Art as a Tool for Trauma Healing in the Refugee ESL Classroom
As I was reading “Language Teaching as a Peacebuilding Endeavor” by Michael Medley, (in Hastings & Jacobs, 2016 I was particularly struck by Medley’s call to action for language teachers to bring hope, restoration, and healing to traumatized people as a means by which to enact peacebuilding in the classroom. I looked a little deeper into the field of ELT for traumatized students and came across the following article posted last week.
This article describes a video-based project called “Making Home Movies” in Philadelphia, PA. The project features ESL students from Belarus, Burhma, Butan, Iraq, Nepal, Syria, the Ukraine, and other countries. The videos give a voice to these immigrants who have suffered as refugees and have also dealt with the trauma of immigration policy/fear of deportation here in the US. The students tell their stories and describe their transition to the US.
Filmmaker Shira Walinsky reported that “the stories ultimately tell a tale of resiliency and hope for a better future, but also give refugees the opportunity to shed trauma through art”.
The article does not explicitly state the teacher’s role in facilitating this project. However, I think that this project is incredibly impactful and relevant to the important issue of immigration and transition today. I would certainly adopt this type of a project in my classes.
Questions for critical thinking discussion:
- How might a teacher successfully implement a project like this into a SJLT curriculum?
- How would you change the project to give the students more agency over how their story is told?
- What other things might you ask students to do for this project – can we incorporate reflection? critical dialogue?
- Is the teacher’s participation (or lack thereof) in this project Critical Pedagogy?
Here is another resource by Medley about teaching for peacebuilding and trauma healing.
Medley, M. (2012). A role for english language teachers in trauma healing. TESOL Journal, 3(1), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.6
References:
Lozano, A. V. (2019). “Making home movies”: Philly refugees ease trauma with art. Retrieved September 23, 2019, from NBC 10 Philadelphia. website: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/South-Philadelphia-Mural-Arts-Karen-Refugees- Immigration-560169861.html
Medley, M. (2016). Language teaching as a peacebuilding endeavor. In Hastings, C. & Jacobs, L. (Eds.). (2016). Social justice in English language teaching (pp. 49-66). Alexandria, VA: TESOL International Association.
Hi Kate, thanks for this interesting post about peace-building! I think the idea of healing trauma with art sounds great. Yesterday, I went to the CATESOL conference and found this one lecture about respecting each student’s name and identity very interesting and somewhat related to your post. The presenter talked about how we could build global awareness and create respectful/inclusive classroom environment by having students produce some kind of art work (videos, poems, drawings, etc.) that shows the deep meaning behind their names, such as the origins, family history, cultural backgrounds, and personal stories. As one of the examples of students’ art work, the presenter shared this video (https://drive.google.com/file/d/13kwI2DVKYL4bF8rISf7Vv4J07FppJioF/view)
by a Guatemalan teenage boy who just came to US all by himself. At first, he talks about his favorites and dreams, but in the latter half, he tells a story about how he came to the US (swimming a river to cross the border, sent to a shelter, hospitalized, etc.) with relevant pictures. I felt this video was very powerful and beautiful, so just wanted to share it with you! I think one thing teachers can do to build peace in the classroom is to incorporate this kind of name story project where immigrants can tell their stories and express their identities. That way, they can not only feel accepted and welcomed with respect by others but also empowered in the classroom.
Clear, concise, and effective.
This helped me a lot, thank you.
Just what I was looking for.