Index of the conversations

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• - PRIDE: I am the expert!
• - PRIDE: We are not underachievers!
• - PRIDE: We know how to be successful
• - PRIDE: Making difference on people's life
• - PRIDE: Being Canadian, we ain't terrorists
• - FRIENDS: The person I am
• - FRIENDS: The help I need
• - FRIENDS: The same reasoning as I
• - FRIENDS: Real life
• - FAMILY: no family and no grant
• - FAMILY: More than student, a mom
• - FAMILY: More than student, a divorcing mom
• - FAMILY: More than student, a grandson
• - FAMILY: More than teacher, a mother, a grandmother
• - KNOWLEDGE: Academic knowledge means status
• - KNOWLEDGE: I refuse to learn how to cheat!
• - KNOWLEDGE: Invalidating laymen culture
• - KNOWLEDGE: If a tree falls in the forest...
• - KNOWLEDGE: My choice "I don't care"
• - KNOWN OR NOT: The fall of a tree will affect all of us
• - FUTURE: Passing on information...
• - FUTURE: Using good culture shock class experience
• - FUTURE: Believe and live

- PRIDE: I am the expert!

• I survived and I am willing to pass on my experience
  

“Writing my story I wanted to show that I have a lot to say too, I have been through things... I have things to say, I don’t know how to say but I have seen and people don’t know… My problems, I solve alone, I don’t want people to feel sorry for me...it was hard but there are much…oh…much harder lives than mine. I don't need...and my sister is an angel to prove, I kept her innocent...I would not let anybody to touch her, I took care of her”. (Speech from a left brain student who is 18 years old)

• I manage a pretty tide schedule of parties
  

"I am a procrastinator, I am not goal oriented...when it is about school, you know?...I can change, ‘cause I manage a pretty tide schedule of parties and meetings (laugh). I am just not ready for school"

6 am to 6 pm
Schedule

6 pm to 6 am

Schedule

I5OO pub, Cactus and Club 10 are pubs

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- PRIDE: We are not underachievers!

• Talking about removing the word “underachiever”

Student 1

I don’t like this title …this word "underachiever"

Student 2

You sound upset with this word. What is going on?

Student 1

I don't see myself as an 'underachiever'. In Canada, we can have another meaning for this word. I don't want people to think I don't try my best. I'm an excellent mother and now my children have grown up, I am here finishing high school. I have worked hard to perform as well as I can.

Student 2

I get the idea of using the word "underachiever" from a Simpsons cartoon, the idea of being clever. What I am saying is that people rebel against the system.

Student 1

Let me finish please... I worked hard to fulfill the expectations of my family boss and teachers. I like that the school has high expectations of me, it shows they think I can do better.

Student 2

I see. The word 'Underachiever' would group us with people who don't try hard enough as family members, friends, employees, students. You told me I am having English difficulties, let us look up the word in the dictionary.

Student 1

Yes…let us look up. I am not underachiever. When I do things I do well because I try hard…um…Well, I know what you mean but it is too hard to accept that I was excluded because of the way I learn (right brain). I prefer to believe I was just too busy rising my kids. Now I am coming back and I will be ok.

Student 2(opening the dictionary)

I will see the etymology of the word later but I think I get your point, let me read the word in here

Underachiever: somebody who under performs: somebody who or something that performs less well than might be expected, especially a student whose academic results are poor, given his or her intelligence and aptitude.

Underachiever: A student who does not perform as well as the IQ indicates.

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- PRIDE: We know how to be successful

In a storm, some students went outside to enjoy the rain...

and later:
... one of the soaked students made a speech about smart choices while another laughed out load!

• Proud of my accomplishments but tired of not being a killer
  

Student 1
‘Learning to be more successful’ might be what some students expect, but I already know how to be successful, just because I didn't graduate at the same time as the others doesn’t mean I don't know how to be successful. I don’t need to learn, I can teach how to be successful. I love myself plenty!

