"For Those Who Don't Celebrate Thanksgiving" by Marianne Smallwood

During this holiday season, I find myself thinking about Americans who do not celebrate holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.  One night after classes, I found myself in the dining hall with a few friends and one of my professors came by.  She asked if it would be alright for her to sit with us and, of course, I said yes.  My professor, Rowena He is originally from China.  She is a Tiananmen Massacre survivor.  Professor He left China at about the same age I am now.  She went to live in Canada and pursue her career teaching about the Massacre on June 4, 1989.  As a result, she became an enemy of China and could never return, without fear of imprisonment by the Chinese government. Eventually, she came to work at Harvard College and recently was hired at Saint Michael's College to teach East Asian History.  As we sat and ate the dining hall's version of "Thanksgiving Dinner" and my friends discussed their plans for break, Professor He explained how strange it was to try to be included in this American holiday which all of her classes insisted she participate in, despite the fact that the rest of her family remained in China.

My ELL partner expressed similar frustrations with her peers.  B told me during my previous tutoring visit that she felt like an outsider to this tradition.  "In Ghana no one celebrates Thanksgiving", she said.  Furthermore, she said candidly, "I like to have break, but it is just like any other day to me and my family.  I hate when people look to me like I should be sad when I am not."  At that moment I realized that I may have done the same thing during dinner with Professor He.

Ultimately, what I have learned here is that the holidays and events which may be significant to me are not always significant to others and that is not necessarily a bad thing.  In the future, I need to be more careful with how I relate to others in a cross-cultural setting especially as I continue in Education.

Below is an interesting article I found from the Huffington Post.  It is written by an author who has had similar experiences in the United States as B and Professor He and may shed some light on a new perspective regarding cultural competency.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-smallwood/for-those-who-dont-celebrate-thanksgiving_b_8648310.html

Quick Facts Continued... (Adapted from CIA World Factbook)

• People and Society :: GHANA

  Panel - Expanded
• 
  
• Population:
  ~27,000,000
  Nationality:
   Ghanaian
  Ethnic groups:
  Akan 47.5%, Mole-Dagbon 16.6%, Ewe 13.9%, Ga-Dangme 7.4%, Gurma 5.7%, Guan 3.7%, Grusi 2.5%, Mande 1.1%, other 1.4% (2010 est.)
  Languages:
  Asante 16%, Ewe 14%, Fante 11.6%, Boron (Brong) 4.9%, Dagomba 4.4%, Dangme 4.2%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.9%, Kokomba 3.5%, Akyem 3.2%, Ga 3.1%, other 31.2%
  note: English is the official language (2010 est.)
  Religions:
  Christian 71.2% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 28.3%, Protestant 18.4%, Catholic 13.1%, other 11.4%), Muslim 17.6%, traditional 5.2%, other 0.8%, none 5.2% (2010 est.)
  
  
  Net migration rate:
  -1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
  country comparison to the world: 161
  Urbanization:
  urban population: 54% of total population (2015)
  
  
  Mother's mean age at first birth:
  22.6
  Life expectancy:
  total population: 66.6 years
  HIV/AIDS - deaths:
  12,600 (2015 est.)
  Major infectious diseases:
  degree of risk: very high
  food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
  vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever
  water contact disease: schistosomiasis
  respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
  animal contact disease: rabies (2016)
  
  
  Education expenditures:
  6% of GDP (2013)
  country comparison to the world: 13
  Literacy:
  definition: age 15 and over can read and write
  total population: 76.6%
  male: 82%
  female: 71.4% (2015 est.)
  School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
  total: 11 years
  Child labor - children ages 5-14:
  percentage: 34% (2006 est.)
  
  
• 
  

Quick Facts on Ghana

  

AFRICA :: GHANAT

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  Introduction :: GHANA

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• Background:
  Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana in 1957 became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Ghana endured a long series of coups before Lt. Jerry RAWLINGS took power in 1981 and banned political parties. After approving a new constitution and restoring multiparty politics in 1992, RAWLINGS won presidential elections in 1992 and 1996 but was constitutionally prevented from running for a third term in 2000. John KUFUOR succeeded him and was reelected in 2004. John Atta MILLS won the 2008 presidential election and took over as head of state, but he died in July 2012 and was constitutionally succeeded by his vice president, John Dramani MAHAMA, who subsequently won the December 2012 presidential election.
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  Geography :: GHANA

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• 
  
• Location:
  Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Cote d'Ivoire and Togo
  Area - comparative:
  slightly smaller than Oregon
  
  
  Natural resources:
  gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone

• • Communications :: GHANA

    Panel - Expanded
  • Internet users:
    total: 6.181 million
    percent of population: 23.5% (July 2015 est.)
    country comparison to the world: 68
  • 
    
  • Hide

    Transnational Issues :: GHANA

    Panel - Expanded
  • Disputes - international:
    disputed maritime border between Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire
    Refugees and internally displaced persons:
    refugees (country of origin): 11,419 (Cote d'Ivoire; flight from 2010 post-election fighting) (2016)
    Human Trafficking
    Illicit drugs
  • 
    

Teaching in the 21st Century!

