Relational engagement it’s the extent to which students feel connected to their teachers, peers, and others at school. Successful adaptation among immigrant students appears to be linked to the quality of relationships they forge in their school settings. Indeed, social support at school has been implicated in the academic adaptation of all students, and immigrant students appear to be no exception. Social relations provide a variety of protective functions – a sense of belonging, emotional support, tangible assistance and information, guidance, role modeling, and positive feedback. Research suggests that relationships in school play a particularly crucial role in promoting socially competent behavior in the classroom and fostering academic engagement and achievement (Sadowski, 51). Continue reading Social Relations for Newcomers
Category Archives: Newcomers & Perpetual Foreigners
Learn the system to play the sytem
“Facing such charged attitudes that assault and undermine their sense of self, minority children may come to experience the institutions of the dominant society – as alien terrain producing an order of inequality.” (Doucet & Orozco, pg. 169)
The education system in the United States is a study in contradictions. For some students it represents a ticket to a better life while for others it can be little more than the figurative nails in their own coffins. In other words system that in theory should be the great equalizer has become a instrument to further divide us. After years and years of skin color politics that degrade and diminish people of color, students enter our schools and have but a snowball’s chance in hell of wading past the sea of people fighting against them to find someone to teach them how the system works so that in return they can play the system and win. Continue reading Learn the system to play the sytem
From a Foreigner’s Perspective
One student explained her silence in class by saying, “I don’t really have much to say. The American kids have had a lot of really interesting experiences. Lots of them have been to Europe and stuff.” Continue reading From a Foreigner’s Perspective
Being a good citizen
What does it mean to be a good citizen? To be a citizen at all? Who gets to designate this status and what are its benefits?
In What Age Should Chinese Students Start Studying in the U.S.?
Research has shown that English proficiency that enables quality engagement with academic subjects takes up to seven years to acquire, even when a student’s English appears functional under other circumstances. (Suárez-Orozco, Qin, & Amthor, 2008)
As the rapid economic growth in China, sending children to study in the U.S. has become popular and affordable for many Chinese families. According to the report of US Department of Homeland Security (2014), by January 15, 2014, China contributes almost 29% of the total number of 991,915 active nonimmigrant students in America, up to nearly 300,000. At the same time, the percentage of younger age (13-16 years old) international Continue reading In What Age Should Chinese Students Start Studying in the U.S.?