or time.
- Respect their privacy and the fact that they may not want to have photos taken or their lives shared with others, just yet or maybe never.
- Take an interest in their learning outside your own teaching. Provide scaffolding or reinforcement to what they are learning in school, or LINC, or SUCCESS programs. Work as a team.
- Consider becoming more than a teacher. Become a friend, mentor and safety net for the family. Put yourself in their shoes!
Avril Trudeau-Bai, M Ed, 2nd Language Education, former instructor with SFU English Bridge Program, VCC TESOL Program, YMCA English Language College and English tutor with VCC Homefront Learning – avriltrudeau@gmail.com
