Cross Cultural Mental Health Conference

1. Cross Cultural Mental Health Conference • October 6, 2011 • 9:10 – 10:30

3. Lost Between Cultures: Teenage Immigrant Students Navigating Canadian Schools

4. Statistics Canada • Census 2006

5. Greater Vancouver • In 2000 Vancouver had the largest foreign-born population by percentage in the world.

6. Major Metropolitan Centres - 2006 • Washington, D.C. – 19.90% • Montreal - 20.60% • New York, NY – 27.90% • Melbourne – 28.90% • Sydney – 31.70% • Los Angeles – 34.70% • Miami – 36.50% • Vancouver – 39.60% • Toronto – 45.70%

7. Burnaby, B.C. • Foreign-born 50.51%

8. Richmond, British Columbia • Foreign-born: 57.40% • 2001-2006: Half of all immigrants were from the People’s Republic of China

9. ESL Students • Vancouver – 60% ESL • Richmond – 60% ESL

10. Canadian-Born ESL • Vancouver kindergarten • 60% ESL • 60% of the 60% - Canadian-born

12. One Immigrant • 5 years old • Cantonese speaker • Entered kindergarten – 0-level English • Grade 3 – attended after-school Chinese classes

13. One Immigrant • Learned to read and write Chinese • Could not learn to read or write English • Had trouble in school • Grade 4 – ADD? Emotional lability • Truancy from school • Drop out – grade 8 • But, he sounded like a native English speaker

14. ESL Terms • Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) – 2 to 3 years • Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) – 5 to 7 years

15. A Study • 5,000 randomly selected Canadian-born students • 5,000 randomly selected immigrant students

16. Grading Rubric Grade Conversions A = 4.00 A- = 3.75 B+ = 3.50 B = 3.00 B- = 2.75 C+ = 2.50 C = 2.00 C- = 1.75 D+ = 1.50 D = 1.00 D- = .75 F = 0.00 P = 1.00 SG = 1.00

25. Eighteen Secondary Schools

26. Disappearing Students

27. Why these differences? • NOT intelligence • Socio-economic differences • Familial ability to scaffold students

28. Equal Access? • 2000 - 41,272 graduated from grade 12 • 8% of Spanish speakers enrolled in university • 9% of Hindi speakers enrolled in university • 13% of Punjabi speakers enrolled in university • 14% of Tagalog speakers enrolled in University • 16% of Vietnamese speakers enrolled in University

29. Equal Access? • 17% of Portuguese speakers enrolled in University • 18% of Japanese speakers enrolled in University • 24% of Polish speakers enrolled in University • 28% of Korean speakers enrolled in University

30. Equal Access • 33% of Persian speakers enrolled in University • 47% of Chinese speakers enrolled in University

31. Family Socio-Economic Status • Scaffolding

32. Secondary Schools – Difficult for Immigrants

33. I spend two years with no friends, no one. I spend two years not talking, anyone. I go school, I go home, I talk only my mother, my brother. Best friend United States. Cry, all time, cry. being sick, all time, sick, stomach hurt, head hurt, heart hurt, all time, bad dream, all time, all time (female, Kurdish, 16 years).

34. ESL students work so hard. Even if you do really well you just get an ordinary job. They have no future, that's why so many drop out. Kids have to work to make enough money for comfortable life, no, not even comfortable life. In school there's gangs, there's drugs, oh, it's horrible thing and school's so small, it's unhealthy. I have a few cousins, they all drop out. There's no future so what's the point? You pay extra to go to better class. Money is so important. Most parents can't afford it (female, Vietnam, 17 years).

35. I’m Kurd, Iraq. No one know (?), no one. Here, many India people, think we being India. Here Chinee people, think India. No one know I not India (male, Kurdish, 14 years).

36. They put us in this part where dogs are better than Russian are. We poor house, crowded. All around you see people with dogs, walk dogs. Dogs better than Russians. They put us with old blue ladies, lots of fags, everyone walking around with bags of dog sh--” (male, Russian, 18 years).

37. I learned English because the only ones who were friendly to me were Canadian students. The Chinese don’t talk to me and they don’t want to be friends because I am a Korean and I don’t speak Chinese and they don’t speak English, just Chinese (male, Korean, 17 years).

38. You can’t learn nothing if teacher doesn’t give it (male, Russian, 16 years).

39. In Hong Kong all we do, memorize, memorize, memorize, day and night, 5 hours homework every day. In Vancouver as we do is think, think, think, nothing more. It’s hard to think when the teacher doesn’t tell you what to do (female, Cantonese, 18 years)

40. “When I knew I was put in the ESL class, I was very disappointed. In the first week, I was totally upset and was in a very low mood because I didn’t have many friends, and all things around me were unfamiliar. Besides, I didn’t want to be distinct from others. I wanted to be a regular student. However, after the first day of integration, the master of hell told me where heaven was. As I first stepped in the regular classroom, I could easily feel the coldness and bitterness in the air. Everyone was indifferent to me. I was standing in front of the classroom like a fool waiting for the teacher to come. I was so embarrassed that I wanted to cry out and run back to the ESL class. As time went by, I made more friends in the ESL class and we studied together like brothers and sisters. We cared for and helped each other. But I remain an unconcerned visitor in the regular class after six months. I talk to no one. So now I am travelling between heaven and hell, back and forth” (female – Cantonese – Hong Kong – 15 years).

43. University Life

45. One Immigrant

47. Thank you! • lee.gunderson@ubc.ca