From Local Village to Global Village

Developing skills and broadening horizons for refugees from Burma in a Language, Literacy and Numeracy classroom

Mandy Homewood 3/10/09 (ACAL Conference)

Overview: how can we as educationalists broaden the knowledge and comprehension of the students’ new world, improve the process of settlement, while raising their linguistic levels?

It helps if we:

1. have an understanding of Burma today

2. know the Australian context

3. offer support structures

4. use informed methodology

5. provide activities and assessments that are meaningful and relevant

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Burma or Myanmar ?

• 1989 decision of military to change the English name from Burma to Myanmar

• World usage of Myanmar is mixed

• UN uses Myanmar

• US, Australia, Canada use Burma

• I shall generally use BurmaSwinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 4

Burma – quick facts

Burma’s total land area is closest in size to:

A) AustraliaB) NSWC) WAD) TAS

Answer:

B) NSW

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Burma – quick facts

Burma’s population (2009 est.) is close to

A) 49 millionB) 100 millionC) 72 millionD) 38 million

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Answer:

A) 49 million

Burma – quick facts

Burma became independent in:

A) 1962B) 1972C) 1948D) 1945

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Answer:

C) 1948

Burma – quick facts

Burma shares a border with:

A) 5 countriesB) 4 countriesC) 6 countriesD) 2 countries

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Map Burma

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Burma – quick facts

The approximate percentage of the population of Burma who speak the official language, Burmese, is

A) 95%B) 65%C) 92%D) 82%

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Answer:

B) 65%

Burma – quick facts

The official title of the military regime of Burma is:

A) The Official and Respected People’s Party

B) The Government of Myanmar

C) The State Peace and Development Council

D) The Venerable and Honourable People’s Government

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Answer:

C) The State Peace and Development Council

Economy - overview

• one of poorest countries in Asia

• bleak outlook• 70% of the population

are subsistence level • corruption/black

market a major concern

Source: http://www.dfat.gov.au/

• Government spending priorities skewed towards military and large-scale infrastructure

• this at expense of provision of basic services such as health and education.

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Languages Religion

• Burmese (official)

• a wide variety of other languages is spoken, especially by ethnic minorities representing 4 major language families

• 89% Buddhist • 4% Muslim• 4% Christian

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Organised crime in Burma

Human trafficking• women, children and men

trafficked for purpose of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation

• military and civilian officials remain directly involved in acts of forced labour

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Illicit drugs• Burma remains second

largest producer of illicit opium

• major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional consumption

• lack of government will to take on major trafficking groups

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Human Rights in Myanmar Report to UN Human Rights Council

(2009)

• Ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of Myanmar

• Politically motivated arrests, including the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, Aung Sang Suu Kyi

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• Lack of fair and public hearings• Lack of transparency of political

processes• Rights’ violations, including enforced

disappearances, arbitrary detentions• Rape and other forms of sexual

violence, torture and other forms of ill-treatment

• Source:http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC

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Human Rights in Myanmar UN Human Rights Council (2009)

Who is a refugee?

The UN 1951 Convention defines a refugee as:

Any person who owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality, and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country .

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Statistical Snapshot of Refugees*

Residing in Myanmar

• Internally Displaced Persons :

67,290• Stateless Persons:

723,571

*As at January 2009Source: UNHCR/Governments.

Originating from Myanmar

• Refugees:184,413• Asylum Seekers:22,338• Internally Displaced

Persons:67,290

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Chin

• a Sino-Tibetan race

• predominantly inhabit Chin State

• composed of many individual tribes, many different languages

• main religion (70% of Chins)is Christianity

• culture is rich in folk tales, dance and music

• respect for elderly

• patriarchal society

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Some Chin students at Swinburne

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Karen

• second largest ethnic group in Burma (about 7 million)

• traditional Karen village society revolves around a number of core values, such as:

- importance of family and community,

- respect for the elderly

- care for the poor and disadvantaged

- high level of equality between the sexes

• for community organisation, the Karen have an established democratic tradition

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Some Karen students at Swinburne

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THE AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT

Top 10 countries of birth for offshore humanitarian arrivals by applicant type(a) - 2007-08

Primary % primary Secondary % secondary Total

Burma               850 44 1 070 56 1 920 Iraq                470 28 1 210 72 1 680 Afghanistan         250 26 700 74 950 Sudan               280 34 540 66 820 Thailand           40 6 620 94 660 Congo, Republic of 120 26 350 74 470 Iran                110 26 310 74 420 Sierra Leone       70 28 180 72 250 Tanzania            10 4 230 96 240 Liberia            90 38 150 63 240 Other countries 550 29 1 370 71 1 920 Total             2 840 30 6 730 70 9 570

(a) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: DIAC Settlement Database.

