English Language and Communication Issues for African and Caribbean Immigrant Youth in Toronto |
Jacqueline L. Scott
for the
Coalition of Visible Minority Women (Ontario) Inc.
This research explores the language and communication issues faced by English-speaking black youths, from Africa and the Caribbean, as they settle into their new lives in Toronto. The study was commissioned by the Coalition of Visible Minority Women (Ontario) Inc. This non-profit agency had noticed that many of its Anglophone African and Caribbean clients were having difficulty with English. Placing them in the agency’s English as a second language programme was not always helpful or appropriate. Using focus groups, the immigrant youth and parents were interviewed to share their experiences of settling into Canadian society, and the role of language in the process.
The Coalition of Visible Minority Women (Ontario) Inc. is a small non-profit agency located in Toronto. The Coalition’s interest in this project stemmed from two observations. First, that a large number of its English-speaking African and Caribbean clients were experiencing language and communication problems that hindered their settlement. Second, that the English as a second language (ESL) programme that the agency was delivering at the time did not successfully address these issues.
The Coalition’s clients faced a paradox. Those from the Caribbean defined themselves as unilingual, with English as their mother tongue. Yet, many found mutual incomprehension when talking to other speakers of English. The clients from Anglophone African countries had a continuum of language needs. Some were native English speakers yet found that their accents and vocabulary were viewed negatively. Others had minimum grasp of English, as it was their second or third language.
This project aimed to ‘identify gaps in programmes for youth who are suffering chronic unemployment due to communication and language skills and other integration barriers… The research will focus on youth between the ages of 16-24 from the West Indies and African English speaking countries…’ (contract with Citizenship and Immigration Canada).
There are some key limitations to this project. First, for this small-scale qualitative research, participants were selected from those attending programmes at four social service agencies. Obviously, this represents a small sample of the immigrant population. It is also important to note that users of social service agencies are more likely to be working-class.
Second, in this study, ‘Caribbean’ specifically refers to black youth from Anglophone islands. ‘African’ denotes black people from English-speaking African countries.
Third, this study is not a true comparative analysis of African and Caribbean immigrants’ language issues. While both groups share a common identity based on being black, there are enormous cultural differences between them, which were outside the parameters of the project. The more limited aim of the research is to point out similarities and differences between the groups on language and communication issues.
II. The Need for Research Adolescent can be a challenging time for youth and their family. Both have to deal with the physical, social and psychological changes as the youth leaves childhood behind and begins the process of becoming an adult. Migration adds complexity to an already challenging phase of the youth’s life. It may force the youth to renegotiate not only their individual identity, but also their cultural identity. In the case of African and Caribbean youth, they are moving from countries where they are the majority to one where they are the minority. Their adolescent and settlement issues are compounded by discrimination based on race and cultural differences.
A. African Youth There is a paucity of studies on the migration and settlement needs of black people from continental Africa. In the literature, ‘black’ and ‘African’ most often refers to those from the Caribbean. While they share some commonalties with the diaspora, the specific needs of Africans are submerged. The first group of African immigrants to Toronto arrived in the 1970s. They tended to be highly educated. Many came to Canada to attend university in such areas as medicine, engineering and business (Mwarigha). Despite their higher level of education compared to the population, Africans had a high unemployment rate when compared to the norm for Toronto (Kasozi). Significant African immigration to Canada began only during the 1980s and 1990s. The major sources of immigrants were from South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria. Some came as part of the African ‘brain drain’ to the West, in search of better opportunities. Others were refugees fleeing war, political instability and economic malaise in their home countries. The African newcomers quickly organized community associations to help deal with their settlement needs. The majority of these associations are run on a shoestring budget, lack core government funding and rely heavily on volunteers. They have limited capacity to meet the needs of their clients. And, as they are institutionally weak, the agencies find it difficult to meet the criteria for more stable long-term funding (Ainsah-Mensah).
