DukeEngage participant Anthony Pecoraro highlights the importance of promoting English literacy and social inclusion for refugees in Ireland
As an American student whose previous idea of international travel was the occasional jaunt across the border to Canada, I expected coming to Dublin this summer to bring a pretty good amount of culture shock. However, this being a very metropolitan city, the hardest thing I’ve had to adjust to is developing a keener ear to the Irish accent.
Over the summer I had the opportunity to work at the City of Dublin VEC Separated Children’s Service, specifically in the Refugee Access Programme (Rap) School. This programme provides short-term education in basic subjects like English and maths in preparation for separated children to enter the mainstream Irish education system.
At the time of our recent graduation, students at the school spoke 10 separate mother tongues and truly hailed from all over the world. I’ve found that the biggest struggle the non-native-speaking students encountered in their efforts to integrate was not, in fact, mastering English, but rather overcoming the anxiety at hearing their own voices speaking English. Indeed, this apprehension ¬– perhaps accentuated by the vulnerable positions in which the students found themselves – was a more formidable barrier to communication in Ireland than speaking the language itself.
Very recently, our programme received students from a country in which English is the language of instruction at school, but when presented with a preliminary assessment of English literacy, they were clearly at the level of an absolute beginner. However, three days later – after the initial shock of the arrival had worn off and they had become slightly more assimilated and comfortable with school life – they demonstrated English skills on par with some of the most advanced students in the school who had been studying for up to six months. The only possible explanation for their poor initial performance was their anxiety at encountering English as the dominant language for the first time.
Another student arrived with truly not a word of English competency. Three weeks after starting school, we could encourage him into saying each individual word of a single, simple sentence. Yet when we tried to get him to string those words together in a cogent sentence, he simply could not convince himself to say it. He had the skills, but hadn’t broken the barrier of fear of failure that results when one is forced from the comfort zone into uncharted territory.
None of this timidity is the fault of the students. Oftentimes, these young people are without family or indeed anyone with whom they can converse in their native tongue. To be scared and isolated only serves to heighten their lack of enthusiasm to communicate in a foreign language.
In reality, no one is to blame for their reluctance, save for a system that defines these young adults as “separated children” in the first place. This category and the isolation that comes with it makes it very hard for such students to feel at ease and confident in their own skin. But removing the fear of failure would stimulate the flow of language and rate of integration into Irish culture.
In order to promote assimilation of these young adults to life and education in Ireland, more might be done to create a sense of comfort that would make it easier for them to take the chance of expressing themselves in the common language and functioning in an English-speaking environment. If they feel as though they’re making positive strides in being integrated and accepted as part of the culture, being comfortable in their new home, instead of concerning themselves with navigating the clumsy bureaucracy of asylum seeking in Ireland, their education would benefit. In the end, this would also create a positive feedback loop of social integration and advancement of communication in their new country.
It may be prudent to extend education to include available services, agencies and others that would help these young people in times of great stress. If comfort in their new home is given more importance, we very well may see a remarkably accelerated learning curve in regard to both English literacy and community engagement.
