Jonathan G. Silin introduces the 17th issue of Occasional Papers with the concept of  strangers  - people of all ages who perceive themselves or have been perceived by others as outsiders. The ability to welcome the stranger - or groups of strangers - into the classroom is essential to building a productive, caring community of learners. This philosophy sets the tone for the following essays that illustrate the importance of creating a healthy learning environment for immigrants

Silin, Jonathan

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EDUCATE (Bank Street College of Education)

Occasional Paper Series Volume 2006 Number 17 Welcoming the Stranger: Essays on Teaching and Learning in Diverse Society Article 1 May 2006 Introduction: Welcoming the Stranger Jonathan Silin Bank Street College of Education Follow this and additional works at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series  Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Educational Methods Commons Recommended Citation Silin, J. (2006). Introduction: Welcoming the Stranger. Occasional Paper Series, 2006 (17). Retrieved from https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2006/iss17/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Occasional Paper Series by an authorized editor of Educate. For more information, please contact kfreda@bankstreet.edu. occasional paper series silin 3INTRODUCTIONWELCOMING THE STRANGER: ESSAYS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING IN A DIVERSE SOCIETYjonathan g. silinStories allow us to break through barriers and to share in another'sexperience; they warm us. Like a rap on the window, they call us toattention. Through literature and people's stories we discover a variety of situations that make people feel like strangers. We discover what strangers have to teach us.—Virginia ShabatayThis issue of Occasional Papers is filled with stories by and about“strangers”—people of all ages who perceive themselves or have been perceived byothers as outsiders either because of who they are, where they have come from, oreven how recently they have arrived in this country. 1Successful educators know that the ability to welcome the stranger into theclassroom, indeed an entire group of strangers each September, is essential tobuilding a productive, caring community of learners. They know, too, that, fromthe point of view of students new to the school or society, the culture of the class-room may feel very strange. Welcoming teachers are willing to step outside oftheir own cultural frames to see the school from the student’s perspective.Common purposes and goals emerge in classrooms only when there is agenuine sharing of the things that really matter to everyone present, not just whenthe rules and routines are posted. In classrooms where students can tell their sto-ries, they come to feel safe, to know that they will be heard, and to recognize thatthey can legitimately hold on to parts of the past even as they move into thefuture. Students also learn that difficult emotions—uncertainty, ambiguity, loss—can be managed, contained, and shared rather than ignored or silenced.Beyond the school itself, greeting the stranger is at the heart of the demo-1I would like to thank Linda Levine, Brooke Nalle, and Fran Schwartz for their close readings of earlydrafts of this introduction.cratic experience. In the post 9/11 world, that experience carries great ambiva-lence. Americans both welcome strangers and are fearful of the changes they maybring. Many political leaders, for example, talk about the need for tolerance andrespect while simultaneously promulgating new restrictions on immigration, stu-dent visas, and travel.Immigrants have played a foundational role in the demographic and eco-nomic expansion of this country. Less often noticed is the symbolic function theyperform as well. Every new immigrant reminds us that America is a good place tobe, a place that people choose to come, often at great peril and making huge sacri-fices to do so.Ironically, even as fewer and fewer people vote each year—and voting is themoment when we express a commitment to the consensual nature of our govern-ment—more and more immigrants take the oath of citizenship. In this way, theyenact their commitment to the democratic ideals and practices that those who arealready enfranchised neglect in shocking numbers.The significance of becoming a citizen is brought home to me whenever Ire-read Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate with my Bank Street graduate students.The description of his family’s flight across Europe in the aftermath of theArmenian genocide brings with it a renewed understanding of the suffering that iscaused by the displacement of whole populations. It also strengthens my apprecia-tion for the rights and privileges of citizenship in a democracy. Balakian writesmovingly about his father’s transit to America during the 1920’s:My father’s Aunt Astrid recalled that as the Balakians boarded theBerengaria in France for America, my father was complaining about the wrinkle in his woolen trousers. He was shouting, “Il faut repasser mon pantalon.” He was making a commotion. Because my grandfather had gone ahead to set himself up in the practice of medicine, my grand-mother was alone with her three young children and a family passportfrom a country that no longer existed. Republique Armenienne in flam-boyant script. A ten-by-twelve-inch piece of parchment with a three-by-five-inch photo of the family. My father with a Beatle haircut wearing a4 bank street college of educationoccasional paper series silin 5sailor suit. His eyes dark and playful. It’s the spring of 1926. I think ofhim, not yet six, annoyed by the crease in his trousers. Trying to createorder. The name of his birthplace has disappeared from the map, and themeaning of that map, too, has disappeared. I picture him leaning over therailing of the Berengaria, the Atlantic Ocean in the background.How many students and their families bring with them experiences ofbeing stateless, outsiders without recourse to any polity? What does it mean whenyour country of origin has been expunged from the map, and its peoples slaugh-tered and dispersed across the world?The authors in Welcoming the Stranger all recognize the need to incorporatethe histories and ways of knowing that students bring with them, along withassuming the responsibility for inculcating in them the knowledge and skills thatwill insure full participation in society.Sladkova, Viladrich, and Freudenberg refer to “social inclusion” as theprocess through which the newly arrived find their voice in an already complex,cacophonous society. They describe an approach to social inclusion for adultimmigrants that melds learning English at the same time as learning to negotiateour often-Byzantine health care system. They highlight programs that work and anew perspective on how to maximize the effectiveness of limited adult educationopportunities.Erika Duncan, an experienced essayist and memoirist herself, has taken ona commitment to helping adult woman write their own stories for the first time.The border crossings to which she refers in her title are geographic and cultural,interior and exterior. Her lessons about telling a story that will draw the reader inare as relevant for six-year-olds as they are for sixty-year-olds.Elizabeth Park, a middle school ESL teacher and adjunct faculty memberat Bank Street, draws on her Master’s research done at the College to describehow she learned to work with three challenging students. Park brings to life herpassion for her subject matter, for knowing her students, and for learning whileteaching. These are the foundations of an effective progressive pedagogy.Together, we believe that these essays will give our readers fresh ideas aboutwelcoming the stranger in our midst. Whether you are drawn to the maturewomen taking the first steps to writing their own lives, the recently arrived immi-grants struggling to provide basic necessities for their families, or the youngteenagers learning to acclimate to a new language and the culture in which it isembedded, we think that everyone will be changed for having read these stories.BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN ADULT EDUCATION, 6 bank street college of education

Introduction: Welcoming the Stranger

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