English is the medium of instruction from school to university in the Anglophone African countries. Facility with the English language depends on the number of years in school, class, gender and rural/urban location. English language skills were identified as a key service that was needed in the community (Mwarigha). Specific language difficulties were identified as accents and the use of idioms and speaking styles. Some community groups tried to meet these language needs by holding ESL classes for their members (Opoku-Dapaah). In Kasozi’s study, some 60% of the research subjects stated that their accent was unfavourable in terms of integrating into the society and in finding employment. Some 28% lost or left their former employment due to language problems.
B. Caribbean YouthPeople from the Caribbean have lived in Canada since 1796 with the migration of the Maroons from Jamaica to Nova Scotia as part of the settlement of the British-Maroon War (Winks). In the present time, large scale Caribbean youth migration started in the 1960s. Typical the mother came and settled, and later the children and their father joined her (Anderson and Grant).
This shift pattern of Caribbean migration is unique among immigrants. It has had enormous consequences for Caribbean youth. Issues include dealing with a re-constituted family that may have been separated for up to ten years. The situation is compounded if youth has other siblings who were born in Canada, or has to deal with step-siblings that now part of the new blended family. The youth may have left the emotional attachment to extended family back in the Caribbean, especially a grandmother, to join a family where their place in it is insecure.
Caribbean youths come from a culture where education is a scare resource that in most cases has to be paid for. Teachers are highly respected members of the community, classrooms are formal, discipline is strict, and expectations are high. By contrast, in Canada education is seen as ‘free.’ The youth and their families recognise education as the most important vehicle for advancing in Canadian society. Yet, numerous studies show the underachievement of Caribbean students in the Canadian system (Lewis, Royal Commission).
Caribbean youth face pressure in school from their parents, teachers and their peers. Teacher expectations significantly affect the progress of students in school. In the case of Caribbean students they are often stereotyped as having poor language and communication skills, low levels of participation, and in the case of the male are seen as aggressive (Anderson and Grant, Foster). Furthermore, Caribbean youth are confused by the Canadian education system when they are assessed as not speaking English. A disproportionate number are put back several grades, are assigned to special education classes, or placed in English as a second language programmes. The teachers’ low expectations of students, and misunderstanding of their culture all compound communication problems for Caribbean youth (Edwards).
Parents assume that school operates the same way in Canada as in the Caribbean. They do not always understand the dilemmas that their children face in school. Caribbean parents are more likely to be concerned with the discipline problems in school, and the limited amount of homework. They have high confidence that the school as an institution is meeting the needs of their children (James and Brathwaite).
Caribbean youth may find themselves failing in school, isolated and frustrated. Their parents do not understand their dilemma and more likely to blame the children for the failing, teachers expect little from them, and there is little in curriculum that they can identify. In addition, the Caribbean way of socialising is seen as negative. All of these factors contribute to the underachievement and a high drop out rate for Caribbean students (Dei).
C. Language and Communication From how a person speaks English on the telephone one can infer a range of information or assumptions about them, including their age, gender, level of education, whether English is their mother tongue, and even their ethnic identity. In short, one can ascribe the person a social identity based on their use of language.
English, like all other languages, is not monolithic. There are dialects within the language. Each dialect "reflect a particular social, educational, economic, and historical condition. To linguists, ‘dialect’ refers to a way of speaking a language, and not to an incorrect way of speaking it (Taylor)." All dialects of a language are linguistically legitimate. However, some dialects are more socially prestigious than others are. The dialect spoken by the educational, socioeconomic and political elites becomes the standard dialect of a country. It is the language of culture, social mobility and education (Trudgill).
Standard English is the acceptable dialect in Canada. It is medium through which people from different linguistic backgrounds communicate with one another. While there are regional and social differences within the dialect, it is spoken, by some members of all ethnic and cultural groups.
Non-standard dialects exist in all languages. Occupying the other end of the social spectrum, non-standard dialects are most often spoken the powerless, the less educated, and the poor. While legitimate linguistically, non-standard dialects tend to be unacceptable to the elites of society. Standard English is the language of the Caribbean middle-class, and it can be understood by anyone from anywhere. Working-class youth and those from rural areas may speak English on a continuum from standard to patois (Coelho). The more grounded they are in patios the more likely it is that they will have limited comprehension of standard English and standard English speakers cannot understand them. In Canada, Caribbean students encounter problems in terms of intonation, grammar and vocabulary, (Beserve)
African and Caribbean youth need to master standard English for academic success, and for career and social mobility. Any difficulty with standard English severely limits their opportunities.