Beginning this semester, the education department at Saint Michael's College started an "iPad Initiative". Each student in the department was provided with an iPad as a new medium for learning and teaching.  On this technology platform we would begin to build our skills as future educators.  

Our task for the course, "Adolescent Development" was not only to construct a portfolio in the form of a blog, but also to plan an 80 minute lesson to present in class.  On November 3rd, Robert Daneau and I taught our lesson on "The Self", a chapter from our class textbook.  We spent about three weeks preparing a thorough lesson plan which utilized a handful of technologies to engage students in a critical inquiry about what constitutes identity.  Our professor encouraged us to use several apps including PollEverywhere, AnkiApp, Quizlet, as well as Google sheets, Google docs, Google slides, Google sites, and Apple TV.  In this way, we were able to teach our lesson from a Google website, which we created, while taking full advantage of our iPads in the classroom.

WIDA Can-do Descriptors

It is interesting for me to see the disparity between my ELL partner's speaking level as compared to their writing level.  Based on WIDA can-do descriptors, I would place B at the "Developing" stage in writing but at "Bridging" for speaking.  This is partly because B is able to speak English very well, as mentioned in a previous post, but what I am curious about is when she begins to write a lab report for her biology class or an essay for English, there is a clear disconnect between the thoughts in her head and what she is able to write down on paper.  When I ask B to explain to me what it is she would like to write about she is able to do so with detail but when it comes to typing it out she faces difficulties.  For example, when writing a sentence with the word "I" she forgets to capitalize it.  Similarly,  when she is typing out an assignment she will ask me for a more sophisticated word, such as "marvelous" rather than simply "good".  Spelling, grammar, and vocabulary development are a couple of her biggest challenges in writing which are invisible in speech.  She is often very frustrated by these things.

I would speculate that the reason for the differences in WIDA checkpoints is a result of only having focused on written English for rare tasks in Ghana while spending the majority of time speaking and writing Twi, a tribal language known by about 40% of the population in Ghana.  When I asked B what language she speaks at home she answered "Twi".  Therefore, I asked myself, if she does not speak English at home, what are the chances she would write in English regularly?

In the future, I hope to continue working with B to improve upon her written English, and perhaps I will learn a few words in Twi or French, which she has agreed to teach me.  

Identity Comparison

Identity Comparison Activity

ELL Partner:

• Country of Origin: Ghana
• Grade Level: 10
• Age of student: Unknown
• Languages spoken: Twi, French, English

Myself:

• Country of Origin: United States
• Grade Level: College Sophomore
• Age of student: 19
• Languages spoken: English, Spanish

Both:

• Female
• Introverted
• English-speaking
• Christian
• Currently reside in Vermont
• Students

"If you're from Africa, Why is your English so good?"

The ELL student, that I have the privilege of working with this semester, moved to the United States from Ghana this past Summer (2016).  For confidentiality purposes, I will refer the student as B. 

During my first meeting with B, I was able to make meaningful dialogue. B explained where they are from and how they are adjusting to living in Vermont.  

Before this placement, I must admit I knew very little about Ghana except that it is an African country.  In doing my research I learned that Ghana is a country on the west coast of Africa, where English is the official language.  In our first tutoring session B shared their frustration with some other students' questions about where they are from.  B is understandably annoyed when Africa is mistakenly referred to as a country and not a continent.  Moreover, they ask B questions such as, "If you're from Africa, why is your English so good?"  Despite these sharp inquiries, B patiently explains that Ghana was a colony of Britain which is why English is the official language and politely corrects their geography, also. 

Ultimately, my goal, as their tutor, is to supplement student learning and to be a resource for them.  This includes helping with cultural adaptation as well as academic enrichment.   Each Tuesday of the semester I will work with B to make their transition as smooth as possible.  In so doing, I look forward to finding out more about the student and reflecting further on what I learn.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Abigail Adams. I am Sophomore at Saint Michael's College in Vermont where I am studying Secondary Education and History with a minor in Spanish.  The purpose of this blog is to reflect on my placement at a local high school where I am currently working as an ELL tutor. Throughout the semester, I will develop my skills as an educator as I embark on a journey of cultures, experiences and personal discovery!  Along the way, I will connect the individual studies to the performance criteria for the Vermont Licensure Portfolio.