I had brought a box full of teaching materials with me from Denver because I assumed that the ones currently being used would (1) be outdated and (2) not oriented toward listening and speaking. I knew this because I had asked Vietnamese students in Denver to show me the materials they used to study English before they came to the U.S. No wonder they had difficulty with speaking! They had been taught grammar and vocabulary as a foreign language, not as a second language. Of course, they had not been taught by native speakers. One book that I brought was called IDIOMS IN ACTION. This book had exercises for five idioms in each lesson. The last exercise was an essay. I learned so much about my Vietnamese students through these essays, so I scattered them throughout the book. I left the original spelling and grammar. Here are some that give their own attitudes and insights into the first asylum refugee camp called the Vietnamese Refugee Canter (VRC) on Palawan Island.
". . . . So I took a trip to Palawan. When I arrived here, I was surprised to see the Vietnamese refugees as many as 7,000 refugees. Then I asked them, 'How is the life here? Is it good or bad?' They said, 'The life here is very good, is the best camp for all of the refugees, it has free school, and enough food and if you landed the island you have to hold two calendars in your hand first even you have some relatives in some country.' That means I have to wait for two years first. I got a shock, but I didn't believe them.
By TANG HIEN NHAC, unaccompanied minor, 15 years old. This boy arrived June 28, 1981, and was rejected by U.S. because of a change in policy toward the minors. . . . After two years in the camp, his rejection was reversedand he departed for U.S. around June, 1983, when the policy changed again."
(See the section called "Not Much of a Refugee" for more about U.S. policy changes.)
"The Palawan camp is one of the temporary resting places for displaced persons. It is not like Galang in Indonesia, Bidong, the dismal island in Malaysia, the disgraceful and disgusting Songkla island, especially the Seikkiu camp in Thailand which seems to be a leper hospital with high bared [barbed] wire fences to help boat people isolate with everyone outside. When first arriving here, I felt disappointed with the first glance, everything was almost withered and dreary. Little by little (the idiom) everything was almost back in order, contented with what I had. Fortunately, in this camp, many volunteers have taken turns (idiom) coming here to teach us a lot of things about the new land, as well as volunteer agencies beside us all the time.
By NGUYEN VAN NGOC, early 20s. This young man's lively writing appears several times in the book. I never knew his resettlement story, only that he was accepted by Australia and departed for it in 1983.
Before I left Vietnam my mother had reminded [me], 'You have to remember that far-flung relatives are not as good as (idiom) neighbors:' When I arrived here, it was the first time I had to fend for myself. I felt embarrassed about everything. . . .while repairing some places which were rotten on the roof, I was startled by an old voice, 'Hello, good morning.' I turned to look at him who was a thin, about seventy-year-old man. I replied, 'Good morning, sir, please come in and sit down.' Step by step (idiom) he heavily came into my house. Then he introduced himself, 'I'm Nguyen. I habitual present with my daughter in the next house.' I answered, 'I'm very glad to be your neighbor, Mr. Nguyen.' Then he asked me, 'Are you a new arrival?' I nodded and [he] continued to say, 'Perhaps you may meet some problems at the first time, [idiom] so if you need some help, I can help you with my ability.' Then he went back home, at that time, I just remember that my mother's spoken words were right.
By BANH TAN DUC, a thin-looking young man about 21, who wrote this before being accepted by the U.S. He spent two years in the camp then he was sent to the Refugee Processing Center in Bataan to learn basic English! "
Are you surprised at how well they wrote? So was I, and there are other essays with even more sophisticated vocabulary, structure and thinking. I was the only teacher who received such writing for the simple reason that I was the only one who asked for it. There were many English teachers--some Filipino, some Vietnamese, some foreign volunteers. They assumed a low level of English in their students and gave them simple, beginning materials. One Filipino nun told me that she would ask for a short paragraph at the end of several months of writing simple sentences and she couldn't believe it when I showed her essays that my students wrote for every assignment. They never said anything to those teachers out of respect and gratitude. However, some did let me know that those lessons were boring, and they poured out their hearts in writing to me. I am proud of this. I think it helped me to understand them in a way they couldn't express in spoken English. I spent most of the class time on jazz chants, dialogues, listening to short stories and other oral work. They wrote these essays as homework and I think you will be amazed and touched by them.
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