from peanut butter to eid … blending perspectives: teaching urdu to children in canada

Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 2: 154–164, 2008Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN 1559-5692 print / 1559-5706 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15595690801894269

PERSPECTIVE AND PROGRAM STUDY

From Peanut Butter to Eid � � �Blending Perspectives: Teaching

Urdu to Children in Canada

Rahat NaqviFaculty of Education

University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The focus of this article is to examine the notions of language learning, heritage(referring to tradition) and ancestry (descendants & properties passed on), andcultural identification for Urdu-speaking immigrant children now living in Canada.This article provides a detailed ethnographic account of an innovative languageprogram developed to teach Urdu to children within the Canadian context. Theauthor draws on the research of Taylor (1983) to show that the evolution ofliteracy transmission is highly dependent on the childhood experiences of individualeducators and evolves through the interplay of their unique biographies andeducative styles, including the use of various texts. Questions explored includethe following: What types of texts are used? What are the students’ reactions tothe texts? What are the teacher’s practices within the classrooms? What kind ofan impact does the learning of Urdu have on the identity construction of thesechildren?

Sometimes/I want to forget it all/this curse called identity/I want to be far out/paintdreams in strange colours/Write crazy poetry/only the chosen can understand/Butit’s not simple/I still drink tea/with both hands. (Nancy Hom, cited in Minh-ha,1994, p. 17)

Correspondence should be addressed to Rahat Naqvi, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary,2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. E-mail: [email protected]

TEACHING URDU IN CANADA 155

Immigrant children often face a chasm between the culture they have left behindand the culture they now inhabit, resulting in a struggle to negotiate whatMacPherson (2005) refered to as their intercultural and hybrid identities. Basedprimarily on ethnographic qualitative research, this article showcases a successfullanguage program in Ottawa that addresses these very issues: fusing “the oldwith the new,” allowing children from Urdu-speaking families to hold onto theirformer culture while embracing their new Canadian identify.

Questions related to the research involve the types of materials used, thekind of impact the learning of Urdu has on the identity construction of thechildren, and the teachers’ practices within the classroom. Through a detailedanalysis of the texts and the types of activities incorporated in the classroomand language manual, the research demonstrates how the Urdu language is“recontextualized” within the Canadian framework and culture resulting in lessstereotypical representations of “typical” gendered and generational behavior intraditional Urdu language textbooks.

IMMIGRATION INTO THE CANADIAN MEDIUM

A migrant is someone who has crossed a border and settled in a new venueto start a new life. Immigration is a term that has been used increasingly inrelation to ethnic identity, linguistic identity, language loss, home, roots, and soforth. Modern contemporary Canadian society is marked by the linguistic andethnic diversity that immigration has brought forth. Migrants are caught in theirstruggle for survival within the dominant stream. The choices they have are oftenbetween assimilation or drowning within the mainstream of society because oflack of support or understanding for their particular minority culture.

Once arrived on new soil, learning the language and the ways of the otherculture to integrate and find a better life become paramount for the migrant. Asa result, these individuals often not only must cope with the pain of separationand loss, but also with the challenge of keeping their own culture and languagealive through the next generations.

TEACHING URDU TO CHILDREN IN CANADA: THEFOUNDING AND FORMALIZATION OF KEHKASHAN1

Kehkashan Urdu School was founded in 1978 to teach Urdu language to thechildren of the Urdu-speaking families living in the national capital region. Oneof the main goals of the school is to preserve and retain cultural richness and

1I thank the staff at the school for their cooperation and Mrs. Humaira Ansari for her leadershipand service to the community.

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literary heritage of Urdu in the Urdu-speaking community, as well as to enrichthe multicultural mosaic that is the hallmark of Canada’s uniqueness in the globalcommunity. Since its founding, Kehkashan Urdu School has become a majorcomponent of what is called the International Languages Program in Ottawa.Although Kehkashan was given a formal structure in 1981 through 1982, Urduhad been taught for more than 3 years prior to this date. In this initial period, dueto the low number of students, it was relatively simple to manage in one roomwith only one teacher. The first educator at Kehkashan described the teachingas intermittent and irregular, with classes taking place in different locations(sometimes in the basement of the Ottawa Mosque, sometimes in the classroomsof colleges, as well as in the homes of interested parents).

With the increase in enrollment, however, parents began to take an even moreproactive role and decided to approach the local school boards with the possibilityof a more permanent location. Consequently, in March 1982, the Ottawa Boardof Education provided teaching facilities, and classes were held in a numberof different schools. For the first year, one teacher taught the classes single-handedly. When the number of students increased, additional staff members werehired, and community involvement increased. Staff members played a crucialrole in initiating, planning, maintaining, and promoting the school over the years.

