‘Bringing lessons to life’ is something that all educators strive to do. As teachers, we often refer to this instructional technique as ‘comprehensible input’. Developed by American linguist, education researcher, and activist Dr. Stephen Krashen, comprehensible input simply means including as much real or ‘true to life’ input (also referred to as props and realia) as possible while teaching multilingual-emergent students. Think about it this way: if you were learning the word 植物 (pronounced /you-moe-no/ and in English meaning ‘plant’) in your Japanese language class, you’d probably appreciate your teacher showing you a picture of a real plant or, better yet, bringing a variety of plants into the classroom to help you to understand, right?
As I taught my newcomer refugee class, I knew that trust was being built, confidence was beginning to grow, and progress was slowly but surely being made in our little community of English learners. A week or so in, I decided that it was time to add some new realia to my instruction. The underlying theme of the vocabulary, songs, stories, chants and action activities (known as Total Physical Response or TPR) that I was using to teach included family words, zoo animals, and the color red. I excitedly added my own family picture, plastic but realistic zoo animals from my toy bin, and a few red balloons to my tote bag.
As the lesson began that day, the level of engagement was high! The balloons, zoo animals, and introduction of my family were very well received and elevated the level of interaction, laughter and the ability to make meaning. Yet, as the lesson went on, an entirely different ‘realness’ began unraveling.
In the middle of bopping a few red balloons around as we wrapped up singing a song about the color red, a cell phone rang. One of moms who was in this class of women and children answered her phone in her heritage language. She began talking fast and loudly, gesturing and shouting to the others. Before I knew it, they all had tears streaming down their faces. She was receiving word that her husband, who stayed behind in their home country, had just been brutally killed. Using English vocabulary that they were beginning to pick up in our class, along with a word that transcends our language barriers, and with some graphic hand gesturing that mimicked how this killing had taken place, my heartbroken students were able to explain to me what was going on. To say that being in the midst of this situation felt surreal would be an understatement. Needless to say, class ended, and I slowly and quietly slid my teaching materials into my bag as we all sat together in silence together for a while.
Before I left that afternoon, three of the younger moms walked to the door with me. I thought they were seeing me off, but with tears and a look of pleading in their eyes they said ‘Miss, Pampers two?’ ‘Miss, Pampers four and Pampers two?’ ‘Pampers? Pampers, please, miss?’
They hadn’t asked me for anything like that before. Maybe they were speculating that with the horrifying news from home, their husbands (the few with American driver’s licenses…the nearest store too far to walk) would be preoccupied when returning after work and wouldn’t be able to get to a store? I wasn’t sure, but as you might imagine, I was more than willing to do whatever they needed that day. I drove to the nearest Target and spent a small fortune on diapers and wipes. I spotted an employee who appeared to be from the same culture as my students. I asked if they could please tell me the appropriate thing to do when someone passes away. Should I bring flowers? ‘No’, they laughed…’that’s for weddings. Just speak a word of comfort and maybe bring a little bit of food.’ I returned to the apartment complex to distribute the diapers and then drove home, my head spinning from the day’s events.
The following day, I prepared a large fruit salad to share with my brave, persevering students. I was definitely uncertain of what I would be walking into that day and prepared to be extremely flexible. When I arrived, guess who was there, ready to continue learning, singing, dramatizing and more? Every last one of my class members, including the sweet but strong woman who lost her husband at the hands of evil the day before.
The weight of the reality that some of our students’ experience can be so heavy and beyond our imaginations. Often, there is little that we can do to help (besides show up with diapers and fruit ). Fortunately, as educators there is a reality that we have control over, and that’s what happens in our classrooms. When we take the time to build caring learning communities, to thoughtfully plan, and to joyfully present meaningful, worthwhile lessons, we give our students the desire to overcome and to carry on, even during the worst of times. And there’s nothing more real than that.
Want to learn more about how GrapeSEED impacted this class of refugee English learners? Watch for Part 4 of our five-part blog series.
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