Student 2
Yeah, exactly. I have friends, I took care of my kids all by myself after the sudden death of my husband, they grew up to be nice kids and here I am…getting my diploma so I will earn more…and I will not stop. I think about college. It is just a different pace, it happens.

Student 3
You said you want to learn to be a KILLER. I want to understand how you see this matter. Do you mean "more risk taking"?

Student 4
I don't want to be more risk taking. My problem is that I am risk taking. Killer is killer... it was annoying that people freaked out with this word!...After Columbine, there are words which students are supposed to avoid…Yes, they will do anything to keep it safe: Shut up!

Student 3
Ah…but what did you mean with the k word (laugh)...er...did you mean success?

Student 4
Hello! Being a killer doesn’t mean being a success; I mean what is success anyways?

Student 3
What do you mean?

Student 2
Killer...he means more goal oriented, goal related to business, career.

Student 5
It’s what happens to me! I am successful in other parts of life…but then I am too busy to think about studying (laugh)

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- PRIDE: Making difference on people's life

• Proud to support others

“I am mom of two teenagers...my house is always full of their friends...I like my house to be a safe environment for them...I listen to them ...and my home is a organized study environment, I have a shelf with things they need: dictionaries, scissors, rubbers, pen, stickers…it is very cheap on the dollar store and on Value Village (a second hand store). I don’t have money but any parents, if they want, they can afford to offer the children a very good study environment, I'm proof”

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- PRIDE: Being Canadian, we ain't terrorists

Student 1

Those terrorists should be killed fast. It is revolting

Student 2

We should not think twice. I get upset…It is our taxes. They should spend tax money on education or healthy care… not defending them

Student 1

They just should be killed fast so they serve as example that in Canada they will be caught and killed. The message is “don’t come to here”. They are risen murders, all them are bombers because they rise in rage, in a revenge culture...Since children they are dangerous. It is disgusting. These Palestine’s are barbarians.

Student 3

Barbarians?

Student 2

Canada society is completely different because there is no oppression: you do what you want, everybody has a choice. It makes all difference. We have freedom to improve our lives (when we get ready to) and as they do not have this freedom, they become barbarians, angry, with no respect

Student 3

Respect for what?

Student 4

People who don’t respect their own life can't respect anything...

Student 3

... Let us see a different view? Who are the terrorists?, let us look at a US standpoint...and some common misunderstandings about Muslims and Arabs in America and a standpoint against Bush administration I don't know...

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- FRIENDS: The person I am

A study group discusses a text book on how to focus on studying and not procrastinate

Student 1

If I follow what this book is saying, I will lose all my friends. I never miss a phone call, never… I spent a whole weekend with a friend before an exam on Monday, she knocked on my door. She was having a baby. Ah, it was an amazing! Yes…I am a procrastinator!

Student 2

I am a procrastinator too. People count on me, I always pick up the phone

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- FRIENDS: The help I need

...

Student 1

I tried to meet you at school. Did you give up on graduating? Where have you been party girl?

Student 2

My sister had the baby and the aboriginal housing center got her a new place. About 300 for a full house in New Sudbury! So I had to get a new place for me

Student 1

But you moved last week…

Student 2

Oh… I went to the beach again

Student 1

Be aware that you can’t miss too much classes

Student 2

I told the teacher I was moving.

Student 1

Take care, he (the teacher) might kick you out

Student 2

I needed the ride. All my friends were going. Summer is almost over. The bus doesn’t go there, you know.

Student 1

Oh! The collective transportation in Canada is a shame for Canadians, a sin against environment. Most of the people drive cars, avoid giving rides because of insurance and when the city has a collective transportation...it is frustrating... stay 20 minutes to one hour at a bus stop! Better get a ride when you have one!

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- FRIENDS: The same reasoning as I

Student 1

Do you have internet at home?

Student 2

No

Student 1

Shouldn’t you use this time for class work instead of going to cop website and chat rooms?

Student 2

Do you have internet at home?