TEACHING MATERIALS AND TEXT BOOKS

In the initial years after Kehkashan had been given a formal structure, theteachers were confronted with a significant issue: a lack of resources to teachUrdu. During these first 2 years, the teachers wrote lessons, stories, poems, andshort articles. These were photocopied and distributed in the class. Later on, theavailability of funds allowed teachers to purchase primary text books, children’sstorybooks, and other teaching materials of Urdu language and literature. Thesewere primarily obtained from Pakistan and India.

Several meetings were organized to analyze these resources. These meetingsyielded several inadequacies that were discovered, including the variety ofagendas (hidden, political, ideological) that seemed to permeate the veryconception and design of these books. Religious undertones and Islamic dogmawere an underlying theme. For example, almost all the books, irrespective ofthe level for which they were being used, were introduced with a small prayer.This prayer usually used metaphors to display the grandeur of God in the formof nature and people’s very existence in this world. Ahmad (2004) reiterated thesame view. “Since the 1980s the mission of the national citizenship educationcurriculum in Pakistan has been the Islamization of society. The governmentcurriculum guidelines require textbooks to emphasize Islam as the nationalideology of the state of Pakistan” (p. 39).


At the conclusion of the analysis, the research group found these texts tobe laden with material that, for many of the students, represented an irrelevanttheme, a foreign ideology to which many of them could not relate. Many of thechildren had been born in Canada and were surrounded by Canadian culturalideology, English and Judeo-Christian icons and could not follow the underlyingcultural ideology that was incorporated into almost all the texts.

THE URDU INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

It was within this context that a new initiative was taken to develop a methodto teach the Urdu language based on the inclusion of the local Canadian contextas an essential reference point. Urdu for Children: Book One (Alvi, 1997)was successfully published McGill University Press. The book was designedfor three levels: junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten, and Grade 1. Themethod includes a teacher’s manual outlining the philosophical orientation of thebook. It also includes notes on how to use the materials, vocabulary flashcards,discussions of the long-term objectives of the course, and suggested timetables.

The student text as described in the teacher’s manual consists of two volumescontaining a common introduction, vocabulary list, and a literature section of22 and 18 stories and poems, respectively. Each literature selection includesillustrations of vocabulary taken from the story or poem, sample questions, anddiscussions of a particular point in grammar.

OBSERVATIONS AT KEHKASHAN

There were seven different heritage languages (Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi,Arabic, Gujrati, Bengali) being taught with three levels from beginner toadvanced. Fifteen children between the ages of 4 and 6 years were enrolled in theschool, and more than one half of the classrooms in the school were occupied. Itis interesting to note that most of the children attending these classes were fromthe Bayshore locality, where there is a very high concentration of immigrants. Inthe mornings, the children walked to school with their parents. The mothers wereactive participants in fundraisings that were organized every Friday to promotethe program. They also were active in the classroom as well.

The teacher had practiced in Pakistan for a number of years and had receivedformal training within the country of origin. However, the main challenge shefaced in this class was the variety of levels that these children represented. Therewere a number of children who had come to Canada with their parents in the last2 years. They were more fluent in Urdu as compared to those who were born

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and raised in Canada. The day always started with prayer followed by greetingsand attendance. After that, the teacher talked about the date and the weather, andthe children had “show and tell” time. This component was mostly comprisedof talk on the activities the children had done the day before. Most children tookan active part in this segment of the class.

Along with the Urdu language book, a number of interesting resourceswere used in these classes. Each day the students went through the alphabets.They accomplished many written exercises in which they practiced writing thealphabets and identifying objects that begun with these letters. Parallel themesintroduced throughout the summer program were as follows: I, the five senses,parts of the body, colors, farm animals, my family, emotions, and so forth. Froma pedagogical point of view, the classes did not have a very firm structure,mostly due to the variety of levels present within one class (see Figure 1).

Much of the vocabulary introduced came from the text itself. The teachingmaterials hoped to better furnish both educators and learners with pertinentresources for Urdu students now residing in Canada. The authors of this manualhad made an effort to subtly pick up on themes that would be of interest tochildren living in the Canadian context. There were multiple poems dealing withthe theme of winter. In one poem, literally translated as the “Blue Vest,” specificvocabulary related to winter was introduced such as winter coat, mittens, scarf,and so on. Similarly, there were short texts on camping, the school bus, and “myschool.” This integration of the Canadian culture and Canadian-lived context intothe Urdu language (where, in the country of origin these articles & ideas are rareto nonexistent) is completely contemporary in their goals. As an example of thisthe terms jelly and peanut butter represent infrequently used vocabulary and do

FIGURE 1 Examples of exercises given to Level 1 at Kehkashan School.


not typify breakfast foods in Pakistan. Similarly, the ideas of outdoor activitiessuch as camping or skiing are not reference points shared by the vast majority ofUrduphones. Yet, the authors of Urdu for Children found it necessary to includethem, as Urdu-speaking children living in Canada will encounter these and willinevitably seek ways to communicate about them. The text did a very good jobof integrating culture and language together (see Figure 2).The Canadian flagappears in the Urdu text book.

