The program
David Fuller and Leah Diachok's English Language Learners with Limited Formal Schooling (ELL LFS) Program is a very unique approach to education. The program has less than 20 students, the majority of whom are born in refugee camps in Nepal. It is designed specifically for students who are brand new to Canada and are unable to function in a mainstream classroom. Through the use of restorative educational practices, the program focuses on creating safe places, building healthy relationships, healing through sharing, and generating self-esteem through recognition and respect. This website focuses on the literary and digital resources that were most effective within the program, while studying the philosophy of restorative education.
Impact of the Program
The need for this program is particularly apparent to any teacher that has had an ELL student in their classroom. While some differentiation is effective, many of these students end up falling between the cracks because they are lost in the complicated curriculum and in-depth discussion that the Alberta Program of Studies requires. This ELL LFS program is designed for those students and assists them in getting to a point where they are able to enter a mainstream classroom with confidence. It provides a safe space where they are able to discuss their past and plan for their future without the threat of failing or falling behind. This program is still in its inception stage, but its effects are already becoming apparent. Students that have graduated from the program have been able to enter mainstream classes, transfer to the college and continue on with their education. They have grown in their identity as Canadians while reinforcing their native cultural pride. My project allows teachers to get a glimpse into the program and see the techniques and resources that we found most effective. They will be able to use these resources to further their connections with their own students, ESL and English speakers alike. You can find out more about the program in the video below, filmed last year and featuring my co-teacher David Fuller.
Impact of the Program
The need for this program is particularly apparent to any teacher that has had an ELL student in their classroom. While some differentiation is effective, many of these students end up falling between the cracks because they are lost in the complicated curriculum and in-depth discussion that the Alberta Program of Studies requires. This ELL LFS program is designed for those students and assists them in getting to a point where they are able to enter a mainstream classroom with confidence. It provides a safe space where they are able to discuss their past and plan for their future without the threat of failing or falling behind. This program is still in its inception stage, but its effects are already becoming apparent. Students that have graduated from the program have been able to enter mainstream classes, transfer to the college and continue on with their education. They have grown in their identity as Canadians while reinforcing their native cultural pride. My project allows teachers to get a glimpse into the program and see the techniques and resources that we found most effective. They will be able to use these resources to further their connections with their own students, ESL and English speakers alike. You can find out more about the program in the video below, filmed last year and featuring my co-teacher David Fuller.
The students
This year, the students were predominantly Nepali refugees, who immigrated to Canada anywhere from 1 month to 2 years ago. They are aged 14 to 18 and have an English proficiency level of 2 or less. There was also one student who joined us from a refugee camp in Burundi.
A Brief History of Nepal
When I was first told about the program I was confused--were the students Bhutanese and living in a Nepali refugee camp, or Nepali living in a Bhutanese refugee camp? Or were they neither, or both? The answer is not black-and-white because the situation is somewhat is confusing.
In 1984, the king of Bhutan instigated a Citizenship Act which declared that unless you could prove your Bhutanese citizenship, you would be removed from the country. Since the government did not have a proper paperwork system in place, there were many people who were unable to prove their citizenship, despite their family having lived in the country for hundreds of years (for some, they had been there longer than even the king's family). In 1990, over 100,000 people were expelled from Bhutan and sent to Nepal. Nepal did not have the resources, or the desire, to take this influx of people, so they set up refugees camps. Unless they were directly connected to someone in Nepal, these misplaced people were unable to leave the camps. Some wanted to return to their home in Bhutan, while others wanted to be free to return to Nepal, but neither country was willing to accept them. Over the next 20 years, the refugees were dispersed all over the world to receiving countries such as the USA, Australia, and Canada.
Lethbridge was a designated destination for refugees, and it also received secondary growth from refugees travelling from other Canadian cities. It has become the home of the second largest population of Bhutanese people in the world. There is a great need to reach out and accommodate for this population. To learn more about the history of Nepal, you can watch Al Jazeera's great, and short, documentary here or a report of their history from the Canadian Bhutanese Society here.
When I was first told about the program I was confused--were the students Bhutanese and living in a Nepali refugee camp, or Nepali living in a Bhutanese refugee camp? Or were they neither, or both? The answer is not black-and-white because the situation is somewhat is confusing.
In 1984, the king of Bhutan instigated a Citizenship Act which declared that unless you could prove your Bhutanese citizenship, you would be removed from the country. Since the government did not have a proper paperwork system in place, there were many people who were unable to prove their citizenship, despite their family having lived in the country for hundreds of years (for some, they had been there longer than even the king's family). In 1990, over 100,000 people were expelled from Bhutan and sent to Nepal. Nepal did not have the resources, or the desire, to take this influx of people, so they set up refugees camps. Unless they were directly connected to someone in Nepal, these misplaced people were unable to leave the camps. Some wanted to return to their home in Bhutan, while others wanted to be free to return to Nepal, but neither country was willing to accept them. Over the next 20 years, the refugees were dispersed all over the world to receiving countries such as the USA, Australia, and Canada.
Lethbridge was a designated destination for refugees, and it also received secondary growth from refugees travelling from other Canadian cities. It has become the home of the second largest population of Bhutanese people in the world. There is a great need to reach out and accommodate for this population. To learn more about the history of Nepal, you can watch Al Jazeera's great, and short, documentary here or a report of their history from the Canadian Bhutanese Society here.