III. Method The data for research project was collected using six focus groups. The participants were located though four social service agencies. The four youth focus groups consisted of youth aged 16-24 years. Separate sessions were held for African females, African males, Caribbean females, and Caribbean males. The last two focus groups were for African and Caribbean parents of immigrant youths. The groups consisted of both females and males.
Each focus group session was taped. The first part of the guided discussion covered general issues on adjusting to life in Canada. Topics included differences in values, beliefs and behaviour between Canada and ‘back home,’ and organizations and individuals that helped the participants with the settlement process. The second part of the discussion specifically addressed the issues of language and communication.
Additional information on each participant was gathered from a short questionnaire. This collected demographic data such as place and date of birth, level of education completed, occupation and languages spoken at home.
The tape from each focus group was transcribed. Data from the transcript was then integrated with data from the questionnaire. The data were analysed using the following matrix of similarities and differences between: females and males, African and Caribbean, parents and youth.
IV. Description of the Findings The focus groups yielded a richness of data covering the social, psychological, economic and cultural aspects of youth migration and settlement. Due to limits of space and time, only the findings that relate to language and communication are presented here.
A. Overview of the Participants African Females: The members of this youth focus group were originally from Ghana and Zambia. All were high school students, except for one woman who was attending university. The youth’s parents’ occupations ranged from taxi driver, secretary to environmental chemist. The youths’ fathers were most likely to have completed university and their mothers high school. The languages spoken at home were English, Twi and Fanti.
African Males: This youth focus group consisted of immigrants from Ghana and Nigeria. Most were in high school, typically in grades 10-12. One male was attending college. The youths’ parents employment included store clerk, restaurant manager, and social worker. Their fathers were most likely to have attended university and their mothers high school. These African males were relatively recent immigrants, most arriving in Canada in the last five years. The languages spoken at home were English, Twi, Akan and Beni.
African Parents: This group was made up of women from Ghana and Nigeria. Their employment ranged from factory worker to community worker. The parents were most likely to be in their mid-forties and most had a high school education. Edo, Twi and English were the languages spoken at home.
Caribbean Females: The members of this youth focus group were originally from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Most were high school students in grades 9-12. One had just completed her first year at community college. Their parents’ occupation ranged from labourer, to dressmaker to nurse. Fathers were most likely to have a high school education while mothers were most likely to have completed college. These Caribbean females had immigrated to Canada when they were very young, and most had lived here for about ten years. All indicated that they spoke only English at home.
Caribbean Males: This youth focus group consisted of immigrants from Grenada and Jamaica. Most were high school students, and one was attending university. Their parents’ jobs ranged from social worker, to nurse to phone technician. Both parents were most likely to have a college education. The Caribbean males had also immigrated to Canada when relatively young, and most had lived here for about ten years. English was the only language spoken at home.
Caribbean Parents: This focus group contained both females and males, who were originally from Barbados, Jamaica, and Grenada. Their employment ranged from assistant chef to health care aide. The parents were most likely to be in their mid-forties and most had a high school education. English was the only language spoken at home.
There are some similarities and differences between the African and Caribbean groups based on demographic data. The African youth are relatively recent immigrants, most arriving within the last five years. In contrast, the Caribbean youth have been living here for ten years. There were distinct cultural and gender differences in the education of the youth parents. The Africans mothers were most likely to have a high school education while the father had attended university. In the case of the Caribbean youth, the pattern was reverse. Their mothers were most likely to have higher or the same level of education as the father. In terms of language, the Africans spoke English and other languages at home, while those from the Caribbean spoke only English.
B. Cross-cultural Communication Themes This section analyses the general cross-cultural communication themes that emerged from the focus group discussions. Specifically, the section examines similarities and differences between the groups in terms of manners and respect, discipline and interactions between the parent and the child.
