Wei Fen Rachel Tan

Wei Fen Rachel Tan—2016 Fellow

Year: Class of 2017
Majors: Latin American Studies and Political Science
Organization: Guadalupe Alternative Programs

As a Chuck Green fellow, I’ve spent the last 6 months learning and teaching. Both the fellowship and Guadalupe Alternative Programs gave me the opportunity to pursue my first shot at my aspiration of becoming an educator. GAP is an alternative school that aims to create a culturally appropriate and community-based learning environment for diverse, young people challenged by transition and poverty. Most of my students are Karen refugees, that prior to Minnesota lived all their lives in UNHCR run refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border, where they received little or no education.

During the summer, I developed a curriculum that involves ESL theatre and dance activities, storytelling and public speaking. I taught this curriculum to 4 different classes, adapting it along the way to suit my students’ different levels of understanding and experiences. Through improv and theatre games, dance exercises, and breakdance classes, students generated the confidence and communication ability to express themselves through their actions, opinions, and experiences that they brought to the class.

My students also partook in the process of storytelling – where they generated and wrote stories of their past life experiences, current struggles, and future hopes and dreams. The class end project consisted of either (a) a final video filming of students either presenting a spoken word of their story, or of a song or rap that demonstrates who they are or what is important to them; or (b) a public presentation given to an audience.

Much inspired by Paulo Freire’s pedagogical approach, the Chuck Green spirit, and Paul Dosh’s teaching, instilling a sense of confidence into my students became my focus. Rather than creating a class environment that treats students as empty vessels that await instruction, my classes were centered upon the belief that my students, despite the language barrier, are able to acquire the confidence to express themselves and their ideas through teaching each other and myself about their life experiences with culture, family, war, transition, and hope. I’ve learnt so much about education for refugees, managing classroom dynamics and different levels of understanding, relating to students’ experiences, and ESL communication. And no doubt, curriculum planning followed by constant changes to my plans!