From cuddling to arguing to home cooked meals and back to arguing. The day is just not complete without strife for life!!!
Anyhoo, I'm actually glad I came to work today or else I would have missed out on such an amazing experience. The 10th grade team that I work with planned and executed this amazing Expeditionary Learning Immersion Experience for our students today. The topic was focused on experiencing life as am immigrant. We had the entire 10th grade team in the cafeteria and they were given family coats of arms. They had to find their table and their other family members. The "President" of Baltistan (a made up country for our simulation) greeted the new immigrants and explained that they needed to apply for passports. Each family was given a dossier with biographical information and a passport to fill out. They then had to go through "customs" and either be accepted or rejected and turned away. "Security" would even hassle them and send them to the end of the line. Once the "immigrants" made it through customs they were told they needed to 1- find a job 2- get a house 3- buy groceries and 4- enroll their children in school.
The entire school got involved and we had teachers speaking to students in foreign languages which made their tasks even harder. The forms they had to fill out were also in different languages too. It was crazy. I was in the room where the immigrants had to enroll their students in school. We spoke to them in spanish and they had to fill out the application in spanish too. It was crazy. Some kids got upset and gave up others tried their best to understand our gestures and examples. They made comments about being frustrated and why won't people just help them? It was an eye opening experience.
We had people that were talking to students in foreign languages and asking them for their money and they were getting swindled and robbed. It was a very realistic simulation. The debrief was even better. The kids had stories to share about how hard it was to get a job or find a house and get their kids enrolled in school. Some of our teachers who were actual immigrants to this country were also able to share their stories and explain what it felt like to be a stranger in a new home.
All in all the experience was wonderful and it was just what I needed to feel good about this place. Unfortunately the immersion experience ended and things went back to business as usual. kids cursing, being disrespectful, completely ignoring anything I said to them. Oh how I wish I really did live in Baltistan some days! LOL
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