Refugee "Dreams": Teachers Facilitating Hope for Students and Parents With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Preliteracy in Canada

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Educating Refugees Around the World: Theoretical and Practical Considerations

Abstract

Many Western countries’ identities were forged by welcoming the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Statue of Liberty). This conceptually-based paper uses narrative inquiry to explore ways to support educators in Greater Vancouver, Canada, in teaching newly arrived refugee students in schools, and also with their parents in educational neuroscience workshops. Last year, 40,081 new Syrian refugees landed, following other recent waves of Iraqis, Somalians, and Sudanese. They are not typical English Language Learners (ELLs); many have experienced trauma, and others may have no literacy schooling in their first language. The arts may provide a means of developing literacy skills, self expression, a sense of belonging, a new identity and possibly, reducing trauma, as they transition to their new lives.

Authors

• Susan Barber, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Kathryn Elizabeth Patten, Simon Fraser University

• Lorna Louise Ramsay, The University of British Columbia

• Zeina El-Nashar, Surrey School District

• Amrit Kaur Cojocaru, Simon Fraser University