Student 1

Yes

Student 2

That's it...you don't get it. I don't have at home, I work seven days a week in a kitchen. This is the time I can see the real thing happening... I know this guy, we grow up in the reserve...It is hard to believe, he was drunk and beat his girlfriend

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- FRIENDS: Real life

a) Instead of doing classwork, he searches the cop website

Student 1

...this computer is not meant nor to chat nor to watch the cop’s videos. Why don’t you go to the educational website instead?

Student 2

... the cop website, it is real world...It is amazing this guy was raised with me. He beat his girlfriend!

b) Crazy, really crazy

Student 1

Hi, did you manage to study on weekend?

Student 2

No. I went to Manitoba Island. It was crazy, really crazy.

Student 1

How crazy?

Student 2

My mom did a party, she is going to marry. And there was a fight

Student 1

Cool. How was this fight?

Student 2

Someone broke a bottle and the police came

Student 1

Wow, your life is so busy. Last weekend, you helped your friend to deliver a baby. I wonder what will happen the next weekend!



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- FAMILY: no family and no grant

• Bias: Lazy Aboriginals, privileged Caucasians

Student 2

You seemed so upset with her

Student 1

Aboriginal…They are lazy. I am sure she has a family who could support her but she is paid to study

Student 2

Tell me more about this issue, please.

Student 1

Ask her…White people like me…we are the privileged ones. I do not have a family. My young sister lives with me and my boyfriend. My boyfriend’s family adores me.

Student 2

How old are you? 18?

Student 1

It doesn’t matter. I am proud of her. I raised this beauty (showing off her sister who approaches the group). Things happen. Trust me you don’t want to know…Because I am nice…

Student 2

Are you nice? You are always angry (laugh)

Student 1

Well, I don't do drug, I use to get good grades…people suppose I am ok. Nobody wants to look closer. It is too ugly. Now my boyfriend is cheating on me. ...I am fine but tell me where my sister is going to live... I was always checking up on him with the my cell, people think I am just a teenager with teenager problems

Student 2

What do you mean "teenager" problem?

Student 1

You know...boyfriend, clothes...over because of hormones...

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- FAMILY: More than student, a mom

We were surprised that the right answer was considered wrong

Student 1

This text book is wrong. If I need milk, I will go shopping without a second thought. My child comes first!

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- FAMILY: More than student, a divorcing mom

Student 1
I go to court on the dates set. I can do the course if the teacher understands this.

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- FAMILY: More than student, a grandson

Two weeks to the end of the course, the students only needed to organize a report to pass. I went to the home of one classmate who was skipping classes. I was surprised with his priorities. He was watching TV with his grandmother.

- This is my grandmother.

-Nice to meet you. People at school are missing your grandson ...The teacher sent this home work for you.

-Thanks. But I have been watching these soap opera's everyday with my grandmother since she came to visit us.

-Yes? So do you like these stories? The teacher said that you need to come back to pass.

-But on the afternoons I watch this show with my grandma, then I go to work. My grandmother is visiting us. I haven't seen her since I came from the reserve. She isn't going to be staying long, she is almost ninety!

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- FAMILY: More than teacher, a mother, a grandmother

Teacher

My son lives in East Canada, his family is visiting me this week. I'm trying to make time for them.

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- KNOWLEDGE: Academic knowledge means status

Student 1

Are you really a Doctor? ... Why do you let people call you by your first name? My aunt makes everyone call her “doctor”. She teaches at the university... I suppose you don’t get a job because you don’t make people respect you. You seem like us.

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- KNOWLEDGE: I refuse to learn how to cheat!

Learning how to make educated guesses on multiple choice questions, a student felt she was being told how to cheat

Student 1

So according to the rule of ABSOLUTE QUALIFIERS [1] when the question has the word NEVER, I am supposed to mark it as FALSE...If I say I never lie, I am a liar!? It is bullshit. I refuse to learn this! I don’t want to learn how to cheat on tests!...I strongly disagree about teaching and learning rules to make educated guesses on tests....a "cheating" strategy to be successful? I don’t want my kid to have a doctor who had used the “cheating” strategy to be successful…I don’t want to be smart this way; I am a person of principles

Later in a feedback interview:

Student 2
You seemed really upset about "ABSOLUTE QUALIFIERS" today. I would like to understand more your view

Student 1
It is cheating...I am not going to guess on a test. Either I know or I don't. I am divorcing and on court I am full of people saying that I am lying when I say that I have never done this or that. They don't know me...I don't lie.

