The Role of the ESL Teacher Working With Refugees

Over the last few years war, famine, poverty and violence have become
unbearable for many individuals and their families. As a result, many people were
forced to make the difficult decision to leave their homeland and relocate elsewhere.
Many refugees made their way to Canada and are now able to call it home. This is no
small feat! There are so many new adjustments to make, learning to communicate in
English being perhaps one of the most challenging.

Schools and faculty are adjusting to accommodate the increasing number of ELL
refugee students and more ESL programs are being made available to assist adult
refugees. The ESL teacher is a key resource in providing assistance to refugees and
other immigrants as they navigate their way in a new cultural and linguistic
environment. They often witness the migration stress, acculturative stress and trauma
stress experienced by refugees as they struggle to resettle (Adkins et al., 1999).
Moving to a new country can trigger a number of stressful life events all at once, i.e.
leaving friends and family behind, losing the sense of belonging and security that
being part of a community provides. Getting use to a new cultural environment
demands perseverance, tenacity and courage to overcome language barriers and avoid
cultural misunderstandings. Individuals and their families may also be struggling to
cope with the psychological, social and physical changes as a result of their prior
traumatic existence.

How can ESL teachers help alleviate the stress that surrounds and stifles their
students? Firstly, ESL teachers can learn to recognize signs and symptoms of mental
illness or difficulty and must refrain from making assumptions about refugee learners.
It is important that teachers recognize common experiences and needs and the impact
they may have in their classroom. Trauma-informed practice is necessary to ensure a
safe classroom environment and to avoid predictable triggers. A variety of approaches
will go a long way to assist refugees in their learning (Strategies for…ELL Classroom,
2018). Effective approaches include:
1. Create consistent routines to alleviate anxiety and return a sense of control and
predictability.
2. Build community to eliminate barriers, establish trust and promote connection.
3. Differentiate instruction. Learners can be working at various stages of the same
learning goal.
4. Learning should be connected, relevant and transparent. Explain all learning
goals and purposes of assignments, and collaborate with learners to set goals.
5. Encourage creativity in order to allow for learners to experience and use
language in different ways.
 6. Choose engaging themes, topics and materials, being mindful to avoid ones
that may trigger trauma.
7. Assess fairly and in multiple ways in order to measure learning accurately and
reward success.

This research and information is very relevant to me, given my passion for
languages and my study of counselling psychology. It allows me to straddle both
fields and to apply my knowledge and skills in psychology to ESL teaching. I’ve
moved around a bit as a child, but it was always by choice. It must be incredibly
difficult to have no choice but to move in order to survive. I did have some difficulty
when I moved to the Okanagan, leaving a great job and dear friends behind. It was
difficult to make new friends and I did have to make some minor cultural adjustments,
but it was my choice. A refugee’s situation is entirely different because they really
have so little control over what happens to them and they’re dependent upon the
empathy and generosity of strangers. Fortunately I live in a country where diversity is
celebrated and tolerance and respect are among our society’s core values.

References

Adkins, M.,Sample, B., Birman, D. ED439625 1999-12-00 Mental Health and the
Adult Refugee: The Role of the ESL Teacher. ERIC Digest.

Crouch, S. (2016, March 18). 5 Best Practices for Supporting Refugee ELL Students.
Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/03/5-best-practices-for-
supporting-refugee-ell-students/

Bow Valley College. ELL Training Network. (2018). Strategies for Teaching Adult
Refugees in the ELL Classroom. Retrieved from https://globalaccess.bowvalley
college.ca/tools/strategies-teaching-adult-refugees-ell-classroom.