Holes in the Language

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For anyone who has ever studied and tried to speak another language, you might feel that you have “holes” in your language abilities. Maybe you are a strong speaker but experience difficulties reading the language. Maybe you understand words you hear but find it hard to write them. This past spring, two English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the International Institute of New England (IINE) in Manchester explored what happened when they intentionally put “holes” in their language class, when they read and discussed Louis Sachar’s novel Holes through the Connections book discussion program.

Holes is the fictional story of Stanley Yelnats, a young boy wrongly accused of stealing a pair of sneakers and sent to Camp Green Lake, a detention center for boys. There he and the other boys spend each day digging a hole exactly five feet wide and five feet deep in the dried-up lakebed. It does not take Stanley long to realize that there is a deeper story at Camp Green Lake, and he won’t stop until he ‘digs’ up the truth.

To read a novel in another language is no small feat, but the teachers at IINE, Pam Seremet and Caroline Edwards, felt that Holes held a powerful message about building community through adversity that would resonate with their ESL students, all of whom are refugees or immigrants from other countries. They worked with long-time NHH Connections facilitator Carolyn Hutton to design a series that would deepen students’ reading ability and comprehension. Hutton created journal prompts for students to complete after reading each chapter, and shared her hopes for this activity: “Beyond what would be a fun way to build literacy skills, students would have an opportunity to engage with a text and experience making meaning between their own perceptions and ideas and those of the writer. I was hoping the blend of comprehension questions, vocabulary learning, art, and personal reflection might help to achieve this. It's even better when all those voices can be shared among a class.”

Afterwards, the students, along with their teachers and Connections facilitator, came together to discuss the book and share their journal reflections.

For many students, the journal served as a powerful medium to share their written and artistic reflections. Not only did they use the journal to demonstrate their English language skills in reading, writing, and understanding, they also used it to share personal stories or life experiences they had in common with the book and its characters. For example, Pamela Tendo, a student from the Democratic Republic of Congo, reflected on the title Holes as a metaphor for the literal holes that are being dug in her home country as corporations scramble for mining rights for the precious minerals found there. When the students were asked to talk about a situation where they, like the novel’s characters, put all their hopes into one plan, Katherin, originally from the Dominican Republic, observed “90% of adults have experienced a situation where they put all their hope in a plan or dream. When you go to college, when you search for a dream job, when you decide to move to another country to have better opportunities in your life, all these decisions involve a certain level of uncertainty where you are betting on it, but you have no idea that it will work.”

For IINE teachers, Pam and Caroline, the impact of reading Holes, the journal, and discussing the book through Connections held both the practical and heartfelt implications in their teaching and students’ learning. With pressure on adult education centers to show gains on their standardized test results, Holes and Connections served as a ‘one- stop shop’ for English language instruction with opportunities to explore grammar, practice reading and writing fluency, and engage in critical conversations around ideas that were readily built into the literature. Pam shared, “I saw an increase of self-confidence as the students got the chance to read aloud orally each night. As time went on, I felt each student’s fluency had improved.”

For Caroline, Connections books’ go far deeper than any test score. She said, “As a teacher, I love the opportunity to delve deep into the subject matter and bring it to life with either the lyrical prose of the books, or the vivid illustrations. With each Connections book, we lead the students on a journey of self-discovery by gently drawing parallels from literature to their own lives.”

As the students at IINE show, the next time someone tells you that you have holes in a language you are studying, try filling it with literature!

To learn more, visit www.nhhumanities.org/Connections

 

Image credits:

Drawing, p. 5: “The Warden” by Fariji Badesile, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Class photo, p. 5: ESL students in the International Institute of New England read Louis Sachar’s novel Holes. Photo courtesy of Pam Seremet 

Drawing, p. 6: By Mohammed Al Rawi, originally from Iraq