The Urdu textbook also depicts a school with a Canadian flag flying in frontof it (see Figure 3). The choice of this simple picture by the illustrators opensthe door to many questions: Why not draw a neutral school flag? Why not thePakistani flag? Is this an incorporation of a multicultural concept to remind Urdu-speaking children living in Canada that they can still hold onto their language,heritage, and ancestry, or is it a reminder that they are in Canada now, regardlessof the language, heritage, and ancestry that they learn about or come from?

“MY GRANDMOTHER’S CANARY IN THE WINDOWWAITING TO SING A SONG I DO NOT RECOGNIZEBUT WITH TIME IT WILL BE PART OF THE SCENE”

(KRAMSCH, 1999)

In terms of cultural reference points, immigrant children often speak of thedistance they feel when visiting family in countries like India and Pakistan.They have a sentiment of detachment from the scenarios cherished by theirparents for whom, as first-generation immigrants, childhood memories hold greatimportance. Once in Canada the challenge becomes how to create and perpetuatea sense of familiarity and belonging across continents, spaces, and generations.

The creation of common reference points, such as those initiated in the manualsto teach Urdu to children in Canada, introduce enduring cultural themes such assongs that, with time, no longer seem foreign and remote but rather familiar andcomforting. Immigrant children, although arriving and residing in the Canadianculture, are also, through their families and schools like Kehkashan, residing andliving in an Urdu-speaking culture. The Urdu Language Program, with instruc-tional materials pertaining to both cultures, has the potential to inspire children,educators, and parents alike by enabling a fusion of Urdu and Canadian culture.

WINDS OF CHANGE: TEACHERS ANDTEACHING STYLES

One thing that became evident during discussions with the staff involved in theteaching of Urdu in Ottawa was a shared “prise de conscience.” They all seemed

FIGURE 2 Text 1: Eid celebration (p. 27); Text 2: Breakfast (p. 36). From Urdu for Children: Book One, edited by Dr. Sajida S. Alvi, 1997,Montreal, Quebec, Canada: McGill University Press. Copyright 1997 by McGill-Queen’s University Press. Reprinted with permission.

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FIGURE 3 The Canadian flag appears in the Urdu text book.

to agree on the necessity of recontextualizing the Urdu language materials withinthe context of Canada’s contemporary society. The children lost all interest in theclass if they used any of the textbooks that had been brought from the country oforigin. The teachers all agreed that one of the primary challenges facing them intheir respective classrooms was how to instill in their students a genuine interestin learning Urdu ,and the teachers all shared this enthusiasm and desire. Using

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resources from a culture so different from what they were experiencing on aday-to-day basis left them disenchanted and disconnected. Attempting to find amiddle ground between the two led to the development of instructional materialsthat, while on one hand used traditional writing and described, for example,traditional holidays, also incorporated vocabulary that embraced the Canadianculture, the culture the students now wished to embrace.

Educators had to find a way to build on familiar contexts and reference points,relevant to both cultures. In addition, as much as content in the classroom hadto be cross-cultural, there was also a need for familiar pedagogy and classroomstrategies where the teacher enters as a cultural translator and communicator.Drawing on the research of Taylor (1983), the evolution of literacy transmissionis shown to be highly dependent on the childhood experiences of individuals.The teachers in Kehkashan School successfully blended perspectives of the Urdulanguage and Canadian culture. Although many of them grew up learning intraditional contexts for the most part, they tended not to teach in a traditionalmanner as is the more common trend. A teacher’s individual biography will bereflected in his or her teaching practices. Urdu is a very traditional language, andthe teachers had learned it in this way; however, once in Canada they developeda much more Western style of teaching. For example, rather than the regimentedteacher–student relationship where students are silent, practicing their letters ina repetitive fashion and the teacher is the all-authoritative head, the teachers atKehkashan implemented interactive activities. The students’ activities, while onthe one hand incorporated practicing the written alphabet, were also allowed forcoloring pages where students interpreted them and had free reign to incorporatecolor and express themselves.

Certain literacy competencies learned from his or her personal educativeexperience will undoubtedly affect the teachers’ classroom strategies andteaching style. In realizing the teaching of Urdu to children in present-dayCanadian society, the teachers at Kehkashan understood that the goals and theobjectives are different from the values to which they adhered in their moretraditional education.

