EDU FInal Podcast

The podcast discusses the complexities of immigrant education in America, focusing on the challenges faced by immigrant students in navigating cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic barriers. It highlights the inequities between immigrant education and traditional American education, including limited access to resources and language barriers. The podcast suggests actionable steps for creating smoother pathways and integrating immigrant students into schools, such as culturally responsive teaching, English language support, and family engagement. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our podcast. My name is Colin Warner. I'm Maz Rahedi. And I'm Lasha Sanidze. And today, we're going to delve into the complexities of immigrant education in America. I will be the host, Colin, and in today's episode, we're exploring the differences between immigrant education and American education and kind of shedding light on the inequities that exist and discussing actionable steps for creating smoother pathways and integrating immigrant students into our schools. So let's start by distinguishing immigrant education from what we might consider traditional American education. Immigrant education focuses on the unique needs and challenges faced by students who come from immigrant families or are immigrants themselves. These students often navigate cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic barriers that can significantly impact their educational journey. So starting off, let's address the elephant in the room, the stark inequities between immigrant education and what may consider the mainstream American education. Studies have shown that immigrant students often face disproportionate challenges compared to their American-born peers. So stepping over to you, Myles, being a Kenyan-born individual and immigrating to America, what were some challenges that you faced when you first arrived here? One very huge challenge was actually just the distance between places. So just having access to a lot of things, just like shopping, a lot of stuff would be – back home, things would be like 20, 30 minutes max. But here, like, guys are saying two hours, and that's a lot of travel time. And not having a car made things slightly more difficult. But more specifically towards, like, education itself, I would say the system of assignments, having your work graded throughout the semester compared to having one big exam at the end. That was an educational style that I preferred a lot more, as it allowed less pressure on one big exam, and it just allowed me to improve my grade throughout the semester, making the semester as a whole, like, more important. Yeah, that's a very interesting perspective to hear. I'd also like to add on that, coming from a Georgian background, we also had – I'll hop on what Tuk said. We also had the same thing as we had one last final exam at the end of the semester, and our grading system was out of five – sorry, out of 10. So if you were to get a five, that means a pass, but it was kind of different when it came to America. It was up to, like, 60 percent. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting to hear about – to hear different backgrounds and how that really just differs from our American education system. So moving on, one significant disparity lies in access to resources. American students, especially those from low-income backgrounds, may encounter limited access to quality education materials, advanced courses, and extracurricular activities. These resource gaps can hinder their academic success and their long-term opportunities. So moving to you, Asha, what are maybe some limited access to resources that may have affected you coming to America? I guess I would say I was fortunate enough to not have any challenges of any – of a similar sort, but I guess back home, we weren't really allowed to use technology. So I think you weren't allowed to use, like, laptops, calculators, or your phones during class. Right now that I came to America, it's just – almost everything's on your laptop. So it's a bit of an interesting transition, and I guess I benefit from it because I enjoy using my phone and my laptop for assignments. Yeah, absolutely. How about you, Ritwik? Any disparities in access to resources that kind of hindered your ability to succeed in American education? I would say as the world has become a lot more modern, like everywhere else, I would say there was a lot of disparities. Like, even back home, like, everyone uses computers now. Like, everyone's trying to integrate, like, technology into everyday things. So, like, these were things that I wasn't surprised to see or struggled with when I came here. So, yeah, I would feel like with the world as it is now, it is very easy to just integrate into this education system, technology being very similar. That's good, that's good. Okay, moving on. This might be a bigger one. Do you think that language barriers also play a crucial role just for immigrant students in America? English might not be their first language, so posing a significant obstacle to fully engage with the curriculum, being that they don't speak English. Schools must provide robust English language learning programs and support services to bridge this gap effectively. So, I'll go back to Lasha. Being Georgian-speaking and moving to America, like, how did that just affect, like, your overall experience and education? I guess I was always, like, fluent in English because I spoke it in the household. So, I never really encountered any problems with it. But I think any time I meet a Georgian in America, I always try to encourage them to surround themselves with someone who's, like, English-speaking people so they can, you know, develop as a person and also, you know, learn a new language. Because the case is that there's a lot of, let's say, in this case, Georgians who come to America and only surround themselves with, say, Georgians