Useful Resources for CCVT Volunteers

Torture and Second Language Acquisition

Rebuilding Self Esteem

A direct effect of torture is loss of self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy in the victim. Torture, by its very nature, is an attack on the personality and the core of the individual. In attempts to break down the victim, torturers will focus on the brain and sexual functions.

Studies indicate that healthy self-esteem is essential to learning. This is particularly true in second language acquisition where the learner is being asked to experiment constantly with the new language, knowing that s/he will make countless errors in front of classmates, friends and strangers alike. Therefore, helping survivors to regain their sense of self will ensure progress in the classroom.

Rebuilding self-esteem and confidence is a long and complicated process which will obviously not be achieved only by attending ESL classes. However, survivors have found the inclusion of the following to be of some help.

Units of Study

A careful choice of the units of study to include in the ESL curriculum can go a long way in promoting self esteem in the learner if the units focus on recognizing and integrating previously learned skills and knowledge and emphasizes the positive aspects of learners' cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The following are suggestions that have been used with great success at the CCVT:

Foods From Around the World

Introducing the topic of food is an excellent way of helping survivors in the ESL classroom feel at ease. Eating is a pleasure that all people share, no matter what their country of origin. Seldom are people at a loss for something to say when the topic of food comes up in a discussion. Think about it. When you attend a party, reception, a meeting, or any gathering of people there is almost always some form of refreshment being offered. If there wasn't how would the situation be different? For one thing, the comfort level in the room might not be as high or at the very least, the gathering would be a much more formal affair without the opportunity to chat with others over a sandwich or even just a cup of coffee.

A good idea for an ice-breaking unit, therefore, is to integrate a "Getting to know Each Other" unit with a unit on "Foods from Around the World." This could be done as one of the first units in the term.

The instructor can begin a unit on food with discussions on the topic and conclude with inviting learners to bring various dishes to class. This can be accomplished all on a day when everyone brings in a dish (those who cannot cook can bring in beverages, so not to make them feel uncomfortable). An alternative idea is to assign learners different days to bring in a dish. The instructor can begin the exercise by bringing in a dish on the first day of the unit. S/he can discuss how the food was prepared, ethnic origins, etc. Learners are then assigned days to bring in their own dishes. After everyone has had a sample, the cook can give a short presentation similar to the one given by the instructor on the first day of the exercise.

Learners are often reluctant to give class presentations and thus instructors often will not assign these types of assignments until later on in the term when everyone is more comfortable with each other. Instructors who have used the approach outlined above, however, have reported having great success with it despite the fact that learners are just becoming acquainted with each other. We believe the reason for this is the nature of the topic and the fact that bringing in food that one has prepared can be a source of great pride.

Country of Origin Unit

Giving learners the opportunity to discuss different aspects of their culture is frequently used in the ESL class as a means of validating different cultural experiences.It is important that various perspectives be integrated into units which focus on life skills. For example at the conclusion of a unit on health, the instructor might set aside a few lessons to explore how medical treatment is approached in countries outside Canada. The instructor also needs to give the learners an opportunity to discuss how they feel about health care in Canada. More importantly, instructors must assist learners in understanding their options in terms of who treats them, and how they are treated. Knowing that one has the power to make choices is crucial to regaining a positive self image.

A common topic that all learners tend to have a lot to say about in the area of health is home remedies. After preliminary discussions on various home remedies, a number of activities can follow. Learners should also be encouraged to bring in some home remedies from their own cultures to class or to discuss them with the rest of the class. In a written exercise, they can document various remedies and a class publication can then be compiled that the instructor copies and even distributes to other classes. Like the Foods From Around The World unit, exercises based on sharing cultural information and providing it to others can go a long way in building self esteem. The learner is automatically put in the role of advising or helping another individual which builds a sense of self-worth.

Teach the Teacher Unit

Although learners may be in the elementary stages of learning a new language, they have many other skills that can and should be acknowledged in the class. In a "teach the teacher" unit, learners discuss what they are 'experts' at.

The initial stages of discussion may take some prodding on the part of the Instructor as learners may frequently feel that they have no skills that they can use in Canada. This of course is not the case, but difficulty in finding employment, having to accept social assistance, and not having educational credentials recognized all contribute to this assumption.

Once this fallacy in thinking is overcome and learners acknowledge areas that they have expertise in, they take turns instructing the class (and the teacher) how to perform a certain task. This can be done in one of two ways: i) The learner actually shows the class in a hands-on manner how to perform a skill. This works well if the task is simple and the necessary materials can be brought to class i.e. re-potting a plant or sewing a hem. ii) An alternative is to have the learner simply discuss the skill. With lower level and literacy classes this can be done using pictures that learners have cut out of magazines in a preliminary lesson.

