Effective Communication with the Immigrant Population Language and Beyond

1
Effective Communication with the Immigrant
Population Language and Beyond

• Asian Language BETAC
• Brooklyn/Queens BETAC
• Haitian BETAC
• Office of Adult and Continuing Education
• June 5th, 2008

2
Workshop Agenda

• Overview of New York State Bilingual ESL
  Technical Assistance Center (BETACs)
• Overview of the need of effective communication
  with immigrant population
• Language and culture awareness panel presentation
• Haitian
• West African
• East Asian
• South Asian
• Spanish
• Q A

3
Mission Statement of the New York State BETACs

• To enhance the development of knowledge and
  competencies of educators, parents and local
  communities needed to support academic excellence
  of limited English proficient / English language
  learners (LEP/ELLs) in New York State.

4
Where the BETACs are
5
Statewide Language BETACs

• ALBETAC (Asian Languages)
• HABETAC (Haitian Language)
• SBETAC (Spanish Language)

6
ALBETAC

• Provide technical assistance to schools and
  school districts with
• ELLs from Asian language backgrounds and
• Students enrolling in Asian languages programs
• Focus on 6 top Asian language groups
• (Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Urdu and
  Russian)

7
HABETAC

• Resource Center
• Haitian Spelling Bee
• Essay and Art Contest
• Career Day for Haitian High School Students
• Haitian Studies Association
• Haitian Media and CBO Collaborations
• Annual Conference on the Education of the Haitian
  Child
• Haitian materials development and translation
  support

8
SPANISH BETAC

• Spanish Spelling Bee
• Annual Childrens and Young Adults Literature
  Symposium
• Spanish Language Literature Institute
• Plazas Comunitarias Network
• Collaborations with teacher preparation programs
• Language resources and translation support

9

• Most Spoken Languages in New York State in 2000
• English is spoken by 72.04 of people over 5
  years of age in New York state.
• Languages other than English are spoken by
  27.95.
• Speakers of other languages are divided up as
  follows

Source Census 2000, Summary File 3, STP 258
10
LEP/ELLs in New York State

NYS LEP/ELLs Served 198,425
Language Percentage Spanish 68 Chinese
7 Haitian Creole 4 Russian
4 Korean 2 Other Languages (167) 15
11
Major Language Groups in NYC Schools Source
BESIS, 2006-07Total ELL Population 139,842
12
What we learned from your responses

• Program participants reflect the linguistic
  diversity of New York State.
• Key areas of concerns identified in the survey
  include
• inconsistent participation,
• information on public services and
  community-based organizations (jobs, immigration,
  housing, etc.),
• multilingual on-line resources,
• instruction strategies (special ed, ESL,
  literacy)
• participants lacking literacy skills in their
  native languages,
• education systems in other countries, and
• effective communication with people from
  different cultures.

13
Do you know what language this is?

• There are 10 cards in white indicating 10
  different languages.
• .
• Your assignment
• Match the sentence to its corresponding language.

There are 10 cards in green providing a phrase in
the 10 languages.
14
Do you know what language this is?
??????
CHINESE
ARABIC
POLISH
KOREAN
URDU
BENGALI
El maestro Saluda a los estudiantes
SPANISH
Pwofesè a salye elèv yo.
HAITIAN
RUSSIAN
15
Panel Presentation Languages and Cultures

• Moderator Silvestre Wallace, Associate, NYS
  Office of Bilingual Education)
• Haitian (Lily Cerat, HABETAC)
• West African (Virginia Jama, B-Q BETAC)
• East Asian (Pat Lo, ALBETAC)
• South Asian (Tamo Chattopadhay, ALBETAC)
• Spanish (Nancy Fernandez, OACE)

16
Making Cross-Cultural Connections
Understanding the Haitian Immigrant Adult
LearnerNYS HABETAC _at_ Brooklyn College June
5, 2008Brooklyn Adult Learning Center
17
Haïti
An Overview History Geography
18
The Haitian People

• Who are we?
• Native Taïno (Arawak)
• African (Mainly from the Kingdom of Dahomey
  West Africa)
• European (colonists Remnants of Spaniard,
  English, French, Polish, etc.)
• Economically poor, but culturally rich

19
The Languages of Haïti

• Haiti has two official languages
• French and Haitian Creole
• Haitian Creole is spoken by everybody
• French is spoken by individuals who have had some
  schooling
• And more

20
Religious Practices in Haïti

• Christianity
• Catholicism
• Protestantism
• Vodoo is a word from the Dahomean language of
  West Africa that means spirit, god, or the
  sacred
• Others (Jewish, Hindu, Mormon, Muslim, etc.)

