Everyone is confronting the implications of the events of September 11, and adult basic education teachers are certainly wrestling with many issues related to these events in their classrooms. In an effort to share what is happening locally, the A.L.R.I. sent out an e-mail message to several hundred area practitioners, soliciting stories of what's been happening in their classes. Here are the responses we received. On page 8 can be found a list of just a few of the many resources available to teachers who may be looking for help, especially in relation to working with students on tolerance, stereotyping, and related issues. (Please also watch for the next issue of Field Notes, scheduled to appear in early December, which will also include articles and resources focused on these events and their aftermath.)
I teach ESL at the Asian American Civic Association (AACA) in Chinatown near downtown Boston. My students at the time of 9/11--primarily Cantonese Chinese but also two Spanish-speaking women, a woman from Burma and another from Ethiopia--only wanted to talk about the events in New York City and Washington, DC. Most of my students also religiously "read" the easily-available Metro newspaper, meaning that they generally just look at the photos and perhaps decipher the captions.
Just after 9/11, during the final days of the last teaching cycle, I decided to focus on this subject, although I would have preferred not to discuss 9/11 with the class because I felt too overwhelmed and upset. My students, however, either wouldn't or couldn't discuss anything else. So I dropped what I had planned to wrap up the cycle, and tried to deal with 9/11 in the classroom using the Metro, because most of the students are also quite anxious to learn how to understand English-language newspapers. I asked the students to pick one article that interested them
--even just a very short "blurb"--read it after class, and then try to explain the story in a small group the following day, striving to ensure that everyone in their group understood the gist of the article.
Many of them had trouble with this assignment, but most of them gamely took on the task, with varying degrees of success. A few went as far as to write out a brief summary of their understanding of the chosen article, to which they referred while trying to explain the text to their group mates. Even those students who hadn't read an article prior to class, nonetheless came in the next day and struggled through an article with the help of their classmates, working together to understand the text. Overall the students were absorbed in the task, given their overwhelming need to fathom 9/11, as well as their strong interest in decoding the newspaper. The exercise seemed to help them psychologically, allowing them to air their thoughts and concerns while still working in English.
One student chose the daily piechart located in the lower lefthand corner of the Metro's front page. She probably picked the chart because it had limited text and looked deceptively simple. It was a surprisingly difficult chart to decipher, even for me as a native-English speaker. While trying to figure out the piechart and simultaneously explaining it to the students, I came to realize that the chart represented the groups of people or countries whom Americans most feared might attack the U.S. with nuclear missles. According to the chart, the most feared group is terrorists, with China a close second, followed by a couple of other categories.
I suddenly found myself in the very awkward position--as an American--of trying to explain extemporaneously to a group of mostly Chinese immigrants, who are good natured, hardworking, law-abiding, and extremely socially-oriented (when compared to the stereotypical independent and autonomous American ideal), the possible reasons why many Americans fear that China, my students' beloved home country, might lob nuclear missles our way.
Unfortunately, because this subject came up on the last day of class, I didn't get the chance to allow the students to fully discuss and evaluate--in the context of the safety of the classroom, with me as an American "guide"--this issue of Americans' strong fear of China, which obviously must be of great concern to the students as Chinese immigrants.
--Nikki Jordan, ESOL teacher, Asian American Civic Association
We did spend a great deal of time in class on September 12 (our class meets M, W, F) sharing feelings, concerns, and information about what had happened on September 11. I brought in several newspapers. We looked at the headlines and the pictures. Students asked about words they didn't understand--tragedy, collapse, terror, terrorism, terrorists. Since most of the students in this class are mothers, we spent a lot of time talking about how we can help our children to feel safe and to understand what happened. Barbara Meltz's column in the Globe gave some useful information. Our writing assignment for that week was The Events of September 11. We also reviewed safety procedures in our building and talked about fire drills.
--Jane Ravid, ESOL teacher, Jewish Vocational Service
We've had a lot of student writings which we're putting together into a special edition of our newspaper. These include: writings to a couple of Muslim women students who were uneasy about going outside, reflections on the tragedy itself, writing on how the ESL students feel about seeing the flag everywhere, what the impact of a drop in air travel would mean (aside from the obvious travel, many of our ESL students work in hotels, at the airport, in restaurants). I've also spent some time in several class sessions working with a worksheet on interpreting political cartoons and cartoons taken from a site that I turned up searching on political cartoons (http://pc99.detnews.com/aaec/), which has been a nice way to focus our discussions.
--Dulany Alexander, ESOL teacher, Operation Bootstrap
Like everywhere, the events of September 11th have had a great impact on the staff and students of the Notre Dame Education Center in South Boston. Many of our students are immigrants who have come to America to escape the atrocities of their native countries, hoping to find peace and a better way of life for their families. NDEC has been a "place of hope" for these people. The attack on America, however, has brought back horrifying and traumatic memories for them. Fear has returned to their hearts. Some have chosen to return to their native countries. There is tension and anxiety in the air. How can we make NDEC a safe and comfortable learning environment again?
My students wanted and needed to share their thoughts and feelings about what had happened. They decided to write about how these events have been affecting them in order to share them with the NDEC community. During computer classes, students wrote, illustrated and printed their stories. They were then hung on the wall outside the main office for all to read. All students and staff members were encouraged to add their thoughts and feelings to the wall. The result was an effective way of practicing writing skills with the goal of sharing one's feelings about this tragedy.
--Patricia Hembrough, Computer Instructor, Notre Dame Education Center
It was going to be wonderful, awe-inspiring, amazing. It was going to be an opportunity for people from hundreds of different places across the globe, united by their new name of "immigrants," to gather in Washington, D.C., and declare that they deserved legal recognition. It was going to be a day to celebrate the success of an organizing campaign that united immigrants and their supporters across the nation. September 25 should have been a day that the country remembered as the day that millions of Americans marched on the Capitol to demand full amnesty for undocumented people here in the US. Instead, it was just another day, not three weeks after the devastating attack on the World Trade Center.
Immigrants and those passionate about immigrant rights have suffered a huge setback in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Many politicians are asserting that slack immigration laws were the indirect cause of the horrifying acts, although Timothy McVeigh managed to wreak great damage on Oklahoma City without ever having to worry about his passport. Now it seems that the House and Senate are on their way to passing laws that outdo even the viciously anti-immigrant law passed in 1996 as a response to that terrorist attack--one that came from our own citizenry. The new bills do not define what a terrorist is, leaving it open to political influence; they also expand the circumstances under which deportation is allowed, expand the time a person can be detained without trial, and limit judicial review. It is already easy for any immigrant with a felony charge to find themselves awaiting deportation; if these bills pass, it will become even easier.
Even if these bills don't pass, and it certainly seems they will, the climate for many of our students has already worsened considerably. Consider: a Lebanese student at UMass/Boston was picked up by the police for renting a car the week of September 11th. The Irish Immigration Center has received anti-immigrant hate mail. A potential donor to the United Way asked if they could ensure the United Way would not spend it on immigrants. Rumors of other incidents abound, and rumor is powerful enough to keep people at home behind locked doors.
Despite the increasing fear, some immigrants are not willing to sit and cower. The Legalization Coalition, the national group that planned the march on Washington, is holding a retreat this month to plan their next steps; the local affiliate held a march and vigil in East Boston, and members are discussing further actions. The ACLU is fighting the anti-terrorist bills in Congress. Meanwhile, all over Massachusetts, our students are taking the courageous step of continuing to come to ESOL classes.
--Amy Battisti-Ashé, Immigrant Rights Representative, Worker Education Roundtable