Interviewing Immigrants

"Those kids are laughing at me," Lisa said. "They should speak English."

Lisa, a high school sophomore, speaks only English. The students she referred to were speaking Spanish because they hadn't yet learned English. I often noticed the same pattern among students. My English speakers routinely underestimated the difficulty of learning a new language. They sometimes assume non-English speakers are laughing at them and then make negative comments about immigrants.

To create an experience that might change perspectives, I arranged with an ESL teacher down the hall to bring my U.S. history students to her room. I wanted my students to interview newly arrived teenagers as part of their unit on immigration. I hoped my students would connect the difficulties of recent immigrants with those who arrived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were described in our text.

I prepared a detailed assignment sheet but did not tell my students about the plan until they arrived in class. Since facing the unknown and the unexpected is a common experience for immigrants, this was an intentional part of my lesson. I assigned three tasks:

• Find out how and why the person came to the United States.
• Sketch the route of the person's journey on the world map that I provided.
• Learn two phrases in the person's language and be ready to teach them to our class.

My students looked worried when I told them their tasks, even when I assured them they would have a partner from our class and the two of them would interview their non-English-speaking colleague together.

When our group arrived at the ESL classroom, my students hovered by the door. I had to guide some by the elbow to their assigned interviewees. Their first attempts to communicate were very tentative, and the ESL teacher and aide circulated to translate for the immigrant students who understood the least English.

After a few minutes, students began to relax. Everyone recognized the map, and all groups were able to draw in the routes taken to the United States. With help, in halting English, newly arrived students shared their stories, arousing interest and empathy in the other students. When it was time to learn two phrases in another language, the tables were turned. Suddenly the English-only students were struggling with unfamiliar pronunciations and learning that success comes only after much practice. My students realized that when non-English speakers laughed, it was often nervousness or the difficulty of communicating that reduced them to giggles. Other times it was clear that the laughter was about the difficulty of getting some idea across.

By the time we returned to our classroom, noisy chatter filled the air. My students had stories to share, and some had made plans to attend a soccer game to see their new friends play. I was happy that they'd had a positive experience and hoped it would cause a re-examination of their previous negative assumptions.

Teaching Tolerance Recommends
Mitali Perkins immigrated to the United States from Kolkata, India. She writes books for young adult immigrants who find themselves caught between two cultures. Visit her website for sample material or to arrange a classroom visit.