preview

Kadra's Influence On Education

Decent Essays
Open Document

Kadra was born and raised in Somalia where she grew up speaking Somali. She lived in an environment where she was not exposed to any other languages, and those who surrounded her were of similar upbringing. Until the age of seventeen, Kadra attended school in Somalia where she was in an honors student and the top of her class. Unfortunately, Somalia had been at war for the past three decades and became a place where Kadra could no longer live so she moved to Canada as a refugee. Once in Canada, Kadra was thrust in a foreign environment where she was unable to communicate and could understand nothing. The family who took her in were brought up in an English-speaking country and could therefore speak limited Somali; Kadra was thus in a situation …show more content…

For two long years, she worked hard to gain oral and written competency in the language, so she could be fully integrated into Canadian society. As a refugee, Kadra strived for a better life and a bright future so she worked hard in her studies. In school, her formal education trained her so that she could be prepared to enter high school. Her instructors utilized various methods within the classroom, some of which aided in her language acquisition and others that did not suit her learning preferences. Oftentimes Kadra preferred group work and presentations over written assessments. The interactions with peers of similar level provided her with a comfortable atmosphere where she became eager to interact and learn. However, a major aspect in her journey to learn English that Kadra found difficult was being able to write academic essays. There is a major disparity between how one speaks in everyday life and how one articulates themselves on paper. Although she knew the topics well, Kadra struggled in being able to convey her thoughts in a formal, theoretical manner; an issue that she struggles with even until …show more content…

Once Kadra was successfully capable of reading in English, she found herself going to the library on a regular basis. Starting from low-level books and progressing into long, complex novels, Kadra immersed herself into the world of reading, and along with it came a better understanding of the language. She found that the novels gave her a better understanding of Canadian culture and its vernacular in a way that her schooling could not. The novels exposed her to an extensive array of vocabulary that she typically would not be accustomed to and the higher-level works challenged and motivated her to work

Get Access