PIPPIN PUBLISHING

I’M NOT IN MY HOMELAND ANYMORE: VOICES OF STUDENTS IN A NEW LAND

ISBN: 0-88751-075-2    View Graphical Site    Go Back


Descript:
I'm Not in My Homeland Anymore originated with the belief that our English as a Foreign Language students have experiences that need to be told, memories that need to be shared. This belief led to the formation in Vancouver of the "Memories" writing project and, ultimately, to this book.

Written at the intermediate to advanced level, it's divided into three sections: Home, Leaving, and New Country and Strange Nation. Within the first two of these sections, sub-sections deal with topics such as "School and Friends," "Family," "Where I Lived," "Ceremonies and Beliefs," "War and Forced Labour," "Camp," and "Getting Out." Only New Country and Strange Nation, telling of the immigrants' arrivals in their new homeland, is undivided. The stories can serve as a basis for discussion, as a model for other "memories" writings,and as a facilitator for the process of communication between the newcomers and the strange nation to which they have come.

The individual stories that make up each sub-section are full of both information and emotion, evident as students tell about strong attachments, the enduring bonds of family and friendship, of desperate dangers faced and of difficulties overcome, of the gain of freedom and the loss of identity. At times humorous, at times critical, at times intensely moving but always highly observant, these writers' work will be of real worth in the eyes of your own ESL students since it tells the stories of many of them. It will be of equal value to your non-ESL students, too, as they learn something of the losses and nightmares of other lives lived outside the safety of North America, not as stories in the news but as the personal experiences of their fellow students.

Paperback  6" x 9"


Table of contents:
Changes

HOME

School and Friends
  School at the Top of a Hill
  School Guards
  There Are a Lot of Students Who Need to Talk
  My Best Friend's School Life
  My Junior High School in Taipei: Yen Ping
  They Can Only Be Angry in Their Hearts
  There's Something Wrong with the System
  Famous Schools
  High School in Taiwan
  "Good Shot"
  Korean Students
  Ordinary Days
  How to Find a Boyfriend in Korea
  "I Only Like You"
  I Had Run Away
  Fat Cat
  Snow Mountain

Family
  Chinese Families Are Different
  People Were Cold in My Family
  My Father Was My Math Teacher
  My Father
  The First Time I Was Alone with My Dad
  My Grandmother
  I Couldn't Imagine That My Grandmother Was Gone So Fast
  Children in Cambodia

Where I lived
  The Star Ferry
  Midnight Market
  Hong Kong Housing
  Food Hawkers in Hong Kong
  We Had Our Own Fields
  Hunting Snakes

Ceremonies and Beliefs
  Spring Festival in China
  The Moon Is Brighter and Fuller
  We Light Candles Outside
  Dia de San Jorge
  Norooz
  Getting Married in Hong Kong
  A New Baby
  Ceremonies for the Dead
  Crow in the Morning, Yout on the Door
  Lucky 8

LEAVING

War and Forced Labour
  We Lived in a Battlefield
  Even More Than That I Can't Describe at All
  I Arrived Too Late
  A Very Sad Day in My Life
  I Saw Him in My Dream

Camp
  Seven Days and Eight Nights
  I Always Thought About the Resettlement
  A Refugee Camp in the Philippines
  At Night They Came to Take Your Money
  He Wrapped My Hand Very Tight
  Last Day in Thailand

Getting Out
  Fences and Walls
  Exit Visa

NEW COUNTRY AND STRANGE NATION
  In Canada Everything is Freedom
  I Wish That I Were a Machine
  Just Like a Baby
  Just One Word
  Canadians
  Loneliness
  Snow
  I'm Ready

The New Days


Review:

"These writings would be quite valuable in any adult ESL classroom as a means to stimulate discussion, since the topics speak to experiences all immigrants have had and a wide range of emotions is evoked. A tip of the hat to Pippin for publishing the writings of Canadian ESL students!"
--  Margaret McLeod in TESL Toronto Winter Newsletter

"An aim of the book was to preserve the authentic voices of student writers. This was definitely achieved. This book is powerful, compact, interesting and well organized."
--  Luke Read in TESL Ottawa Spring Issue

"The book is a very important contribution to the literature on multiculturalism and the immigrant experience."
-- British Columbia Teachers' Federation