immigrantchildren.ca

The Canadian Association of Family Resource Centres (FRP Canada) has released a special edition of their journal, Perspectives in Family Support with a focus on immigrant families:

In “The Participation of Immigrant Families in the Activities of Family Resource Programs”, Marie Rhéaume reports on a research study conducted in Québéc that examined the issues and “distances” between immigrant mothers and Québécois mothers and found that, overall, family resource centres because of the “values that underlie the work of these community-based organizations, particularly the climate of respect, help build bridges between the two groups”. For more on the study, see here.

In “Taking an Advocacy With Approach”, as opposed to an advocacy for approach, Lianne Fisher argues for the importance of self-reflection of family resource practitioners who work with newcomers to recognize and resolve possible stigmatizing and marginalizing that may occur when practitioners seek to help newcomers.

An excerpt of “Phase 2 of FRP Canada’s Welcome Here Project: A Summary Report of Lessons Learned”, also available on the FRP Canada website welcomehere.ca.

The issue of cultural adaptation and/or interpretation v. simple translation is covered by Betsy Mann in “Reflecting on Issues of Translation and Interpretation”.

Researcher Dr. Judith K. Bernhard writes on “What are the Essential Elements of Valid Research? The Problem of ‘Data’ and their Collection in Cross-Cultural Contexts” from a personal viewpoint as both an immigrant to Canada and now a practicing academic in immigrant-family related studies.

Two more sources for children’s books about immigration, culture, and etc., following on three of the most popular posts on immigrantchildren.ca:

Children’s books about immigration, originally posted January 2008

Children’s books about immigration II, originally posted March 2008

Children’s books about immigration III, originally posted Oct 2008.

See the page “Anti-Bias and Multicultural Books for Children” on the website by A World of Difference. Also recommended on the NAME listserv is an annotated bibliography by Gresilda A. Tilley-Lubbs, of the Second Language Education program at VirginiaTech. Here is the bibliography in PDF.

We’re building quite a comprehensive selection of multicultural, multilingual books for young children to learn about culture, multiculturalism, anti-bias and equity. Please add more!

In response to community-level needs for empirical data on special populations and on small populations, Dr. Magdalena Janus and her colleagues at the Canadian Council on Learning presents “Patterns of school readiness among selected subgroups of Canadian children: Children with special needs and children with diverse language backgrounds”.

School readiness between children without special needs and whose first language was either English or French was compared to the school readiness of children with special needs whose first language was neither English/French.

UNESCO has released a report “Enhancing learning of children from diverse learning backgrounds: Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in the early years“. Dr. Jessica Ball reviews research and practice and addresses the importance of multilingual education for young children. The review will:

“(1) inform policy-makers of existing research and practices in mother-tongue instruction in early childhood and early primary school years; and

“(2) raise awareness of the value of maintaining the world’s languages and cultures by promoting and resourcing mother tongue-based education for young children”.

From the folks at Early Ed Watch, a US-based blog and part of the New America group (a public policy think tank dedicated to advancing ideas to advance the US), comes news of a 4-part series on dual language learners and what early childhood practitioners need to know in order to best support 2nd (and subsequent) language learning, while maintaining home language(s).

Looks like a useful and interesting series that came out of several key questions; questions worth looking at from a Canadian perspective too:

What to call children who arrive on new shores speaking a language or languages other than English? Early Ed Watch is using “dual language learners”, but “English or French language learners” is used in Ontario/Canada and because programs used to deliver language training are called English or French as Second Language courses, some children are referred to as ESL or FSL children. What do we think? Should we adopt “dual language learner” in place of the awkward E/FSL?

Are dual language learners at risk of performing more poorly than their peers who speak the dominant language of the school community? In the US, there is evidence to suggest this is true. Do people know of any Canadian research in this area?

What is the best way to teach another language? Are there best practices known in Canada? Is immersion the best way? Comments and resources are welcomed.

immigrantchildren.ca will be following the Early Ed Watch series.

The Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Services Agencies of BC (AMSSA) has launched a new website to provide information related to newcomer children. The site Newcomer Children Information Exchange includes information, resources and other items of interest in several areas:

• Early Childhood Education
• English as a Second Language
• Family Dynamics
• Health and Wellness
• Multiculturalism and Identity
• Adaptation and Integration
• Schooling
• Socio-Economics

immigrantchildren.ca welcomes this new presence in cyberspace that addresses the specific and unique needs of immigrant, refugee – all newcomer – children.

The site also features:
• A searchable database of useful research reports, educational materials, and web links
• Theme pages that provide a general overview of key issues affecting newcomer children
• The eventual home (and archive) of the ANCIE e-newsletter.

See the article in the Feb 19th edition of the National Post.

International Mother Language Day was first proclaimed by UNESCO in 1999 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity.

Related resources:

mylanguage.ca ~ mylanguage.ca, a project of Dr. Roma Chumak-Horbatsch, Ryerson University’s School of Early Childhood Education, provides evidence-based research and multi-lingual resources to support parents, teachers, early childhood practitioners and other interested service providers in maintaining and protecting minority languages spoken by children and families in Canadian homes. This year, graduate students of Dr. Chumak-Horbatsch invite the Ryerson community to the School of ECE to commemorate International Mother Language Day.

facebook page ~ set up by Vox Humanitatis, a non-profit organization that supports “less resourced cultures” in maintaining their culture and languages.