There were remarkable similarities between the groups in terms of their experiences of manners and respect in Canada and ‘back home.’ The groups expressed astonishment and disappointment with the lack of respect that is given to the elders in Canada. They saw this lack of respect most keenly in the school system. Instead of teachers being looked up to by the youth, the teachers were more likely to be disparaged. The following are typical sentiments from the discussion:
"Where I come from… teachers you are suppose to give them the most respect. They take their time to teach you things that you don’t know about. When you come here, you see that here, but it’s mostly [about] disrespecting teachers. And then you have the teachers who disrespect the students too. It goes kind of equal." Caribbean male
"I found it odd here all these students being disrespectful to the teacher. In Ghana we have these set of values like the teacher’s responsibility is to be like your third parent. So you respect the teacher. Here it is different." African male
"I’ve gone back to Jamaica a few times since I left. What my mom notices and what I notice is the manners. She sees how some of my friends conduct themselves, and I have some white friends, and they are in the street, they are swearing on the bus. My mom says that if you were ever back home and you did that, anyone would talk to you. The woman sitting across from you, she would probably know your mother or your father or your grandparents and would say something. It would be an embarrassment to your family; you would be dealt with when you get home. You are called on for bad behaviour. Usually when you are back home, you know how to conduct yourself. Here it’s kind of accepted as this is the way teenagers act. They can talk loud on the bus and disturb others." Caribbean female
Discipline was one of the most passionately topics discussed in the focus groups. For both Africans and Caribbeans, corporal punishment was the culturally acceptable way of disciplining a child. As one youth explained:
"My older sister came home with a really really bad report card and my mom beat her. My sister called the police on my mother! She got beat worst. The officer that came was this old white man. He goes, ‘when I came home with a bad report card my father beat me too.’ He pretty much accepted what my mom did. And [he] said, ‘she probably did that out of anger, knowing that you could have done better.’ But I think if it was a younger officer, they would have got more upset with my mother. But the whole fact that my sister called the police on my mother upset my entire family. Grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles came to the house and beat my sister. They were so upset with her. It’s like you cannot call the police on your mother, especially for something that she could have prevented too. That report card was really bad." Caribbean female
"In my country if you disrespect the teacher, and the teacher calls your mother, your mother will tell the teacher to beat you! And after, when you go home, you’ll get beaten again." African male"One person doesn’t born a child. If a child is doing something wrong you smack them for it. Here you can’t do that. Everything is law, law. Here you can’t control your children. That’s a big problem." African female parent In the Canadian context, physical punishment is a no, no. Neither the youth nor their parents favoured the Canadian way of disciplining. As one youth noted:
"Kids up here get punished by time out, or you are grounded! What kind of punishment is that?" Caribbean female
The Caribbean parents saw the lack of discipline leading their youth to run into problems with the police. As one parent stated at length:
"One of the biggest issues as I see it, is that they don’t allow you to deal with your kids in the respectful way that you were bought up. Look, the way in which I grew up it was ‘yes ma’am, no ma’am. Yes sir, no sir. Please can I have this? Mister.’ And so on. Here your kids come and it’s ‘yes,’ ‘no.’ You call him, and it’s ‘what?’ You try to discipline your child, the first thing they do is they try and remove your child from home. They will take your child from you. They are suppose to allow the people who come here to grow their kids in the way in which they grow up. Do not take that away from them. As soon as they do that, do you know who start kicking their butts around – the cops? Because they don’t allow you to discipline your kids, when they get out of hand, they are the same ones who comes in, put a bullet in his butt, or their foot. Why? Because you didn’t get the chance to bring the child up the way you wanted to bring the child up. You bring the child up to their system and that’s what their system gives. No discipline. That’s one of the things that the government here should look into. Allow the people from their culture to deal with the kids the way in which they want to grow them with respect and manners. If this is taken away from you, your child is not yours anymore." Caribbean female parent
3. Parent-Child Interaction The differences in discipline standards affected interactions between the parent and child. This was seen as negative by both the youth and the parent – both knew the parents had lost control. As one youth noted:
"You come here as a child and you feel that you have power over your parents, over your teachers because they can’t raise a hand to hit you. Up here as children and young people we know that we have the power. And at times we abuse it, because we know that they are powerless against us in this society and in the law. We have the power, and they don’t." Caribbean female
The parents echoed these sentiments:
"Say you left them there for three years and now they are here. Upon till that point, every time the kid misbehaves you disciplined that kid my tanning his behind. Kid comes here, after 5 or 6 months, understands the system as in ‘if my mom hits me, I pick up the phone and I call 911. My mother is wrong.’ There you go in terms of being able to discipline your kids; [it] is taken away from you. That is a serious issue. What happens is that you loose the reign on your kids? There goes your kids doing things that you do not want them to do, but you cannot correct it the way that you want to. So your kid is either moving into a life of crime, of jail, etc and you feel helpless towards them. This is serious issue that has to be dealt with." Caribbean male parent.
