A Lesson in Empathy

On Sunday I returned from a respite from volunteering and work; I was lucky enough to spend the last two weeks in August on an amazing European vacation traveling in France and Italy! While I have previously traveled quite a bit, it was the first time I went to countries where I or someone I was traveling with did not know the language. While nearly everyone we encountered was extremely patient and kind as I struggled to express myself through pantomiming and my hastily assembled handful of French or Italian phrases, I was reminded of my students learning English.

Every small task, from ordering meals to purchasing train tickets, became a potentially exhausting endeavor, often rife with miscommunication. Clearly most of these encounters were not life threatening and provided more laughs than headaches, but I couldn’t help thinking about learners in my class who struggle to use English to make doctor’s appointments, read prescription labels, decipher bank statements, enroll their children in school and perform other essential functions.

I hope to remember the range of feelings that accompany navigating a country in a language foreign to me, especially the challenge, frustration, and at times humiliation of not being able to express myself, acquire information or even just chat with people.

Clearly vacationing in Europe does not even begin to compare to the varying experiences of the immigrants and refugees in my class learning English, and while most Europeans I spoke with knew at least some English, many students’ native tongue is not spoken by, or sometimes has never even been heard of by many United States citizens. However, being immersed in the language barrier challenge for two weeks has given me an even greater admiration for the students’ determination. I suspect the experience will translate into more patience in the classroom.

If we were to travel to your former country . . .

Today we did a writing activity that incorporated new vocabulary words as well as geography. My co-teacher and I wrote questions on the board which the students had to copy and answer in complete sentences. After each question, we did the activity where the students walked around the room asking others the question they had just answered.

These were the questions we answered:

If we were to travel to your former country . . .
• To what continent would we go?
• How would we travel?
• What weather would we expect?
• What type of clothes should we take?
• What languages would we hear?
• What cities would we visit?
• What kinds of houses do people live in?

Continent was a new vocabulary word for many students. Those who had previous schooling quickly realized what the word translated into in their own language and had no problem with the concept. Others were learning the concept of a continent for the first time; it was tricky to explain. One moment that was particularly striking for me occurred while I was working with a learner from Ethiopia who readily participates in class. I asked her what continent she was from, and she was able to pick out Africa from list. I then asked her to show me Africa on the map of the world, and she could not do so.

Volunteering in adult basic education is never without humor – today one learner wrote “air balloon” instead of “airplane” when describing how she traveled from Vietnam to the United States.

Where in the world

Today’s topic was traveling. The questions alternated between "have you" and "would you like to":
• Have you been to South America?
• Would you like to travel to Antarctica?
• Have you seen the Pacific Ocean?

We used the globe to point out various countries and continents. Nearly everyone decided they wouldn’t like to visit Antarctica expect for Aziza and me. Many cited the cold weather as their reason, but Aziza was determined to see the wildlife. It was interesting because sometimes the students didn’t grasp the concept of imagining, in that they thought that they had to answer based on if they had the financial means to travel to that place at this time. I had to explain to them that we were only thinking in theory and that it didn’t matter if we literally were able to go to those places.

One thing that impacted me was when the students were asked if the weather in the north and south poles was hot or cold. Some students repeatedly answered hot for one of the poles. It was a good reminder of the disparate previous educational backgrounds of the students in my class.