21
Holidays in Haïti

• Historical Dates
• January 1 ( Independence Day New Year)
• May 18 (Haitian Flag Day)
• November 18 (Batailles de Vertieres)
• Cultural Dates
• November 1 and 2 (All Saints Day)
• December Christmas
• February ( Carnival)
• April ( Lent Rara)

22
Women in Haitian Society

• Patriarchal society (male dominated)
• Women in Haiti are the backbone of the economy
  (ti machann) -- Of the 40 of employed the
  majority is women
• Haiti is one country where there is a Ministry on
  the Conditions of Women. It was created under
  Aristide
• Women/girls and Educational Opportunity

23
Adaptation to Life in the U.S.

• Haitian Immigration into the US
• 1600 1803 St. Domingue Louisiana
• 1772 Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
• 1779 800 Haitian soldiers fought w/American
  revolutionaries _at_ Savannah, Georgia
• 1787 Pierre Toussaint (Philanthropist)
• Census Records Register 1820 - 1930 (20
  Haitians each) 19611970 34,499 1981-1990
  138,379
• Today there are 500,000 Haitians in New York
  (documented and undocumented)
• Health Care, Teaching, Human Services, Factory
  Maintenance work

24
Resources to help

• Haitian Historical Cultural Legacy
• A Teachers Resource Guide
• Bilingual English-Haitian Creole Glossaries
• Haitian Creole Library Lists

25
West African Cultural Notes

• Looking at our adult students from West Africa
• in New York City
• Virginia Jama
• Brooklyn Queens Regional BETAC
• Long Island University

26
West Africa, continued

• There are over 20 countries in West Africa. We
  are talking about sub-Saharan places.
• Personal noteshistoryteaching English in
  northern Nigeria.
• Also taught in Somalia for four years.

27
General Information

• Colonial historycountries were carved out of
  vast areas without regard to cultural groups or
  languages.
• Some languages spoken in West Africa Mandingo,
  Wolof, Bambara, Hausa (lingua franca), Yoruba,
  Ibo.
• French, English, Arabic, Portuguese.
• Religious differences

28
Education and Adjustment

• Degrees of literacy
• Nomadic pastoralists versus agricultural settled
  people. City-dwellers.
• Cultural adjustment here in the U.S. need
  English, need literacy. Constant worry about how
  the family is doing back home. Political
  concerns.

29
Gender Issues

• Womens special cases
• Been thru hardships.
• Civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia
• Married men travel a lot. Women left for months
  with kids, relatives. Waiting for money. Absent
  from your programs. Or Late.

30
Considerations

• Teenage girls are forced to work in braiding
  salons.
• No time off on weekends to study
• Staying with family members or not so close
  relatives

31
Education systems

• More documentation is required now re. graduation
  from schools in West Africa.
• However, it is hard to produce it.
• Considerations for classroom behaviors students
  dont look you in eye.
• Students help each other. Whisperallow for this.
  Dont have supplies.
• Different literacy experiences. Allow for that.

32
End Piece

• Congratulations on the work you do.
• People are finally getting the opportunity to
  continue their education. Even begin their
  educationbecause of your programs.

33
CULTURAL NOTES ON EAST ASIA

• Presented
• by
• Pat Lo, Director
• ALBETAC

34
Asian Languages

• Legend
• Chinese
• Korean
• Arabic
• Russian
• Bengali
• Urdu

Japan
Burmese Tibetan Vietnamese
Punjabi Hindi
35
Some commonalities

• Respect education.
• Family comes before selves.
• Celebrate the Lunar New Year.
• Japanese and Korean also use Chinese characters.
• Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai are all tonal
  languages.

36
General Information

37
Gender Issues

• Then
• Men were head of household
• Women were subservient to husbands
• Womens main role was to produce an heir/care for
  home and family
• Now
• Shared household responsibilities
• Women now work outside of the home
• Married women keep their maiden names
• Chinas one-child policy

38
Educational Considerations

• Class size
• Teaching approaches
• School expectations for students
• Parent involvement
• Discipline
• Special needs

39
Chinatown
Flushing
Brooklyn
Manhattan
40
Korea Town
Manhattan
Flushing, Queens
41
The Chinese and Korean Communities Celebrate the
Lunar New Year in Flushing, Queens
42
On-line Resources

• ALBETAC http//steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/ALBE
  TAC.html
• Directory of Asian community Based Organizations
  http//steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/ALBETAC/Reso
  urces/newenglishversion.pdf
• Translated Glossaries http//steinhardt.nyu.edu/me
  trocenter/ALBETAC/Resources/translatedglossaries.h
  tml

43
Encountering the South Asian Community

• Dr. Tamo Chattopadhay
• ALBETAC Consultant
• Adjunct Assistant Professor at School of
  International and Public Affairs
• Columbia University in New York

44

Where in the World?East Asia, South Asia, and
South East Asia
45
Shared Historical and Cultural Legacy

• Colonial India todays India, Pakistan and
  Bangladesh
• Gandhi and the independence movement
• The religion issue Hindus and Muslims
• Division of the territory birth of India and
  Pakistan in 1947 Birth of Bangladesh 1971
• The word Bangladesh means literally the country
  (desh) of the Bengali language (Bangla)

46
Major South Asian Languages in NYC Schools

• Bengali (2.7)
• Urdu (1.9)
• Punjabi (0.7)
• Hindi (0.2)
• Pashto (0.2)
• Gujarati (0.1)

