Anna Kirova

Loneliness in Immigrant Children: Implications for Classroom Practice

A s immigrants to Canada, my family, especially my son, faced many challenges in adjusting to the French, Canadian, and United States cultures. My son needed to learn French and English, in addition to his native Bulgarian. As an educator, I became personally and professionally involved in studying the experiences of young immigrant childrenlike my son, focusing on their feelings of isolation and loneliness. Given the fast-growing number of students from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds (Center for the Study of Social Policy, 1992; Hansen & Faber, 1997), it is surprising that loneliness in immigrant children has received little attention from researchers. The largest study to date of immigrant children’s educational performance and social, cultural, and psychological adaptation (Rumbaut, 2000) clearly indicates that lower self-esteem in these children correlates with poorer school performance. Yet the emotional and social adversities experienced by children from immigrant families in their day-to-day school lives have not been adequately examined. A number of studies indicate that loneliness is common among adult and older immigrants (Falcon & Rode, 1992; Kim, 1999; Rokach & Sharma, 1996). A study of Hispanic immigrants in Minnesota (Falcon & Rode, 1992) gives parents’ perspectives on their school-age children’s difficulties in school, including the fear that they might be ”mistreated, or insulted or harassed by other students” (p. 39). Data from the parent interviews reveal that Hispanic immigrant children are teased because ”they eat tacos,” are made fun of because “they didn’t speak English,” and are called names such as ”Chicanitos or Mexicanitos mojados” (p. 40). The studies on migrant children (Altman, 1993; Buirski, 1994; Duarte & Rafanello, 2001) indicate that constant moving from one location to another may contribute to feelings of mistrust and isolation. In her book about the life of a migrant child called Amelia, Altman (1993) points to the child’s ”search for belonging” (as cited in Duarte & Rafanello, 2001, p. 31). While the experiences of migrant children differ from those of immigrant children, especially in terms of frequent moves, many emotional and social needs are the same. Only when educators understand how immigrant children’s experiences affect their quality of life and learning at school can they take pedagogically sensitive actions to help the children develop higher self-esteem and become successful members of the school community. The challenge for educators is reflected in the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) 1996 position statement “Responding to Linguistic and Cultural Diversity,” which clearly indicates the need for Only when

English second-language learners in preschool Profile effects in their English abilities and the role of home language environment

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) Determine the English proficiency of English second-language learners (ELLs) at the end of preschool as referenced to monolingual norms, and in particular, to determine if they showed an asynchronous profile, that is, approached monolingual norms more closely for some linguistic sub-skills than others; (2) Investigate the role of home language environment in predicting individual differences in children’s English proficiency. Twenty-one ELL children (mean age = 58 months) from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds with diverse first-language backgrounds participated in the study. Children’s English proficiency was measured using a standardized story-telling instrument that yielded separate scores for their narrative, grammatical and vocabulary skills. A parent questionnaire was used to gather information about children’s home language environments. The ELL children displayed an asynchronous profile in their English development, as their standard scores varied in terms of proximity to monolingual norms; narrative story grammar was close to the standard mean, but mean length of utterance was below 1 standard deviation from the standard mean. No differences were found between the story-telling scores of the Canadian-born and foreign-born children, even though Canadian-born children were exposed to more English at home. Implications of the findings for clinicians and educators working with young ELLs are discussed.

Fotonovela as a Research Tool in Image-Based Participatory Research with Immigrant Children

In this article the authors explore the effect of word-image relationships on the collection of data and the reporting of research results for a study involving the development of a series of fotonovelas with immigrant children in an inner-city school. The central question explored in this article is Can experiences such as producing visual narratives in the form of fotonovelas stimulate multiple expressions of voice and position and bring awareness of embodied ways of communicating in a culture-rich school context? The processes involved in collaboratively developing the photographic narrative format of the fotonovela combine visual elements and structures and embodied, reflective performance together with written text. As a research method fotonovela does not merely translate verbal into visual representations but constructs a hybrid photo-image-text that opens new spaces for dialogue, resistance, and representation of a new way of knowing that changes the way of seeing and has the potential to change the authors and the readers self-understanding.

Using photography as a means of phenomenological seeing:" Doing phenomenology" with immigrant children

Abstract The aim of the study presented in this paper was to understand the lifeworlds of children who experience immigration and whose lives are marked by dramatic changes in their being-in-the-world. More specifically, the study proceeded from the question: What does it mean for an immigrant child to enter school in a new country? Two methodological questions were also explored, namely (1) How does one conduct a phenomenological investigation of a childhood phenomenon when the researchers and the participants do not share a common language? and (2) How does one engage children in the research process so that they provide not only “thick” descriptions of their experiences using alternative, non-linguistic means, but also make meaning of these experiences? In the current study, still photography was used to help the immigrant children recall and make meaning of what they experienced on their first day of school in a new country. In the process, they were enabled to become conscious photographers who came to see the world in such a way that photographic seeing became phenomenological seeing. Two examples of the children’s visual narratives in the form of fotonovelas are presented to illustrate a methodology that involves fusion of the horizons surrounding the children, captured images of situations they encountered as they entered the classroom, and how the viewer saw the created image. The expanded notion of text and the use of digital technology in developing the text opened a space not only for visual representation of the children’s lived experiences, but also for phenomenological analysis of these experiences. It is suggested that, although the written and visual texts produced as a result of the study differ, they are similar in the way in which they allow for phenomenological reflection and in their ability to show the phenomenon so as to evoke the reader’s “phenomenological nod”.