Remember also that expertise may involve knowledge as opposed to a skill. Encourage learners to give presentation which exhibit their knowledge of history, coping in Canada, etc.

Individual learners or groups of learners in intermediate classes can be given grammar texts and asked to develop a half hour lesson plan that will introduce new vocabulary or a particular grammar structure to the class. The lesson should include both written and oral activities.

Field Trips

Field trips have the potential of being excellent esteem-building exercises because they allow survivors to explore the community and cope with all sorts of situations, yet feel unthreatened because they are in a group. Often, instructors plan excursions to sites they feel have some direct educational interest or value such as museums, libraries, and government buildings. While these longer types of excursions are valuable, they should not be the only kind of outing planned. Visits to neighbourhood shops, the pharmacy, post office, banks and local community centres have the advantage of being easy to plan and inexpensive. Most importantly, however, they take the classroom out into the community and give survivors the opportunities they need to perform simple, every day tasks which demonstrate that their new community is not something to be feared.

The following are learning activities that can be assigned during neighbourhood outings:

Plan a scavenger hunt in the neighbourhood. Give learners a list of questions they must complete by asking for information in various places in the neighbourhood i.e.
What is the cheapest brand of laundry detergent sold at the IGA?
How much does it cost to send a first-class letter to Winnipeg?
On what day does the pharmacy issue its weekly flyer?
A variation on this activity is to have single questions printed out on pieces of paper. In pairs, learners pull out one or two pieces of paper from a hat and then go out in search of the answers. This method ensures that the whole class does not do the same activity at the same time.
If coffee and tea are provided for break times, allow the learners to do the shopping for this. Assign two to three learners the task of buying sugar, cream and snacks on a rotating basis. To teach numeracy skills to beginners many instructors play bingo in class. Inexpensive prizes can be purchased at neighbourhood dollar stores for this activity. Again, the learners can be put in charge of this purchasing.
Instructors at the CCVT have discovered that many learners originally came from rural environments. A number of excursions were therefore planned to the 'country' after it was determined that most individuals seldom had the opportunity to leave Toronto. Apple picking was particularly successful. Many took the opportunity to buy farm produce in bulk at better prices than could be obtained in town. Some even bargained in the same manner that they might have in their home countries.
When proposing a field trip to the class, give learners the opportunity to help with the organization. Have them determine how long it will take to get to the final destination, what time the class should leave, what they would like to learn, and other ways and places that they could use the information attained during the outing. This increases the learners sense of self-reliance, enables them to trust in their own abilities, and to have their abilities recognized by others.

Other Ideas

Learner-to-Learner Support

As most of us have found, it is always much easier venturing into unknown situations with a friend by our side. With this in mind, an instructor should implement various strategies to build opportunities for learner-to-learner support that will hopefully then help individuals feel comfortable and more at ease in a classroom situation, thus making it easier to participate in the whole learning process. The following is an idea to encourage support between learners:

Construct a Compliments Board. The instructor mounts a cork board in one area of the room with the idea that class members can post small victories and/or achievements on the board. These can either be their own or those of others. Periodically, the class can review the postings and a class discussion can follow. The board can also be used for learners to post notices when they need advice or assistance with a day-to-day problem they are facing i.e. if they need to know where to buy inexpensive children's clothes or the name of a store that sells traditional food from their country of origin. If another learner is able to provide assistance it will give the two learners an opportunity to connect around similar interests. It will assure the person making the request that his/her needs are recognized by others and gives the person providing the information the satisfaction of assisting another.

Testing and Assessment

Many ESL instructors do not like to administer tests to learners and thus avoid it. In fact it is very gratifying for a learner to gauge his/her progress and to see concrete proof of improvement in language acquisition endeavours. Also, most learners come from countries where testing is an integral part of the education process. To include tests, therefore, makes them feel more comfortable in ESL classroom, simply because it is something familiar. Also, many learners do not feel that they are 'really learning' when they are not tested. For these reasons, it is recommended to include some form of testing in the curriculum. Having said this, however, tests need not be rigid, nerve-wracking experiences. The following are some ideas on testing that can be incorporated by instructors:

Get in the habit of asking learners to do regular written assignments, whether they be fill-in-the-blanks or composing a short paragraph. Do not assign grades but do provide comments and don't over correct.
For an assessment of oral skills, have learners plan a skit or role play exercise where an element of fun has been incorporated.
Make a point of providing students with one-to-one evaluations throughout the school term. Emphasize areas where they have improved and new structures and tasks that they have learned since joining the class.
Give learners opportunities to assess their own progress. A simple method of accomplishing this is to periodically assign a written exercise where learners fill in the blanks and document specifics about what they have recently learned i.e. Last week I couldn't ________________ but this week I can _______________ This exercise can be done using grammatical structures, life skills, or new vocabulary.