While the youth enjoyed more freedom here, they were also aware of the consequences of this:
"When you do something bad back home, your parents can beat you. But when you come to Canada, when the parents shout at them, they call the police. That’s the Canadian way. Or they think that their parents don’t like them. But it’s not like that. You are not from here; you weren’t born here, so if they put you into a foster home or something, you can’t adapt to that. You are not going to be happy. That’s what’s wrong with a lot of the kids here from back home. They end us as juveniles because of the Canadian way." African male
There were many communication and language themes that emerged from the focus groups. These were categorised as comprehension, language in the school system, and language and employment. On this topic there were major differences between the people from Africa and those from the Caribbean.
1. Comprehension
Words are symbols that represent things - ideas, events, objects, desires and so on. In English, like in all other languages, there are rules that dictate the way in which symbols can be used. The most basic of these deal with syntax (the structure or ways in which words can be arranged) and semantics (the meaning of words). Dialect speakers of a language may use different syntactic structures and ascribe different meanings to the words other than that used by non-dialect speakers. Add to this situation difference in accents, intonation and the rhythm of the speech, and the possibility for mutual incomprehension between the dialect and non-dialect speakers increases substantially. Constantly being misunderstood eventually affects a person’s self-esteem. Those with lowered self-esteem tend to perform poorly when being watched, as they are sensitive to possible negative reactions. They may become quiet and passive so as not to draw attention to themselves. This in turn may lead to feeling of being rejected by others. In the words of the research subjects:
Caribbean male""I’m coming from Grenada. I had to adjust to speaking, because I spoke Creole which is totally different, and it was hard for anyone to understand me. So I had to get used to that, which was pretty difficult."
It was strange. People could not understand what I said. But my grandmother forbade patois to be spoken in the house. She has this mentality that it was the Queen’s language, and nothing but. When I came I was able to understand as well as able to speak to people. It’s strange because I speak more patios now with my mom than I do with my grandmother. And I speak it more here than I do in Jamaica." Caribbean female
The frustration for the Caribbean speakers was doubly so, as they defined themselves as native English speakers:
"In the West Indies we have some words in our dialect which is different from plain English. And I think that is what made the problem in school for most of these kids. That’s why they said they are not speaking English. The Jamaican dialect that we have, the Canadians don’t understand. It’s not that we don’t speak English." Caribbean female parent
"I don’t see patois necessarily being inferior to quote unquote standard English. Standard English is the language that is spoken in Canada, Britain, and other areas of the British Commonwealth. I think that patois is a language within a language. It’s basically something within English. It’s a kind of fusion." Caribbean male.
