Last January, I had the
opportunity to attend the Annual General Meeting of MCIS Language Services. As
always, I had the opportunity to spend time with friends while listening to
speakers who kindly collaborated with the event. There were several speakers,
but today I will focus on one of them, Mr. Ezat Mossalanejad, and some of the
points he exposed. Mr. Mossallanejad spoke on behalf of the Canadian Centre of
Victims of Torture (CCVT). More information about this organization can be
found in their web page http://www.ccvt.org
Mr. Mossallanejad spoke about the challenges that
survivors of torture who are newcomers to Canada face when trying to learn
English. He said that they face a number of problems including distrust of
people they don’t know, fear of groups and authority. There are other
psychological barriers that make it more difficult to learn the language of
their new environment and to integrate to their new Home Country. An
interesting paper can be found regarding this subject on the CCVT’s website, it
is called “Transformative Learning among Victims of Trauma: The Impact of
English Language Program on Transformative Learning Experiences among Victims
of Trauma”.
For me personally, this was the speech that had the
most impact. Being myself an immigrant and teaching ESL for more than 5, I have
to confess that I never before thought about the issues here presented. Generally
speaking, migration to a different country is not easy. Even for people who
speak the language of their new home, they are not always prepared to deal with
new expressions and accents. But if we think about people who were forced to
migrate, with very little or no previous knowledge of the language of their new
country, the amount of work they must do to integrate is even greater. Some
governments are trying to provide help to refugees to integrate, and as a part
of this help, assistance with language classes is included. However, they are
not always prepared to deal with immigrants who also are victims of trauma, due
to torture or violence.
I decided to make an informal research through the
Internet. Fortunately, there is plenty of information available for those who
want to know more and want to make improvements in their language classes to
better assist students with trauma. Most of the research came from institutions
in the United States and Canada; but, when I researched about this same subject
using other languages, less information was available. I have to say that I did
not find any article in Spanish, Italian or French.
Generally speaking, there are many language teachers
who ignore the unique challenges presented by students who are victims of trauma
from torture or any other kind of violence; also professionals involved in the creation
of language courses founded by different governmental agencies are not aware of
this.
For an immigrant, to learn the language of the new home
country is key to a successful integration. If professionals who are involved
in this process are not fully aware on how to deal with this particular
situation, what we can say about the rest of society in countries accepting
refugees? More research is needed, and this should be available to any teaching
professional, no matter which language they work with.
I personally think that learning a language, using the
right tools and the proper motivation, can be therapeutic. This is something
that right now I am unable to demonstrate, but I think that more research can
lead to a situation where a problem can be transformed into a solution.
Wishful thinking? Maybe, but it is yet to be discovered.
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