YEMENI WOMEN NAME SUCCESS

Presented by Lisa GonzalvesSt. Mary's College/Alameda Adult School

Teachers not trained in teaching non-literate Ss (Condelli & Wrigley, 2004; Barton & Pitt, 2003).

Non-literate Ss require different kinds of methodologies (Onderdelinden, van de Craats, & Kurvers, 2009; Tarone, 2010; Bigelow, delMas, Hansen, & Tarone, 2006; Perfetti & Marron 1998; Burnaby & Bell, 1989)

Preferable to teach literacy in L1 and later learn L2, but not always realistic

Women have different learning needs than men (Murphy Kilbride, Tyyskä, Ali, & Berman, 2008; Prins, Toso & Schaff, 2009; Filipek Collignon,1994).

Site #1 - citywide 10% of all adult ESL

Ss assessed as non- & low- literate

Site #2 - citywide 7% of all adult ESL Ss

assessed as non- & low literate

Both sites- majority female

Only 30% of all Yemeni women are literate. (CIA)

Yemen is culturally constructed around gendered space.(Kotnik, 2005)

Major areas of immigration to U.S. include Buffalo, Detroit, SF Bay Area & the Central Valley. (Taylor & Holtrop, 2007).

Little or no schooling

Rely on other literate family members

Very little public space to call their own

Often prefer single-gendered classrooms

Have many obstacles to education

Not much research previously conducted

Often a mismatch between:

what the teacher wants Ss to learn

& the student’s perspective (Milligan, 1997)

Paulo Freire (1970a, 1970b, 1985, 1998) alleged it was critical that students’ lives and realities be the crux of the classroom.

My goal: to bring their voices to the table!

1. What do non- and low-literate adult Yemeni females in the ESL classroom perceive as their successes in learning English?

2. What do they view as the main challenges to their success?

3. What do they feel they need in order to be successful?

Site #1– Multilevel CBET (family lit) class

Site #2– Even Start Family Literacy class

All interviews conducted on site

April through June, 2010

8 non-literate women interviewed

2 focus groups (18 adult Yemeni ESL Ss)

representing a variety of literacy levels.

20 women participated altogether

Convenience sample - my own students

Women from urban and rural settings

Aged 18 - 65

1) Most Arabic translators = men

2) Subjects silent with an unknown woman

(high cultural value of maintaining honor)

3) Rapport between the students in the

classroom was already deemed high

4) Better to sacrifice some content to create a

safe environment

Name Country Approximate Age

Time in U.S. Prior schooling

Time in ESL class

Amani * Yemen 62 7 years 0 years 5 years

Farah Yemen 40 8 months 0 years 3 months

Inas Yemen 38 18 years 0 years 5 years

Kamilah Yemen 55 25 years 0 years 3 years

Leena Yemen 35 4 years 0 years 3 years

Maysun * Yemen 36 11 months 4 years 6 months

Rihana Yemen 35 5 years 0 years 9 months

Salma Yemen 50 8 years 0 years 3 months

30 minutes to one hour each.18 Individual interview questions

included:

What constitutes classroom success

A memorable class moment

What their biggest obstacles are

Their own learning process

Areas of support

If they were the teacher....

Name ESL Level Interview subject?

Acted as Translator?

Student of the researcher?

Inas Literacy yes no yes

Dahab Advanced no yes no

Basmah Beginning high no no yes

Zahra Advanced no yes no

Maysun Literacy yes no yes

Adiva Beginning high no no yes

Bahiya Advanced no yes yes

Haifa Intermediate no no previously

Amani Literacy yes no yes

Nibal Intermediate no no no

Name ESL Level Interview subject?

Acted as Translator?

Student of the researcher?

Thurayya Intermediate No Yes Yes

Bahiya Advanced No Yes Yes

Salma Literacy Yes No Yes

Kamilah Literacy Yes No Yes

Yaminah Advanced No Yes Yes

Baraka Intermediate No No Yes

Zahrah Intermediate No No Yes

Rihana Literacy Yes No Yes

Rana Literacy No No Yes

18 adult Yemeni female ESL students

Variety of literacy/ESL levels

6 questions total, focused on

particular difficulties for Yemeni

women in ESL

Results

Ability to perform concrete tasks

Salma: “The basic thing, you know, the phone, the address, how to write their name. You know, stuff like, do you use every day.”