The situation for the African subjects was somewhat different. Depending on their level of education ‘back home’ they may have a range of fluency in English ranging from basic to native. As these youth noted:
"…In school… peers look at you differently, maybe it’s the way you express yourself. It’s not just the system it was also about language. You might not have the full knowledge about speaking English, because at home you speak your own language. That was one thing that made it hard for me." African male"
In Ghana our colonial masters were British. So most of us don’t have a problem speaking English. But what makes it hard for us when we come here, are the phrases and the jargon and all those terms that these people use. … In the cafeteria in school, or even at work, the moment that you start talking, right from there they can tell that you’ve not been here that long. This makes it hard for most of us. Like I finished high school back home, so I was ok with the English language. But for those of us who didn’t, it’s harder for us to control our English... Even in school when a topic is being talked about, you might want to express your opinion but because its in the English language you don’t want them to laugh or something like that, so you keep silent." African male
The differences in comprehension also affected the dynamics in the family. The youth may begin to use Canadian English expressions and idioms, which the parents are unfamiliar with. If the parents take the words literally, it may lead to confusion and tension, as the following illustrates:
"Sometimes if you are talking to your parents and you say something like ‘mummy what are you talking about?’, they get offended. [They demand] "what do you mean what am I talking about?" Or you say [to them] ‘what are you saying?’ That’s taken as an insult. [Or you might say] that’s a dumb idea. They think you are telling them that they are dumb. It’s little things like that they just take straight as offence. It’s like automatically you are insulting them, but you are not. It’s just that you are really asking them the question ‘what are you talking about ?’" African female
2. Language in the School System
The perception and expectations of teachers powerfully affects student’s self-esteem and performance. In the case of the African and Caribbean youth, their initial encounter with the school system was negative. Those from Caribbean were most likely to be put back in grade, irrespective of their age and ability. Being unfamiliar with the school system, their parents did not challenge this initial placement.
"I am from Jamaica. When I left I was between basic school and primary school. The difference is that basic school you start when you are about 3 or 4. When I came up they did not want to integrate me in grade one, so they put me in kindergarten! In basic school in Jamaica you learn how to read and write. You go to school to learn. You don’t play with sand, and blocks and all the rest. But when I came, they put me in kindergarten you play with water, you play with blocks and sand! You have a nap time in the afternoon and all that kind of stuff. I remember my mom coming to school and saying ‘this can’t work. She knows how to read; she knows how to write. You need to put her in a programme that will help her develop that.’ They refused to do that." Caribbean female"
That’s the mistake. I did not know at the time, that they couldn’t put you back, if your parents didn’t want them to. My mom didn’t really know what was going on. They gave her some sob story like ‘he’s too young to be in this grade.’ That was their excuse for putting me back. Now that I look at it, if you can do the work, what is the problem? I think that a lot of parents get tricked into having their kids put back a grade. If you do not agree to it, it won’t happened." Caribbean male
Teachers expect less from black students, whether they were African or Caribbean. The students are encouraged to take non-academic courses and or are encouraged to focus on sports. The youth were particularly incensed by the advice they received from guidance counsellors. Most often the message was that the student did not have the ability to go very far:
"Teachers take it out on the black kids. If they do well, they are wrong. If they do it right, they are wrong. When the kids do good, nobody believes them. My son did a great assignment. The teacher did not believe that he did himself. His self-esteem dropped." African female parent.
"When my brothers moved from Ottawa to Toronto, they went to see the counsellors. They didn’t really care that [their] marks were in the 80s. They just picked any course for [them]. My daddy was so angry that he went to school, and forced them to drop all the drama and all that stuff and take science and other hard subjects. When you are talking to them, the counsellors, say ‘what college are you going to?’ They are not going to say what university are you going to because they don’t really care. Because you are black they think that you are going to college. Last time we were doing something in school and they gave out books on college, and one of my friends picked up a university book, the counsellor told him to put it down, and to take a college one instead." African male
"In a sense if the child is not what the teacher expects the child to be, the child will be neglected, will be targeted. These are things which are not good for the child. They make the child feel as if he’s not worthwhile. Now my son is just getting the confidence, that he’s a somebody, that he is worthwhile. All those years of going to school, whatever the problem was, he said it didn’t interest him. Now, is the time that he is trying. He’s thinking of going to college now." Caribbean female parent
"The counsellors tell the person that from what they’re seeing, the person is going nowhere. They destroy the person’s dream, so the person will feel like ‘what the heck?’ and then drop out of school. I have a friend all he thinks about is basketball. Forget about school, just basketball. The counsellors tell him about basketball. He thinks he’s going to join the NBA, he can’t even read. It’s all basketball….Stay in school. Don’t let those bullshit counsellors spoil your dreams. If you think you want to join the NBA, join the NBA. If you think you want to go to university, go to university. Don’t let people tell you what to do." African male
While teachers recognised the language needs of Caribbean students, the usual solution was to place them in English as a second language (ESL) classes.
