There are times when my general Current Events Class is neither general nor simply academic to the students in my class at Literacy for Life.
I have had students in my class who are newly arrived immigrants from war-torn countries like Iraq or Afghanistan. I have had students in my class who are from countries that are undergoing famine or political disruption. I have had students in my class who are not certain if their family members are okay or if they will ever see them again.
I have had students weep as we discuss situations with which they are directly connected. The rest of us cry with them, and we hug if they are open to it. They try to be strong – they ARE strong, it’s amazing to me – but it sometimes gets to them when they talk about their friends and families who are caught up in situations we only read about in the newspapers or see on the news.
It’s challenging to teach a Current Events Class under these circumstances. On the one hand, I am supposed to talk to them about what’s going on in their (and my) world. On the other hand, the purpose of this class is fundamentally to work on their English language skills, not to force the students to revisit trauma. I’m not sure that I always get it right.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is stressing some of the learners in our program these days. We have learners who are from Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of Eastern and Western Europe. They all have their own experiences that have led them to be in the US at this point in their lives, and we can’t possibly understand everything they have gone through. We try to create an environment of mutual trust so that the learners feel as if this place is someplace where they can get support under very trying circumstances. Many of them have their children and other family members in the US with them, and they are trying to figure out how to make Williamsburg work for them. Suffice it to say, they never envisioned being in Williamsburg.
As I am preparing the lesson I plan to teach today, I am trying to figure out how to navigate this balance – to present the world as it is without re-traumatizing people who don’t need reminders of what they have gone through.
It’s sometimes hard, but I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to do this work.
This is one of the things I was referring to yesterday but didn’t call out by name. This is important and you do these sorts of important and meaningful things every week of the year.