“We have stories to share!”: Narratives of Identity and Perspectives of Japanese Descent Teachers in the USA

Gumiko Monobe,Barbara L Seidl

doi:10.53956/jfde.2019.143

Abstract

As the number of immigrant children entering school systems increases across the globe, preparing teachers to support these children and their families is of critical importance. How to support and bring strength to English language learners (ELLs) and immigrant children is a new subject among the scholarship of teacher education, due to the increasing numbers of immigrant children. There are unique complexities that educators need to consider, including: (a) their own cross/bicultural, bilingual identity development, (b) their interpersonal relationship building, and (c) their hybrid experiences in a culturally and linguistically unfamiliar environment with other children and teachers in a new country.In this study, we focus mainly on three teachers who are Japanese descent and their support of Japanese immigrant students. Findings from this study suggest that the three teachers used their funds of knowledge (GonzÃ¡lez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005) as immigrants and immigrant teachers to support their Japanese immigrant students in the following three categories: building interpersonal connections, cross-cultural mediation, and nurturing identity development in the context of hybridity and wholeness.

Highlights

In this study, we focus mainly on three teachers who are of Japanese descent and their support of Japanese immigrant students
It is our belief that theorization of one’s own experiences and life are a crucial benefit of narrative inquiry, especially for groups of people whose voices and knowledge have not been recognized or valued as knowledge and theory that can contribute to society (Dillard, 2006)
The findings of this study indicate that the teaching of these three teachers proceeded from the set of experiences they had as immigrants and as people who were themselves living across multiple social, cultural, linguistic, racial, and national borders

Summary

Introduction

We focus mainly on three teachers who are of Japanese descent and their support of Japanese immigrant students. Narrative inquiry through a feminist lens can help shed the light on the fact that the many voices and perspectives of people who have been historically and politically ignored and silenced present missed opportunities for recognizing valuable knowledge and theory. This marginalization and silencing has been historically controlled by mainstream and politically powerful populations such as upper-middle-class whites. It is our belief that theorization of one’s own experiences and life are a crucial benefit of narrative inquiry, especially for groups of people whose voices and knowledge have not been recognized or valued as knowledge and theory that can contribute to society (Dillard, 2006). It is inevitable and important that we gather stories about the intersections of their life experiences beyond who they are as teachers

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Conclusion