Accessing Children’s Experiences of Loneliness through Conversations

In research on childhood loneliness, the predominant questions have been, What is children’s conception of loneliness? and How can it be measured? The question of how to approach children to talk about their subjective experiences of loneliness has not been adequately addressed. This article proposes a game-playing approach for initiating conversations with children about their experiences of loneliness. Excerpts from an audiotaped game-playing session with a six-year-old child are used to illustrate a typical session and analyze how it can establish common ground, shared meaning, and trust between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interview procedure provided a deeper understanding of the experiential aspects of childhood loneliness regarding lived space, lived other, lived body, and lived time. It also made it possible to distinguish the phenomenon of loneliness from the similar yet different experiences of aloneness, solitude, and boredom.

The Role of Cultural Artefacts in Play as Tools to Mediate Learning in an Intercultural Preschool Programme

Starting with the research question ‘What is the role of play as a means of genuine inclusion of home language and cultural traditions in an intercultural early learning programme?’, the article focuses on the role of cultural artefacts in a programme in which the majority of the children were refugees from Africa. The sociocultural theory of learning of Vygotsky and the activity theory of Leontiev provided the theoretical framework for the study. From a sociocultural perspective, materials are cultural objects within the social context and their use and functions are adaptive, depending on the activities that are also social. By engaging in these habitual activities and interactions, children become a part of their cultural world. Ethnographic data collection methods were employed to address the research question. A description of a play episode was used as an example of a young childs use of her appropriated knowledge of a particular cultural practice (singing while doing housework) and a cultural object (artefact) as a tool to mediate her learning. The authors argue that the example demonstrates that the presence of cultural artefacts allowed the childs home culture to emerge as the dominant one in the early childhood setting. The authors believe that the mindful, deliberate introduction of cultural artefacts by the first-language facilitators and cultural brokers who were members of the classroom teaching team allowed the child to consolidate her learning from both her home and her school environments in a manner consistent with her cultural background. The study suggests possible tools and forms of analysis that provoke early childhood educators to extend themselves outside of their own knowledge systems so that they can better facilitate childrens ongoing negotiations among their multiple worlds.

Lonely or bored: Children’s lived experiences reveal the difference

In spite of the growing body of research on loneliness, the relationship between the phenomena of loneliness and boredom has not been sufficiently addressed, especially in respect to children. The question, “How does the child’s experience of boredom stand phenomenologically in relation to the experience of loneliness?” is explored from a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective. A critical examination of the literature regarding the phenomenology of both loneliness and boredom provides a theoretical background to the study. Elementary school children’s experiential accounts of loneliness and boredom are collected through research conversations. An original interpersonal communication board game is devised and used to initiate these conversations. The themes of loneliness and boredom emerged in a process of phenomenological reflection based on the participants’ lived experiences, the author’s personal experiences, and experiential accounts available in the literature. Distinctions between the two phenomena are derived from the exploration of these themes. Both boredom and loneliness are viewed as important pedagogical ingredients in the formation of the child’s inner self.

Examining Bonding and Bridging Activities in the Context of a Common Spaces Approach to Integration

This paper utilized the analytical file of the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS 2002) to examine the relationship between bridging and bonding activities for identified immigrant and non-immigrant groups and variables selected to measure integration through the creation of common spaces. Based on Ager and Strang’s (2004; 2008) model, we hypothesized that both bonding and bridging activities increased the likelihood of outcomes that reflect and create the common spaces increasingly associated with integration. Bridging activities were associated with the creation of common spaces, used here as a marker of integration, in almost every instance, while bonding activities were associated with integration in some but not all instances. Our analysis supports a conceptual model of integration that highlights the development of common spaces radiating outward from self-identified ethnic groups as both a means and a marker for integration.

Culturally Responsive Assessment Practices: Examples from an Intercultural Multilingual Early Learning Program for Newcomer Children

Situated in an intercultural multilingual early learning program for newcomer children in Canada, this article describes emerging practice-based approaches to culturally responsive assessment. It explores practices that identify family and child-specific strengths and needs, and includes the perspectives of parents, educators and cultural brokers, who provide insights into key cultural practices and expectations. Within these approaches, assessment becomes a pedagogical tool that assists in creating space from which culturally responsive programming can emerge.

Critical Issues in Conducting Research With Immigrant Children

In this article, we explore critical issues in research with immigrant and refugee children. In particular, we examine the implications of various critiques of research methodologies, the ethical implications of researching children in the light of the United Nations (UN; 1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the new approach to childhood studies. We provide and analyze examples of creative research methods that we have developed and used in studies with immigrant children in terms of their varying levels of involving children in research. One is a game-playing approach used to study childhood loneliness; the other is a creative, arts-based methodology designed to overcome the limitations of language-based research when participants do not speak the same language as the researchers. Possibilities for involving immigrant children in researching their own experiences are considered through the development of visual narratives in the form of fotonovelas.