Leena: (re: telephone) “She was looking for an ‘on’ button, she didn't know how to use it. . . . In Yemen, she tried. But in here she didn't try, because she scared that she’s gonna call the police.”

Being able to speak for themselves

Bahiya: (re: husband not always translating for her): “…he said wait, wait and I get so mad. I want to understand . . . I want to know what they're talking about.”

Being able to speak for themselves

Inas: “You know you go to the doctor, okay, and somebody call me for school, for my kids, you understand little bit, you know, I'm happy teacher.”

Confidence & Empowerment at the core of classroom & curriculum

Dahab: “We want to depend on us.”

Feeling encouraged & supported

Feeling supported by each other

Feeling supported by their teacher

Other women in the class inspired them

They knew they could become literate too

Pep talks

Resolve to learn/self-efficacy

Inas: “I need that English for me strong.”

Rihana: “She can try and try, and maybe she can learn something. It’s gonna take a long time to understand, but she could learn.”

Yaminha: “When I learn something new, I need to know more and more.”

Logistical issuesLack of transportation/school too far

Lack of childcare

Domestic duties taking precedent

Zahra: “Like my husband… he's like…you want to go to school, go to school. You want to go shopping do anything that you needed. But these three things have to be ready: My kids have to be cleaned and feeded, the house is clean, the food is cooked.”

Traditional view of education

Bahiya: “…the woman in Yemen, they didn't get some education. Because they say, what are you going to do? You gonna married and you going to stay in the house and take care of the kids and the husband and, your husband family, you not going to do nothing.”

Discomfort as non-literate/ unable to envision success

Bahiya: “…for the Yemeni woman, it's hard for them to come to school, because they never go to school before….Just a lot of women they say, well why am I going to go to school, I'm not going to learn nothing.”

Discomfort as non-literate/unable to envision success

Leena stated she, “…didn't even know anything…doesn't even know how to count, or how to say ABC's …[I] felt embarrassed.”

Not feeling part of the ‘in’ crowd

Essential qualities of teacher

Female

Be patient and encouraging

Be warm, friendly, and happy

Friendship & support go much further

than just being knowledgeable or

covering the appropriate content.

Leena: “If you ask them anything, you don't make fun of them ..You just answer everything. Even if they pronounce like wrong or funny stuff, you help them, you correct them.“

Thurayya: “You have to be good heart when you with new student. Please don't be mad. Don't be, you know, angry all the time. She have to be like a sister.”

Techniques/methods of teaching

Start off slow & focusing on the basics

Take time to explain, repeating oftenDon’t take any prior knowledge for

grantedAssume that Ss either have not been

previously exposed to material or may need it presented once again.

Support at homeChildcare

Homework

Supportive family (quiet time in house)

Farah: “Sometimes she learn here some

words and she go there [home] to give it

to the kids. They learn from her, and

some words they teach her.”

Ss’s ownership of her learningMust find a way to persist, even when it’s hard

Never give up

Ss must encourage each other

“She have to go to school. She have to learn. She have to go every day. She can learn something. She can learn. Even, like…her address or her phone number or, you know, anything.”

Ownership, self-efficacy, confidence

She needs the space and self-confidence

to feel successful in her own right.

She must know that she is capable of

achieving great things

RQ#1: What is success?

1.Ability to perform concrete tasks

2.Being able to speak for themselves

3.Feeling part of the ‘in’ literate crowd

4.Confidence & empowerment at the core

5.Feeling encouraged & supported in class

6.Having support and resolve to learn

RQ #2: Main challenges to success

1.Logistical needs

2.Domestic duties taking precedent

3.Traditional view of education in their

community

4.Discomfort as a non-literate woman

5.Unable to envision success

RQ #3: What do they need to be successful

1.Essential qualities of the teacher

2.Techniques/methods of teaching

3.Support at home

4.Student’s ownership & confidence towards

her learning

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