"I already knew English. But it was like when I came here I could understand them but they could not understand me. They wanted to put me into ESL programme. Probably because I had an accent and I spoke fast." Caribbean female
In the case of the African youth, ESL classes were seen as either appropriate or inappropriate depending on their fluency in the language, class and age:
"We don’t want to be in the classes with the Russians who don’t speak English. We need a class where pay attention to things like our accent." African male
"For older people in Ghana, in school they were taught proper English. If you are younger like elementary age, then you do need help with your English. If you came here as an older person, and you’ve been in the school system there you really won’t need much help with your English." African female
However, the consensus was that Africans needed ESL classes as they were more likely to speak other languages at home:
African male"But we do need the same kind of ESL classes like the Russians. In Ghana English is only taught in class, we don’t speak it at home. If you put that person in the same class, they should be a step ahead of the Russians. Because the official language of Ghana is English, it does not mean that everyone speaks it. Most of us actually don’t. "
"I don’t think you should be there in elementary school if you just came here, especially if the teacher is speaking full 100% English and you are speaking 100% Twi. You won’t be able to communicate. You won’t be able to translate anything. It will help you later on if you have a basic understanding [of English]. African female
3. Language and Employment
The research participants recognized the link between employment and language. Standard English was the language of the workplace and school. Dialects, patios and Creoles were used only with friends, family and in situations where the subjects were comfortable. As one parent noted:
"When I had my first job interview here, I was asked ‘how long have you been here?’ I told him that I had been here for a year. So I go and ask him ‘why did you ask that?’ He says it was because I spoke very good English. I trained myself. I watched my friends. When they are around certain people they talk different…. When you go someplace you have to conduct yourself in a certain manner. If you present yourself to certain people in certain way, they will look at you and they will respect you. But [if] they don’t understand they will feel that something is up. If you are working with somebody and you see two people who are talking differently, and you don’t understand it, you feel a way! Caribbean male parent"I won’t make a presentation at work. Because I know they will giggle at my accent." African female parent
4. Gaps in Services
For the African subjects, there were issues around access to services. In the first place they may not know what services exists. And, even if they are able to find the right services, they might not be accessible in terms of cultural differences and language barriers. The Africans were more likely to rely on friends and family for help. As the following quotes illustrate:
"There are different types of resources but I don’t think that they are accessible to all people. For example, you don’t know that they are out there. So even though there are different clinics and centres that can help you to adjust to life here, you don’t know how to start and how to go about finding them. There are guidance counsellors in schools, but oftentimes they don’t give you the correct information. So I think that you mostly turn to your parents and that might be a problem too they might not be familiar with all the things that are available to you as well. For example, [as a] newcomer parents and newcomer children, I don’t know where, plus my mom doesn’t know to turn. And I don’t understand my guidance counsellor." African female"
As a newcomer if you are not familiar with the language, and even if you do find out what is here, when you get there you have to fill out an application but you can’t read English. Who are you going to talk to, if nobody there speaks Twi? After that experience you’re not going to want to go out because you feel that you are isolated, no matter where you go. You feel like I can go here but I won’t understand the language so isolate yourself and do whatever." African female
While the Caribbean identified access to services as a key issues, they did not cite language as a barrier. The Caribbean youth were also more likely to go to friends and family for help. This was more to do with culture:
"If you are from the islands, if you have a problem it’s private. I wasn’t really comfortable telling my problems to anybody, except maybe my friends who I grew up with. To this day, I don’t tell my problems to strangers, I’d rather talk to my friends and family." Caribbean male Several of the African and Caribbean youth mentioned that they got help from the counsellors at sports and recreation programmes:
"My friends helped me out. Or I went to the rec. programmes, where you play sports to get rid of some of the stress. I know some people in the rec. programmes so I could talk to them." Caribbean male
Several of the youth also mentioned that they went to the youth groups in their church for help. However, they cautioned that only a minority of youth attend church. Many youth still went to their school’s guidance counsellor for help.
