ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: International

  • New (US) research: Immigration, diversity and education

    New research on young children of immigrants, publication date: Nov 2009. In an edited collection, entitled Immigration, Diversity, and Education, editors Elena Grigorenko and Ruby Takanishi present the first wave of studies about what is happening to young children from birth to age 10 living in immigrant families in the U.S.
    The contributors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on recent developments and research findings on children of immigrants. … this collection lays the foundation for changes in child and youth policies associated with the shifting ethnic, cultural and linguistic profile of the US population (Source: NAME Listserv, Sept 23/09).

    Table of Contents
    Preface, Elena L. Grigorenko
    Introduction, Ruby Takanishi
    1. Children of Immigrants and the Future of America, Donald J.Hernandez, Nancy A. Denton, and Suzanne E. Macartney.
    2. Differences in Social Transfer Support and Poverty for Immigrant Families with Children: Lessons from the LIS, Timothy Smeeding, Coady Wing, and Karen Robson.
    3. Disentangling Nativity Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Country of Origin in Predicting the School Readiness of Young Immigrant Children, Jessica Johnson De Feyter and Adam Winsler.
    4. Preparing the Way: Early Head Start and the Socio-Emotional Health of Latino Infants and Toddlers, Krista M. Perreira, Linda Beeber, Todd Schwartz, Diane Holditch-Davis, India Ornelas and Lauren Maxwell.
    5. Latinos and Early Education: Immigrant Generational Differences and Family Involvement, Eugene E. Garcia, Kent Scribner, and Delis Cullar.
    6. Diversity in Academic Achievement: Children of Immigrants in US Schools, Jennifer E. Glick and Littisha Bates.
    7. Latino/a Immigrant Parents? Voices in Mathematics Education, Marta Civil and Naria Planas.
    8. Cultural Incongruence Between Teachers and Families: Implications for Immigrant Students, Selcuk R. Sirin and Patrice Ryce.
    9. Special Educational Needs of Children in Immigrant Families, Dylan Conger and Elena L. Grigorenko.
    10. Two Generations of Educational Progress in Latin American Immigrant Families in the U.S: A Conceptual Framework for a New Policy Context, Ariel Kalil and Robert Crosnoe.
    11. Does It Begin At School Or Home? Institutional Origins Of Overweight Among Young Children In Immigrant Families, Jennifer Van Hook, Elizabeth Baker and Claire Altman.
    12. Parenting of Young Immigrant Chinese Children: Challenges Facing their Social Emotional and Intellectual Development, Charissa S. L. Cheah and Jin Li.
    13. More than the A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s: The importance of family cultural socialization and ethnic identity development for children of immigrants’ early school success, Amy Kerivan Marks, Flannery Patton
    and Cynthia Garcia Coll.
    14. Emergent Literacy in Immigrant Children: Home and School Environment Interface, Iliana Reyes and Yuuko Uchikoshi.
    15. Development of Tolerance and Respect for Diversity in Children in the context of Immigration, Oscar Barbarin, Micaela Mercado and Dari Jigjidsuren.
    Conclusion: Commenting On What We Know and What We Need to Learn, Elena L. Grigorenko.

  • Deportation as immigration policy: A call for papers

    Deportation and the Development of Citizenship is the name of the conference being co-sponsored by the Centre on Policy, Migration and Society (COMPAS). The conference will be held Dec 11-12/09 in Oxford.
    Papers are sought that address several themes, including: Who are the main subjects of deportation power and how have they changed over time as a result of political and social concerns? In what ways does subjection to deportation power map on to patterns of race, gender, and age?
    Deadline for abstracts of 300 words, and a short biographical outline or CV are due by Sept 20/09 and should be sent to Dr Emanuela Paoletti, at emanuela.paoletti@qeh.ox.ac.uk. Prospective paper givers will be informed if their paper has been accepted by 30 September 2009.
    Related link: Forced Migration Online.

  • Which way home: Documentary on unaccompanied children

    Which Way Home tells the story of several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the United States via a freight train they have nick-named The Beast. Directed by Rebecca Cammisa, the film tells the stories of “children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year old Hondurans who are desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota, and Jose, a ten-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center, and focuses on Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran, whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family. These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow” (Source: uscri.refugees.org listserv).
    Airs Mon Aug 24/09 et/pt at 9pm on HBO.

  • The future for refugee children/Refugee futures conference

    The partnership of the International Metropolis Project Canada, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements presents Refugee Futures Conference 2009, from Sept 10-12/09, to be held at Monash University in Prato Centre, Italy.
    The conference will be attended by policy makers, academics, administrators and service providers and will address the future challenges of refugee movements and settlement, including environmental refugees.  immigrantchildren.ca is pleased to see a session on refugee children, chaired by Jeff Crisp, UNHCR with speakers Su-Ann Oh, Room to Grow Foundation, Thailand and Dr. Stepan Kerkyasharian, Community Relations Commission, NSW, Australia. From the program:

    The future for refugee children
    Perhaps the best barometer of the state of the global refugee regime is the future it affords children and youth brought into its midst. Apart from basic necessities, key factors affecting the future for refugee children include protection from violence and abuse, opportunities for education,and social supports for themselves and their families, among others. What if we were to also include the availability of livelihood opportunities for their family and community, or perhaps even more to the point, the prospect of a solution to their plight within their lifetime? What would the answer be for the majority of refugee children today? Is it likely to improve over time? What can the international community do to improve outcomes? What is at risk if we cannot provide a better answer?