---

[1] Test taking strategy:

" Watch for absolute qualifiers, such as non, best, always, every, constantly…Few things are ever absolute, so when absolute words appear in an answer choice, the answer is most of the time untrue…If you don't know the answer, mark it as a False"

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- KNOWLEDGE: Invalidating laymen culture

Aboriginal and Academic culture shock: accreditation process and authorship

During a group activity, a student brought up a saying and the group wrote it on a poster, with no authorship.

Tell me I will forget, show me I will remember, involve me I will understand

The teacher, used to the academic practice of avoiding plagiarism, came to help the group and wrote on the side of the saying “Confucius”.

The student who brought up the saying was disappointed.

“I always believed it was a Cree saying, this is what I was told, I grew up listening to this truth"

Active listening him, we did an internet search and found some[1] governmental speakers and aboriginal communities attributing this saying to aboriginal culture.

When the student was asked why in the last class he had refused to speak out for his Cree community, he answered:

“I am not a credited voice”

[1] Ubuntu (African) http://www.goodshare.org/onions.htm, Native American http://www.theotherpages.org/quote-05e.html#t, Confucius http://gvc03c12.virtualclassroom.org/

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- KNOWLEDGE: If a tree falls in the forest...

• Four different standpoints

Teacher (Trying to show different meanings and that there is no such a thing as truth)
Imagine that it's raining. There is a light. A tree is hit. If a tree falls in the forest, and there's nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? Did it even happen?

Student 1 (showing Science point of view)
Yes. The sound and light have physical manifestations. Pressure waves in the air...sound.

Teacher
But sound only becomes sound in the sense that we mean when those waves cause parts of the ear to vibrate, and the brain interprets the vibrations

Student 2 (a third point of view)
Well the essential question is "who cares?"

Teacher
I care and you should care to. It is philosophy, it is important to question things.

Student 2
I don't mean to say I don't care what you are saying, I like philosophy.

Teacher
Good for you! Then another question is "when we go out of the classroom does it still exist?"

Student 2
When we see the image of that Chinese student standing in front of that tank, it was the media who brought that image to life, to existence. The whole world came to know that. If something exists or not, it is a matter of who cares... that was what I meant.

Student 3 (a fourth point of view)
It is the majority…exist what the majority believes…but still affects all of us!

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- KNOWLEDGE: My choice "I don't care"

(In a later feedback interview)

Student 1

During our class discussion, the question "who cares" seemed really important to you, could you tell me more? I don't feel I got everything.

Student 2

Sure. My point was "Do we really care?" When that young Chinese student stood in front of the tank, if the tank had crushed him and the news had not reported it, what difference would that make to our lives? If nobody knew about it, it would be like it didn’t exist.

Student 1

So your point is that something only exists if we care about it? If I refuse to know, it will be not important for me, I might not care. We can choose not to know.

Student 2

I don't think you can choose not to know if the media spreads it. What choice do we have then?

Student 1

?

Student 2

To choose if you want to care or not.

Student 1

Hum...But as M1 said it still affects us to some point?

Student 2

It doesn’t matter. The majority might be affected but still it is a matter of who cares

Student 1

?

Student 2

What really happens to people everyday doesn’t matter. Lots of relevant things are happening right now. These things don’t exist if the media doesn’t care so why should we bother, get it?

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- KNOWN OR NOT: The fall of a tree will affect all of us

• Whether we know it or not, it still affects all of us

After debating if a tree had or not fallen if nobody was there to heard it:

Student 1

I would like to understand better what you mean “still affects all of us”

Student 2

Something is happening across the street that we don't know, but it still affects us to some point.

Student 1

It is a good point…Why didn’t you say your view?

Student 2

It is not my view, I suppose this is what the elders would say but when you are a student, you're not a "credible source"

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- FUTURE: Passing on information...

