Teaching in the Footsteps of Trauma: A Self-Study on Teaching English as a Second Language to Refugees and Migrants in an Australian Context
摘要
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Australia’s federal government has instigated a settlement policy that homes refugees and migrants away from larger capital cities and into towns and regions that are not as densely populated. As a part of their repatriation, the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs funds free language classes. Many participants undertaking these classes are refugees who have come to Australia via refugee camps and have been victims of violence and trauma. This chapter presents a self-study undertaken by a teacher who had no prior knowledge of her student cohort and the trauma that had led them to regional Queensland. Through an ongoing self-study research project, the teacher gradually attained the knowledge and skills that allowed her to enhance her professional praxis.