UNESCO International Symposium: Technology and the Mother Tongue: Friend or Foe? ~ as part of a 2-day event to mark IMLD, this symposium will bring together researchers, academics and other experts in Paris to discuss “bridging global and local languages and translation, mutual understanding and stereotypes”.

UNESCOs Multilingualism on the Internet ~ the 2004 online issue explores “the linguistic impacts of the Internet and at filling this knowledge gap”.

Leave a comment here in your mother language – and tell us what it is!

Dzi?ki! (Polish)

The 12th annual Metropolis conference will be held March 18-20, 2010 in Montreal. The theme this year is Immigration and Diversity: Crossroads of Culture, Engine of Economic Development. immigrantchildren.ca is pleased to see so many workshops and roundtables addressing issues related to newcomer families and young children, including:

Transnational Families: Where race, culture and adoption intersect, by Susan Crawford, lead for the Halton Multicultural Council project “Transracial Parenting Initiative”. From the abstract: “This workshop presents research on transracial and transnational families created through adoption across Canada. Presentations examine cultural enrichment through adoption, gaps in delivering pre- and post-adoption services and the needsof transracial familites; and adult adoptees’ complex experiences and understandings of ethno-racial identity”.

Conflict and Violence in Immigrant Families, by Madine VanderPlaat, St. Mary’s University. From the abstract: “This workshop will examine issues related to gender, conflict and violence within immigrant families. Participants will discuss the factors that contribute to stressors as well as the challenges and opportunities for culturally competent social responses”.

Health and Access to it for Migrants after Birth, by Anita Gagnon, Denise Bradshaw, Marlo Turner-Ritchie. From the abstract: “Tri-city (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal) data on the health and service needs of refugee, asylum-seeking, non-refugee immigrant and Canadian-born women and their infants during pregnancy, at birth and during the first four months after birth will be presented in conjunction with potential policy responses to these date”.

School, Community and Collaborative Practice: Fostering the Integration of Immigrant and Refguee Youth in the Canadian School Context, by Sophie Yohani, N. Ernest Khalema. From the abstract: “Creating welcoming communities in educational settings is vital for newcomer students who may have a history that hinders adaptation. This workshop brings together academic researchers, non-profit practitioners, a government program officer, and a graduate student who share expertise in community-based collaborative practice to address the adaptation of refugee and immigrant students in the Canadian school context”.

Taking Care into Consideration: Local and Transnational Implications for Families, Children and Youth, by Alexandra Dobrowolsky and Evangelia Tastsoglou. From the abstract: “Familial networks, local and transnational, are critical to immigrants’ decision-making processes. The accommodation of care concerns (care of children, elderly parents, etc). also becomes a key consideration for migrants, especially for women. This workshop explores the repercussions of familial networks, and the complex negotiation of care concerns vis-a-vis attraction and retention”.

For more details on the above, see the conference program page.

From the Speaking in Tongues website: “Julian, Jason, Kelly, Durell.  Four typical American kids with one exception.  Their parents placed them in schools where, from the first day of Kindergarten, their teachers speak Chinese or Spanish.  Why? To give them a career edge.  To raise their academic achievement.  To maintain their home language.  Or to help communicate with their grandparents.

“What would it be like if your parents put you in a school where the teacher spoke a foreign language?”

Speaking in Tongues makes the case for promoting the maintaining of ones home language. Speaking in Tongues follows 4 diverse children in their roles as global citizens.

For more information and promotional goodies, see the film website.

The IFLA Section Library Services to Multicultural Populations will hold an IFLA Satellite meeting in Copenhagen, August 17-18, 2010. From the call for papers: “We are living in a changing world where populations are moving and local societies are becoming increasingly diverse – socially, economically, ethnically, linguistically and culturally. In the meantime, the physical library as a concept is under increasing pressure in the twenty-first century”.

The Danish Library Centre for Integration and Copenhagen Public Libraries are organising this post conference/satellite meeting held in conjunction with the annual IFLA conference held in Gothenburg (Sweden). Paper are being invited to discuss some of the following possible topics:

Best innovative practice: Library projects that have excelled in creating new and innovative services to multicultural or bicultural populations either using new technology, new partnerships etc.

Critical perspectives on how libraries, as institutions in the twenty first century, meet the ideals: free access to knowledge, accessibility for all and inclusiveness.

Dynamic facilitation of books, music and films in minority or traditional languages and general library services to multilingual communities.
1. Inclusive communication strategies and awareness of the communicative aspects of physical space and presentation.
2. Recruitment strategies – how do we recruit library staff (on all levels) in the future, so that employees reflect the local community?

Submission are due March 1, 2010. For more information, contact Susy Tastesen, Copenhagen Public Libraries: +45 33 66 67 66 or abstract@iflacopenhagen.com.

BRYCS – the US-based group – Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services has released a guide on best practices in interviewing newly-arrived immigrant or refugee children. The introduction to this guide says that in the US, agencies that receive any federal funding must provide “services of an equal quality to people who have Limited English Proficiency” (LEP) and “To provide equal quality services, it is vital to allow LEP children and families to use the language that they are most comfortable speaking”, meaning that federally funded agencies must provide bilingual interviewers or foreign language interpreters.

Does anyone know if Canada has any similar requirement? Should we?