So i'm taking this workshop right now called Language & Literacy Instruction in Multicultural Settings and i'm really liking it. the class is 2 weeks long, monday thru friday from 1pm to 4:45pm. the time goes by relatively fast because its a workshop and we do different things. it would kill if it were a lecture tho, i'm sure.
monday we had "A Japanese Language Lesson" presented by a woman who teaches Japanese in akron public schools--my old school actually, tho i didn't recognize her. she came in and just started talking to the class in Japanese as tho we were American students in Japan trying to learn Japanese as our second language. it put things into SO much perspective. prolly an experience i will never forget. or at least one i hope i never forget.
yesterday we had a "Multicultural Panel: Meeting the Challenge of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity" where 3 women from different countries, now working with ESL students, told us a little about their lives and how it was first coming to the US and having to learn English. the first woman was from Bosnia and has an incredibly powerful story. her name is Ksenija and she was there during the war. i've ever gotten the opportunity to sit down and listen to someone who lived in a country where there was a civil war going on. it blows my mind to think of all the things that i take for granted.. i guess i needed that kind of a wake up call. i mean, this woman had to walk 5-10 miles to and from, risking her life, just to get water. her husband was taken prisoner at one point, tho they were reunited 4 years later. her 8 year old daughter was taken to a refugee camp by herself, away from her family for nearly a year. Ksenija, carrying her 2 year old daughter, for weeks or maybe even months, walked during the night and hid during the day, trying to get away from the war-torn country.
wow.
another of the women, Hoa, from Vietnam, was given up for adoption because she was born into a very poor family where there were 6 brothers and 4 sisters ahead of her. when she was about 12 years old she escaped from Vietnam to Cambodia and then to Thailand, eventually making it to the US where she lived with her sister in a house (no parents) and had to learn English & Chinese at the same time (worked in a Chinese restaurant where cook only spoke Chinese) on top of going to school.
The other woman, Nat, short for Nattakarn, from Thailand claimed she had a "boring story" but it was still a great experience to listen to how she adapted when she came to the US and is now able to help kids/teens who are going thru the same thing.
today our "feature attraction" is a presentation from a woman named Lena called "Working with Muslim Children in School" which should be interesting and it will hopefully help me better understand Muslims.
well, i'm sure i'll write more about the class as this week and next go by.
as for now, i have to finish my reading for class. peace--
) and u decide to join, lemme know what ur sn is. i'm still kaczuszka54.
at my first site, our crew was painting a house. half-way thru thursday, JV came and took me to a different site bc Angie had to leave for a meeting and they needed another adult. ((totally bizarre that i'm considered an adult, by the way)) friday, marlies and i got to do some interior painting with 4 great girls. overall, i'd say it was an awesome week. i was beat at the end of every day, but i think if they told me we were going at it again monday, i'd be ready for it.
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