• What I learn on school, I pass to my teens and their friends
  

Student 1
I am mom of two teenagers. I am like a friend. I know children use to have lots of problem at home so my house is always full of their friends. I like my house to be a safe environment for them, a place they know they can come and stay... Now I have a computer and internet. I am going to do tests with them, and helping them with the learning strategies.

Student2
You should take note of the password. I hope the password will work after the course is completed. Your idea of teaching other teenagers is great!

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- FUTURE: Using good culture shock class experience

• Canadian accent and riots
  

Student 1
I am working on telephone assistance. I got an apartment for me and I am making $10/hour!” I wanted to meet you 'cause I learned I have an accent too. Can you believe? Strange, eh? For a while I felt your accent so irritating, I avoided talking to you, remember?

Student 2

No problem, we had to do group work so I kept talking to you

Student 1

And I kept saying “shut up, chink” (laugh).

Student 2

You taught me to call you back trash white (laugh)… You like to play the bad girl. But deep inside you are sweet... explaining yourself with that soap opera: your childhood, your only white neighborhood and a Chinese restaurant, people calling the owners “chinks” and you, a little girl, saving the Chinese little boy by walking beside him…Well, how did you learn you have an accent?

Student 1

I am working at a Telecom and this USA woman recognized I am Canadian when I call her! I was amazed! It was like Eh?... Hey, I have an accent!

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- FUTURE: Believe and live

Student 1
I lost my housing grant. But it is ok; I am working as a seller, a good job. Thanks Lord I finished my high school. I’m still thinking about further my education in college, though. But for now, I need to make some money to spoil my children. They had been very patient with me; I have given them hard life...I'm sorry I didn't attend your workshop. Getting together to write our own stories was a cool idea. Did it work?

Student 2
The library support was great and 9 people were registered and 8 finished it! The library has a list of people interested to attend another one! I made friends who gave me gifts on Christmas, recipes of Canadian food and recommendation letters for job. From our class, W2 participated (coming late everyday because of her work) and W3 could not attend the workshop full time but we wrote a story about the time she could talk to animals, like her aboriginal ancestors!

Student 1
Do you believe it?

Student 2
She believes and she was a child with a secret life. She says she would be called schizophrenic like many aboriginals in jail.

Student 1
She has the right to believe as I believe I’m going to find a good man now that my children are finishing high school! I’ve been widow for 8 years!

Student 2
Remember what the teacher said? Believe is the first step to make things happen! W2 believed her story was to be written. One day, she told a co-worker she was late to come to the workshop, and guess what? This co-worker’s family has just opened a small publishing company... their interest: teenager stories…and they are editing her story!

Student 1
Wow!... Do you know about our other classmates? I know five of us graduated high school and that W8 is healthier now and came back to study.

Student 2
Our teacher is teaching ESL on College. M1 got a good construction job, I guess he will take long to come back to graduate. I know it is a good company 'cause in the other class, a student (in his 20's) who works there told me he worked as an Egyptian slave but his paycheck was great...great enough to him write "I WON" as a special saying on his car plate...a brandy new black high wheels truck

Student 1
Yeah...M1 used to run between jobs, saying he needs money to have a girl.

Student 2
Yeah...it is sad that he got the girl he wanted and she moved away. She was aboriginal like him, I saw him drunk because he was celebrating and then because he was let alone. I saw him drunk three times! Our city (in North of Ontario) is challenging not only for immigrants. This is why it is still cheap to live here...W2 and W3 are working at the call center. They passed the training period and are making $10 or more an hour. But people are moving, M2 is living in British Columbia. M3 moved to Vancouver with his girlfriend ... Who are staying are the aboriginals and the moms. Mom W6 is living with her mom... I am trying to stay but I’ve recently applied for three jobs here. One was canceled, and two preferred young people (they are sponsored by governmental grants). Step by step, I have learned about grants for aboriginals, grants for youth as well the challenge of living in a bilingual city... I hope we will be in touch through email and phone!

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