During my last trip to Japan (last July) I needed to see a dentist because of a pretty nasty toothache. I can communicate in Japanese at a conversational level, but to see a dentist I required an interpreter that could assist me with asking and answering questions. My 12-year old son is proficient in both languages and so I asked him to come along. Not being able to communicate clearly and relying on my child made me feel rather helpless. Yet, that’s exactly how many refugees must feel in Australia. Without the necessary English skills, many depend on their children to get daily chores done. I would have preferred not to drag my son to the dentist, but this experience really helped me better empathize with the struggles that refugees might encounter in an affluent country such Australia. That dentist incident in Japan also made me (much more) realize how privileged I am in Australia. I'm now thinking about developing a research project that explores the lives of refugees in the Illawarra region. The aim of the project would be to narrate the stories (and to foreground the voices) of people who were forced to leave their home country. The study would definitely increase awareness of the challenges that refugees typically face, but it may also lead to recommendations that could be used to improve the lives of the marginalized in our communities. I have an idea about a particular research focus, and so stay tuned for another blog post in the near future!
0 Comments
|
Author
I am a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Wollongong in Australia. This blog is a reflection of my journey as a researcher, L2 teacher educator, and language teacher. Archives
June 2021
|