Similarly, instructors of heritage languages are faced with the challenge ofhelping future generations to develop an appreciation of the inherent culture.How are two cultures successfully blended within the two cultures representedin the classroom? Weaver (1986) used the metaphor of an iceberg to explain theimmensity and complexity of culture. Only a small part of the iceberg is visible onthe surface, and the majority is submerged and visibly undetected; this is similarto the comparison between the notions of peanut butter and Eid (a tradition-steeped part of Urdu-speaking culture). For Urdu-speaking children in Canada,the notion of peanut butter is something tangible and visible, something theycan easily identify with as being part of the Canadian culture. When childrenstudy Eid, it goes far below the surface and requires a much more profound


understanding and development of ideas. Herein lies the complexity of blendingthe cultures together for young children: What can they readily identify withand why, and how deep can educators dig below the surface to foster a moreprofound understanding of the students’ culture? To create and give voice to thestudents’ hybrid identity, both elements are equally important.

Taking into account these factors, this Urdu instructional method is quiterevolutionary. Perusing any of the old textbooks from Pakistan, an abundance ofthemes with religious or Islamic content is very evident. They were inherent inall aspects. Literacy practices realize the importance of students identifying withthe content matter being used within the classrooms. Living in the contemporaryCanadian and multicultural setting, it becomes an issue as to how Urdu-speakingfamilies can promote the same ideologies in the classrooms as those they wouldhave encountered in their former nation. Children cannot and do not usuallyrelate to traditional ideas and concepts through simple instruction of languagetextbooks. Educators need to adapt resources to appeal to children growing upin Canadian society.

CONCLUSION

The important role that heritage language schools can play in the educationof immigrant children cannot be undervalued; however, the various means bywhich this experience can be made effective and enjoyable for those studentsis not to be ignored or undermined. For children to relate and connect theirtraditional language and culture with their new immigrant reality, a hybrid ofUrdu (or whatever language) culture and Canadian culture must be present inthe classroom. As Kaser and Short (1998) wrote, “When children feel theircultural identities have no place in the classroom, they often reject curriculum”(p. 191). If children’s exposure to culture in their educational experience is onlyrelegated to that to which they cannot wholly relate (e.g., traditional Urdu culturematerial), they will inevitably lose interest because of the lack of relevance it hasto their day-to-day existence. Consequently, if they do lose interest, they willpotentially lose their connection to their heritage and ancestry. More important,these students should not have to silence the voice of the one culture to integrateinto another.

Thus, from peanut butter to Eid, there exists a vast space of cultural dissim-ilarity that families and children face. This creates the exact point at whichCanadian immigrant students learning heritage languages find themselves today.Most are caught somewhere between the two. As a result, there is a generalquestion that heritage language teachers need to ask themselves: Are theyproviding this new generation of hybrid students with sufficient references tomake a strong, meaningful connection between the past and the present? It

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is not necessary for immigrant children to “drown in the mainstream,” or dothey need to “tear down the old house”—given its historical and sentimentalvalue. Therefore, educators must blend together the new and old perspectives,the Canadian and former cultures, and the public and personal lives of thesechildren to help them create a balanced identity somewhere between peanutbutter and Eid.

REFERENCES

Ahmad, I. (2004). Islam, democracy and citizenship education: An examination of the social studiescurriculum in Pakistan. In Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.), Current issues in compar-ative education (Vol. 7, pp. 39–49). Teachers College, Columbia University.

Alvi, S. S. (Ed.). (1997). Urdu for Children: Book One. Montreal, QC, Kingston, ON, Canada:McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Kaser, S., & Short, K. (1998). Exploring culture through children’s connections. Language arts (Vol.75, pp. 185–191). IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Kramsch, C. (1999). Learning a language is like � � � . Language teaching at Berkley (Vol. 14).Berkely, CA: Berkley Language Center.

MacPherson, S. (2005). Negotiating language contact and identity change in Tibetan-English bilin-gualism. TESOL Quarterly, 39, 585–607.

Minh-ha, T. T. (1994). Other than myself/my other self. In G. Robertson, M. Mash, L. Tickner,J. Bird, B. Curtis, & T. Putnam (Eds.), Travellers’ tales. Narratives of home and displacement(pp. 9–25). New York: Routledge.

Taylor, D. (1983). Family literacy: Young children learning to read and write. Portsmouth, NH:Heinemann.

Weaver, G. R. (1993). Understanding and coping with cross-cultural adjustment stress. In R. M. Paige(Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (pp. 122–139). Yarmouth, ME: InterculturalPress.

Rahat Naqvi is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education,University of Calgary specializing in French and Second LanguagePedagogy. Dr. Naqvi has worked in a variety of international settingsthat include French and Asian Studies at the National Institute of OrientalLanguages, Sorbonne, Paris. She teaches courses in French and secondlanguage methodologies and literacy acquisition in multilingual settings.Dr. Naqvi’s research interests include second language pedagogy, teachingFrench as a second language, heritage languages, intercultural communi-cation, literacy, identity, and cultural studies.

from peanut butter to eid … blending perspectives: teaching urdu to children in canada

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