A Vocabulary Lesson

Each Tuesday and Thursday, I work with my Gonzaga students in an after-school program to help 7th and 8th grade immigrant and refugee students learn English. We teach them academic vocabulary -- words that are prevalent in school texts, such as concept, assume, and environment. These nuanced, abstract, highly contextual terms are deceptively difficult to explain. And so, my students and I nearly jumped for joy when Malik, a 7th grade Iraqi refugee, spontaneously demonstrated what he had learned that day. Before boarding the bus he spread his arms, looked to the sky, and jubilantly proclaimed, "THIS is totally an environment!" 

Lately, however, when I observe the discourse permeating the media, I sigh when I say, "This is totally an environment." An environment of fear, of mistrust, of political maneuvering. And yet, there is reason to be hopeful. Malik and his family are building a new life, grateful to be safe, relentlessly optimistic, infusing new energy into a school, a neighborhood, and an economy at times weighed down by poverty and cynicism. 

This is what I've seen refugees do time and time again: 

As they gain a new life, they breath new life  -- into what else? The environment. 

Thanks, Malik. Now I get it. 

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/christiaanbriggs/18696206