The best way of closing the gaps in services were for more established newcomer youth to help the new arrivals. That is, a buddy system.
"Newcomers need support from other youth who might have been here a little bit longer, just so that they could teach them some of the ways that we have done here. If they are not speaking good English then an ESL type of class to help them with their language. You might need an organization just for newcomers so that they understand each other. Because sometimes if you are a newcomer and you are trying to tell me your problems I might not understand if I were born here. Maybe an organization for newcomers so that they can share their experiences with each other and get different feedback from each other." African female
"I believe that when a child is just come to this country, they should find somebody from their culture, more likely for the first year or two, in school who understands that child. Or understand their culture." Caribbean female parent
V. Recommendations 1. Language Training for Africans: African youth need to either learn English as a second language or to significantly upgrade their language skills.
2. Standard English as a Second Dialect for Caribbeans: Caribbean youth need help with their English. This must be grounded in the recognition that they speak a dialect of English and therefore need assistance in mastering standard English.
3. Mental Health: Both African and Caribbean youth and their parents need help with bridging the chasm between parenting roles and responsibilities ‘back home’ and here in Canada. For the African community it is crucial that the mental health services are delivered in their native languages.
4. Schools: These play a vital role in the integration of the newcomer youth. Teachers, especially guidance counsellors, need to know more about the cultures of the youth. Teachers also need to confront their racial stereotypes and increase their expectations of the capabilities of both African and Caribbean youths.
5. Buddy System: Youth are more likely to go to their friends for advice. Therefore, Citizenship and Immigration should explore the possibility of creating a buddy system that links more established immigrant youth with the newcomers.
6. Recreation Centres: Youth also use their local sports and recreation centres for advice. Therefore, Citizenship and Immigration should investigate the feasibility of providing settlement services in these centres.
7. Future Research: This is needed on the settlement needs of the black African community. While their settlement experiences are similar in some ways to the African diaspora, there are unique needs in the community which have not been fully explored. The few studies that exist are anecdotal in nature.
VI. Conclusion This research focussed on the language and communication issues faced by newcomer African and Caribbean youth as they settle into their new lives in Toronto. The research findings indicated that there similarities and differences between these two black communities. Language was the most significant of these differences. Africans spoke many other languages in addition to English, even if it is the national language of their home countries. Their familiarity with English depended on their level of education ‘back home,’ age, class and rural/urban location. The Africans cited the need for English as a second language (ESL) training as the key gap in settlement services for their community.
The people from the Caribbean also had difficulties with language. While they are uni-lingual, native English speakers, they speak a dialect of English. This dialect is sufficiently different from standard English that it can lead to mutual incomprehension. As the Caribbean dialect is seen as negative, it hindered the youth in school and contributes to their underachievement. Most often, schools dealt with the language difficulties of Caribbean students by placing them in ESL classes. This lowered their self-esteem and further contributed to their underachievement.
VII. Appendix This research was commissioned by the Coalition of Visible Minority Women (Ontario) Inc. The agency serves African, Black, Central American, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Iranian, Korean, Japanese, South Asian and Vietnamese women living in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Brampton and Sudbury. From its annual report, the Coalition was "established to acknowledge and affirm visible minority women as full participants and contributors to the economic, social and political life of our society through advocacy, education, research and support services."
The Coalition has offered a variety of programmes and services to its clients over the years. These include: preventing family violence workshops, counselling and referral services, AIDS education project, seminars on menopause and aging, building a 133 housing co-op, Multi-lingual Access to Social Services Initiative (MASSI) and Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC).The Coalition has one permanent employee, a full-time Executive Director. Other staff are hired on a contract basis depending on the project and its funding. The Coalition also uses volunteers, when they are available, as additional staffing.
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 Virtual Library |
 Updated February 09, 2004 |
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