Insider/ Outsider 

        If there was a word to describe my school experience, it is OUTSIDER. I have felt most of my school life that I was an outsider. I guess my first experience with being an outsider was when I was 6 years old. I remember it was my first day at an primary school in Manchester, UK. All the children spoke English, and I did not understand a word. I found it hard to communicate with the kids in the class, and even with the teacher. The teacher assigned a Kuwaiti student, who was also 6 years old, to give me a tour in the class. After he finished the tour, he got fed up with me and didn't want to work as a TRANSLATOR ! I don't blame him. I bet he had to do double the work, going back and forth between two languages. I felt isolated and lost. I hated the first day, and even my brother was placed in a different class. So, I couldn't even talk to him, even during break time. Although the teacher tried to teach me a few words to get through that day, she did not check up on me regularly. She left me with the Kuwaiti boy, who did not really want to hang around with me, because he felt that it was work to be with me, or like homework. (IF you are out there, I FORGIVE YOU. You were just a kid, and so was I 👀). 

      This outsider situation continued to haunt me throughout my school years. First it was because I looked and dressed differently than all the British students, and mostly it was because of my religion. I think being in high-school was the time where I felt mostly isolated. That is why for this post I will make a list of what people (including teachers and student) could have done to make me feel more welcome. I will also make a list to explain what people could have done to exclude me. After writing these lists, I will share ways in which I as a teacher could make students feel more welcome, and not go through the same experiences that I did in primary school and high school. 

What could have people (both student and teacher) done to welcome me? 

• the teacher could have worked to allow me to mix more with different students, instead of assigning a translator for me, or putting me with similar international students. 
• the teacher could have made some timely check-ins with me to see if I feel comfortable enough.
• students should be inclusive in their treatment of different students, especially if they are international students. So if there is a party, gathering or any study group, international students should also be a part of that.
• being friendly means that teachers and students should look at other cultural differences with respect and not express how "weird" they are in front of international students. 
• exchanging contact information, whether by social media, or by connecting families
• talking about special holidays or special cultural norms to others in class when the opportunity allows it.

What could have people (both students and teachers) done to exclude me? 

• the teachers and students could have asked me questions on spot and made me feel very embarrassed
• the teacher does not include me in extra-curricular activities with the other students (this happened all the time, and it broke my heart into tiny little pieces 💔)
• the teacher explains her excitement for me, that I am moving up in "sets," but in a very racist way. 
• students could just ignore international students, assuming that they are not FUN, and that they have different tastes when it comes to having fun
• comment on the way international students dresses, whether it was appropriating school uniforms for religious reasons, by wearing longer and more loose outfits, rather than the usual over the knee skirt and and "CAT" shoes. 

         

Creating a More Welcoming Environment for Students Who Feel Like Outsiders:

To help my students feel more welcomed in the classroom, I will definitely implement all the points in the list and develop them into classroom activities/ or extra-curricular activities we can do as a class to feel that we are functioning as a community, rather than isolated individuals. For example, for international students, the teacher could make it a habit of switching everyone seats in class every time they meet. By doing that, the teacher is allowing students to mix and mingle, and giving them a chance to talk to each other more often and that will allow international students to make more friends. 

Having Conferences: 

Throwing a student with a bunch of other students thinking that they can transcend cultural differences and talk to each other, even if they don't speak the same language DOES NOT WORK! The teacher needs to meet or have conferences with students who feel like outsiders, to see if they are doing alright in the class and whether there are other things they would like the teacher to do in order to make their experience more welcoming. 

Make Everybody Welcome: 

Students should always invite other international student to the activities that they are doing. It takes time for an international student to get to talk to other students in class. Finding that they are welcoming will ease the process of allowing the students to talk, and have some great learning and entertaining moments together.

Invite Their Culture into the Classroom: 

Cultural differences should be regarded with respect, and in the class the teacher could have the students share different cultural aspects of their life by asking an attendance question. Inviting student's culture into the classroom is a great way to allow student, especially international students, to feel that they belong to the classroom community.

Before I Go:
Here is a video about what it means to be an outsider. I think it shows that even though it is hard for students to mix in when they feel like outsiders, there is always someone who wants to be their friend, but students have to be patient. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9l0XWGEHv8


References:

Images:

http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/02/insiders-versus-outsiders.jpg

https://mizrachi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/left-out-496x270.jpg