and they never speak the language of the country they're in. So, I think it's, I've never really had a problem with it. I always try to surround myself with Americans or anyone who really spoke English or even Spanish so I can just get better at my languages. Now, did you have, like, anyone personally that you knew, maybe Georgian friends that, like, really had a struggle transitioning? Yeah. Actually, my friend, Gio, he, I met him in New York and now we go to college together and the difference of his, like, English-speaking has changed, like, tremendously. Like, he couldn't form, let's say, three sentences together his first few months in America. But then he started to develop and he started to speak more in practice and practice. And now he speaks really well. It's incredible how much effort we, you know, we put in. I mean, I grew up speaking, my parents spoke English, my whole family spoke English. And I've been, like, speaking English my whole life. It's the only language I actually do speak. So, there was no problems here. But, seeing certain people, like, come into education where this is, like, English is their second language. Like, there's trouble saying how they have to think, like, in double the time and all of that. I think that's pretty impressive, as Lash is able to speak in multiple languages. Yeah, I would agree on that, that I do think in a different language. So, whenever somebody tells me something in English, I have to think in Georgian first and then translate it to English. But I guess since I've been speaking English my entire life, I don't really think in Georgian anymore. I only think in English, so. I do agree with that. Colin, you've been in the American system, like, your whole life. Have you ever been to school with anyone who's come in with a second language and had to adapt? Yeah, I've actually had a couple students, like, just throughout my, you know, elementary and high school years and even in college, too, just experiencing with people that English isn't their first speaking language. And I can, just right off the bat, I can just see, like, it's certainly a struggle. Not being able to, like, effectively communicate with the people around you and not being able to, like, truly express what you're feeling or, like, maybe your confusions that you're having can certainly play, like, a huge challenge for immigrants or just non-English speaking people. But yeah, just not being able to speak the English language certainly plays a huge role into being able to engage in the curriculum effectively and actually learn efficiently. I would also say that Americans are pretty friendly when, let's say, they meet a foreigner who doesn't speak the language. At least from my experience, that's what I've seen. I think it's the same back home. When somebody tries to speak in our language, we're more, like, curious of what they want to say. And, you know, we try to help them as much as we can. I think that's the same response I got from my time in America, that everyone tries to help out, which is really good. Yeah. So, furthermore, basically what we have concluded from this little talk, cultural differences can really lead to misunderstandings and isolation for immigrant students. When a school fails to recognize and celebrate diverse cultures, immigrant students may feel marginalized and it definitely impacts their sense of belonging and academic motivation. So, how are we going to be able to, or how can we create a more inclusive and equitable education experience for immigrant students? There are a few different methods that we've come up with that we can implement into schools. So, first being culturally responsive teaching. Educators specifically should be able to incorporate diverse perspectives into the curriculum, celebrating the cultural backgrounds of all their students. This can foster a sense of belonging and help students see themselves reflected positively in their learning environment. Another one being English language support. We just talked a little bit about it, but schools should be able to offer robust English language learning programs, which tailor directly to the diverse needs of immigrant students. This includes language immersion opportunities, bilingual education, and targeted support services, specifically trying to help out those people who are not English first speaking languages. Another thing, family engagement. Building strong partnerships with immigrant families is essential. Schools can host workshops, provide translated materials, and offer parent-teacher conferences in multiple languages to ensure parents are actively involved in their children's education, which oftentimes has a significant impact on their actual ability to succeed in American education and adapt. Moving on, resource equity. Ensuring equitable access to resources is critical. Students should allocate funding for materials, technology, and extracurricular programs that benefit all the students, regardless of what background they may possess themselves. And then just finally, professional development. Educators should receive training on culturally responsive teaching practices and strategies for supporting immigrant students. Professional development programs can empower teachers and just help create inclusive classrooms for those immigrant students. So just wrapping up today's little podcast, it's clear that addressing the inequities in immigrant education requires a multi-phase approach. By embracing diversity, promoting targeted support, and fostering inclusive environments, we can create a more equitable education landscape for all students, regardless of their backgrounds. I just want to thank everyone for listening. I hope you guys gained some valuable insights on American education, immigrant education in America, should I say, and have some real experiences from two students in our class who actually are immigrant students. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.