The Delights of the Classroom
A school teacher describes her experiences teaching English to children of refugees, and the unexpected joys that come with it.
The English Language Learner director at my school asked me if I would want to work with this one boy, a refugee. He was failing high school because he had to work to support his family.
He was 17. We’d meet for three hours every Saturday. The goal was to get him to graduate.
Then, the next year, she asked me if I would be interested in doing a group on Saturdays. This was five African boys, one African girl, and one Hispanic boy - again to help them graduate.
They’d bring their homework - the homework they were forever behind on. And this was during the first Trump election so there was also a whole lot of discussion during that time as well.
After that, I was hooked and got involved with Bowling Green. One summer I taught a kindergarten class of refugee kids. I did that for 4 or 5 years.
Because he knows I like to do extra stuff, our principal then asked me if I wanted to help refugees with homework over at the old Dishman. Refugee Bowling Green had turned Dishman elementary school into an English Academy for refugees.
But, I didn’t end up helping with homework. Instead, I helped with the children while the parents took lessons - babies all the way up through high school.
We have three classes K-2, 3rd-6th, and then 7th - 12th. RJ sets up our rotation. First, I’m in the cafeteria with our little kids, we rotate to the gym for an activity, and then we go to the music room. She usually has some kind of … I don’t want to say craft because that’s not what it is. It’s just some kind of learning project, sometimes they’ll do playdough, sometimes they do origami - that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done - and every Thursday it’s music. Two music majors from Western come.
Most of the kids like to sing and dance and draw. We’re really all the same.
And then at the very end of the night, we take them to recess, once the weather is nice enough.
Before Ramadan we had maybe 70 a night. And we might have 20 in the Kindergarten group and ten or more in the baby group. It dropped off during Ramadan. I think we had 12 the other night in the Kindergarten group, which is a good number. And they all play well together. Before we did two nights a week, and now we do three.
Many of them have older brothers and sisters. And you know, it was a little bit of an adjustment for the parents when they put the kids in classes. We didn’t let the older girls stay with the babies. We wanted them to be in their own class. It took awhile, but they’ve all adjusted.
I think the most rewarding part for me is watching the kids grow. We would have these little ones that would tantrum and tantrum and then you see them later, and they're just a little bit bigger and a lot more independent.
I think that’s just the coolest thing.
And some of our kids are from the same country but different ethnicities and at first they were…..at war with each other is what they were. They weren’t nice to each other. But it’s been really nice to see that kind of work itself out. We would just sit and talk with them. They are all good with each other now.
And then there are things that are just unexpected. Last session there were these three sisters and they’re so sweet. They always wore these full dresses and would spin and spin. It was so cute. And then they’d play soccer and they were the most fierce competitors out there.
Several years ago a little boy went to school here from Nepal. And I mentored him. His parents didn’t look more than 12 and he was tiny. They were tiny. They had invited me over to their home for lunch. One school day, my principal let me go. They had the food out and they had their citizenship pictures displayed. The dad told me his mother was a teacher, and she really valued education, and that’s why it was important to them. That little boy is like a senior in high school now.
Then there’s this little girl I work with. She doesn’t speak very well. And it’s not because she doesn’t speak English. She just has trouble speaking. When she was five I had her in kindergarten. And at Christmas, she loved princesses and I got her a little costume. A Cinderella dress and a wand and a crown. We have a mirror out in the hall in between my room and the next room, and I would see her out there, straightening her crown. It was so precious.
Refugees make us more diverse. I see their different cultures and some of the things they do are really neat.
I think it’s good exposure for everybody. One of the coolest things I see is little babies wearing eyeliner. Have you seen any of these children? Black eyeliner. I mean, all of them wear it, but even the babies wear it. Oh my god, how in the world do they do that because I can’t even do it to myself. But it’s beautiful.
They’re all just good kids. I’ve really enjoyed meeting new people. There’s not a lot of specific things, just this good feeling. It’s just a very good feeling.
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