47
Bengali Language Where Is It Spoken?
West Bengal, India
Bangladesh
48
Bangladesh

• Official name People's Republic of Bangladesh
• National flag
• Capital Dhaka
• Independence day 26 march, 1971
• Currency Taka (BDT)
• Bangladesh is a country bordering
• The bay of Bengal, between Myanmar
• And India, and size-wise it is slightly
• Smaller than Iowa

49
Bangladesh Quick FactsBased Upon CIA Factbook
https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world
-factbook/geos/bg.html

• Population 150 million (2007) Urban Population
  26
• Population below Poverty Line 45 (2004
• Adult Literacy Males54 Females 32
• Most of Bangladesh is situated on deltas of large
  rivers and is prone to severe floods in monsoons

50
Education System in Bangladesh

• The education system is divided into 4 levels--
  primary (from grades 1 to 5), secondary (from
  grades 6 to 10), higher secondary (from grades 11
  to 12) and tertiary
• Alongside national educating system in Bengali,
  English medium education is also provided by some
  private enterprises. They offer 'A' level and 'O'
  level courses
• There are non-governmental schools (NGO) and
  non-formal education centers (NFE) run by NGO-s
  Many of these are funded by the government. The
  largest NFE program is the much reputed BRAC
  program. These programs cater to the
  socio-economically disadvantaged population not
  served by the government schools. But rarely they
  extend beyond the primary level
• There is also a Madrasa system which emphasizes
  on Arabic medium Islam-based education

51
Perspectives on Bangladeshi Immigrants Some
(Gross) Generalizations

• Respect for authority of the school
  administration and teachers
• The stigma of special education
• Extended family support systems
• Gendered division of labor
• Gender dynamics in communication (health)
• Issues with names and registration documents

52
Did You Know?

• 21st February UN international mother language
  day
• Bengali becomes official language of sierra Leone
  2002
• 1913 first Nobel prize from Asia to Bengali poet
  Rabindranath Tagore
• 2007 Nobel peace prize to dr. Mohammed Yunus

53
Useful Resources to Refer To

• Consulate General of India in New York
  http//www.indiacgny.org/
• Consulate General of Bangladesh in New York
  http//www.bdcgny.org/
• Asia Society http//www.asiasociety.org/
• Southern Asian Institute at Columbia University
  http//www.sipa.columbia.edu/REGIONAL/SAI/index.ht
  ml
• South Asian Youth Action http//www.saya.org/
• Online Bengali Dictionarieshttp//www.virtualbang
  ladesh.com/dictionary.htmlhttp//dsal.uchicago.ed
  u/dictionaries/biswas-bengali/

54
This Is No Flood, Just a Bit of Rain
55
And There Is Always Time to Play..
THANK YOU!
56
Spanish Speaking Groups Latin American Cultures

• Nancy Fernandez
• Assistant Principal
• Office of Adult and Continuing Education

57
Residential Patterns of NYCs Latinos

• Puerto Ricans Nearly two thirds live in the
  Bronx and Brooklyn and then Manhattan and Queens
• Mexicans High concentration in Queens then
  Brooklyn and the Bronx
• Ecuadorians heavily concentrated in Queens
• Colombians concentrated in Queens

58
Percentages of Largest Latino Groups Living in
Each Borough

• Bronx- 39.1
• Manhattan-15.7
• Staten Island 4.4
• Brooklyn- 26.8
• Queens- 14.0

59
Gender Differences

• Culturally assigned roles to men and women
• e.g. Men work and women stay home with the
  children men may arrive late at home, but woman
  must stay home.
• More women in ESL classes than men during the
  day- because women are home with the children.
• Decisions are generally made by the man
• If women work, often they are expected to bring
  home the money.

60
POVERTY LEVELS

• Of 100 immigrants at poverty level, the
  breakdown is as follows
• Mexicans- 33
• Other Hispanics/ Latinos- 30
• All other ethnic groups- 37

61
Linguistic Needs

• One Hispanic Language- different vocabulary based
  on cultural diversity
• ex dialects within the home country of the
  immigrant- Indigenous language in Mexico, Peru
• Varying dialects, e.g. tunica o vestido same
  meaning different vocabulary
• Regionalism- change the ending of some of the
  vowels and consonants- ex. comer, comi, comel

62
Educational Attainment

• Of the total Latino population in NYC..
• Almost 15 of Central and South Americans have
  less than a 6th grade education
• Almost 29 of Mexicans- less than 6th grade
• Almost 18 of Dominicans- less than 6th grade
• Almost 12 of Puerto Ricans- less than 6th grade
• Almost 8 of other Hispanic groups- less than 6th
  grade

63
Trivia

• 2008 Olympics will be held in this city
• These languages can be written from the right to
  the left
• This country shares an island with the Dominican
  Republic
• The largest immigrant group in the US comes from
  this country
• This country was the former East Pakistan
• This country is the most populous Muslim-majority
  nation

64
Your Turn
Comments
Questions?
65
? ?