  • Child migrant workers, in their own words

    The Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty (Migration DRC) examines the lived experiences of children who migrate to countries to seek work – from their perspective. The report finds a “significant gap between how children see their own experiences of migration and the way that child migrants are often represented”. See Voices of Child Migrants: A Better Understanding of How Life Is.
    Related resource: The Migration DRC Child Migration Research Network, a site with research and resources on child migration, unaccompanied children and child refugee issues.

  • Using international literature to build intercultural understanding: The IBBY Conference

    “Children’s Books: Where Worlds Meet” is the theme for the 8th International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) conference, to be held in St. Charles, Illinois Oct 2-4/09.

    From the conference brochure: “Stimulating and thought-provoking book discussions and small group sessions will provide opportunities to network with concerned professionals and to think about issues related to the use of international literature to build intercultural understanding”.

    Featured at the conference will be An Imaginary Library: Children’s Books That Don’t Exist (Yet). Seventy-two artists from over 30 countries create book covers for books not (yet) in existence. The exhibit invites delegates to consider what the book content might be from the cover. Fun!
    Among the speakers is Canada’s Patsy Aldana, president of IBBY, founder of Groundwood Books and on the founding board of The Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

  • "They don't like us"

    Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Vol. 10, No. 1 includes the article “They Don’t Like Us”: Reflections of Turkish Children in a German Preschool, by Fikriye Kurban and Joseph Tobin, Arizona State University. From the abstract:

    In this article, the authors present multiple interpretations of a transcript of a discussion with a group of Turkish-German girls in a kindergarten in Berlin, Germany. These five-year-old girls make statements suggesting they experience alienation from their non-Turkish classmates and teachers, and the wider German society. The authors argue that the meanings of these statements should not be taken at face value. Instead, they employ interpretive strategies borrowed mostly from Mikhail Bakhtin and interpretive frameworks taken from Judith Butler, and post-colonial theory and Critical Race Theory to suggest that the girls’ utterances can be usefully seen as having a performative dimension and as expressing tensions around immigration that can be found in the larger society.

  • Germany's language program for newcomers (parents & children together)

    The Frankfurt Office of Multicultural Affairs has partnered with city schools and day nurseries to offer a 2nd language learning class – for immigrant parents and their children.
    The “Mums Learn German – even Papa” program pairs newcomer parents and children together two mornings a week where they both learn German. The program is a unique language learning experience, where the language lessons are built around the practicalities of life in a new country. Mothers learn about the school system and what their children do in school, helping form a foundation for parental involvement and a strong relationship between parents and the school. (Source: Cities of Migration).

  • Bernard van Leer annotated bibliography on social inclusion and diversity in early childhood

    The Bernard van Leer Foundation‘s annotated bibliography of resources and publications in social inclusion and diversity is called “Valuing the Learning“.
    The resource is organized in three main sections.
    Section A: Theories, concepts and ways of viewing concerns with resources that mostly focus on theory and key concepts and include the following overlapping sections:

    Diversity, belonging and positive identity, such as inclusion and access, linguistic diversity, relationships, place identity, self-image.
    Children as citizens, child participation, the visibility of children, spaces for children.
    Early Childhood Education and Care as democratic process and the relationship between ECEC and social inclusion, social capital and well-being.

    Section B: Working with children, parents, early childhood practitioners and trainers includes the following:

    Engaging, involving and listening to children.
    Engaging, involving and listening to parents.
    Changing attitudes, behaviours and structures and advocacy strategies. 
    Innovative training and professional development.
    Creating spaces to belong.

    Part C: Information exchange and dissemination of information, including:

    Networking.
    Communicating, through shared knowledge, conferences, publications, translations.
    Researching and documentation.

    Source: Kernan, M. 2008. Valuing the learning: An annotated bibliography of the resources and publications of the Bernard van Leer Foundation and its partners in the area of Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity (2002-2008). Online Outreach Paper 6. The Hague, The Netherlands: Bernard van Leer Foundation.

  • Early childhood education and racial and ethnic divisions conference, Belgium

    The Joint Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity presents Early Childhood Education in Contexts of Racial and Ethnic Divisions Conference, April 29/09 at Ghent University, Belgium.

    “The conference will consist of three to four round table discussions with the experts on common strands about delivering programs of early childhood education in contexts of ethnic division. The experts will meet two days prior to the conference to discuss these strands and will continue their discussion with the audience. Consequently, there will be no programm with distinct individual key-note speeches. Rather, participants will be able to follow in-depth discussions and participate in them”.

    Some of the invited experts include representatives from Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Hebrew University, UNICEF/OSI/REF, University of Melbourne and the Bernard van Leer Foundation.