Distribution of settlers from Burma by Australian state

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Settlers Arriving from 1 Jan 2008 to 1 Sep 2009

Source: Department of Immigration and Citizenship Settlement Database.

Country of Birth of Client Contacts at the Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne)

• IIn June 2009,there were 364 client contacts. People born in Burma (245) were the main group. • Source: Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne), viewed 6/9/09 http://www.miceastmelb.com.au/statistics

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Nature of client enquiries at the MICIn June 2009, there were 804 enquiries. 130 of them were associated with

housing and accommodation and 146 with understanding and completing forms.

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Swinburne study and employment supports

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• classroom based training in small groups

• teach computer skills• visiting guest speakers eg

fire safety, police, Consumer Affairs, Foundation House, the MIC

• Swinburne Student Services such as the Counsellor, Nurse

• Excursions : - visits to local facilities such

as the public library - trips to the city using

public transport to visit eg courts, museums

• employability skills

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Features of our programs at Swinburne

‘Taster’ programs eg Welding

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My class• Certificate in Spoken and Written English (CSWE)111 (ISLPR* 1+ in

the 4 macro skills)• part of the Language, Literacy and

Numeracy Program

* International Second Language Proficiency Rating

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My class (cont)

• 16 - 20 students• 40% Chin ethnic background• 40% Karen ethnic background• Most have up to Year 10 level in Burma,

but with interrupted schooling• Ages range from 18 – around 60

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Quotations from my students

• “In my dreams I cry for my parents in Burma but then I wake up and have tears on my face.”

• “The Burmese soldiers like to eat but they don’t like to cook.”

• “I was lucky. I was in a jail for a few years. But then I escaped because the Burmese soldiers were drunk one night”.

• ‘In the camp little rice, some vegetables and fish paste. But in Burma only little rice.”

• I

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Underpinning theories for language learning

Halliday (1979) outlined 3 perspectives on second language learning:

1. Language is not represented solely as syntactic forms, but as a resource for making meaning

2. Learning through language includes using the resources of language to interact with new knowledge and ideas

3.Learning about language involves understanding the

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Underpinning theories for language learning (cont)

3. (cont) choices available in language systems and how particular choices relate to the social system and to the culture

• In particular, underpinning the CSWE is the importance of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday 1985) , wherein language is viewed as a social resource for meaningful discourse

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Some broad themes, activities, assessments

• Health• Community• Employability• Environment• Technology (included

in all)

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Bibliography

Australian Government Department of Immigration & Citizenship, Access and Equity in Government services Report 2006-2008

Burma,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki, viewed 7/9/09

CIA 2009,The World Factbook, viewed 6/9/09, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook

Craney, A. 2009, Police aim to quell Burmese refugees' fear, New Australia Media, viewed 6/9/09, http://www.newaustraliamedia.org

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations 2008, Australian Core Skills Framework, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra

Department Foreign Affairs and Trade , viewed 15/9/09, http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/burma/burma_brief.html

Human Rights Watch, June 9 2005, viewed 6/9/09

Human Rights Watch 2009 ,viewed 6/9/09,http://www.hrw.org/en

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Bibliography

Halliday, M.A.K. 1979, Language Development Project. Occasional Paper No.1,Curriculum Development Centre, Canberra

Halliday M.A.K. 1985, An introduction to functional grammar, Edward Arnold, London

Human Rights Watch, June 9 2005, viewed 6/9/09

Human Rights Watch 2009 ,viewed 6/9/09,http://www.hrw.org/en

Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne), viewed 6/9/09http://www.miceastmelb.com.au/statistics

Myanmar, viewed 7/9/09, http://geography.about.com/

NSW AMES 2008, Certificate 111 in Spoken and Written English, NSW AMES

Springall, J. 2008 Keys to Work A teaching kit for developing the employability skills of CALD learners, AMES Melbourne Commonwealth of Australia

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Bibliography

UN Human Rights Council 2009, Situation of human rights in Myanmarviewed 6/9/09,http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC

Victorian Government, viewed 17/8/09,http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

Victorian Government, viewed 6/9/09, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au Wajnryb, R 1986, Grammar Workout The Dictogloss Approach, Melting Pot Press, Sydney

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