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Monica Valencia
One of our members, Monica Valencia, recently finished her Masters of Arts in the Program of Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University. Monica's Major Research Paper is titled "Yo Cuento: Latin American Immigrant Children Tell their Stories," Yo cuento is the Spanish for "I narrate/I matter." This study looks at the stories of immigrant children from Latin America where children identify and explain on their own what they think and how they feel about their settlement experiences.
The idea to conduct the "Yo Cuento" study came from Monica's own experiences as an immigrant child in Miami. She explains: “I would have really appreciated telling my story and making sense of it at the time, but I did not know how. As a result, I became committed to giving immigrant children the opportunity to voice their stories while they are still in the midst of their settlement experience. Children rarely get asked for their opinions and feelings about their present lives and it is even less common for immigrant children to be asked to share their thoughts and emotions about their lives as migrants”.
Below we provide the abstract (in both English and Spanish) and the link to the full document. For further information, Monica may be contacted by email [email protected]
Abstract
Despite considerable interest in studying immigrant children in Canada, few studies include immigrant children as study participants. This study involved 10 children born in Latin American who have lived in Canada for five years or less. These children were between the ages of nine and 11– five boys and five girls. Five children were from Colombia, two from Venezuela, one from Mexico, one from Bolivia and one from Ecuador. I conducted individual research sessions where children and I drew, wrote and conversed. Children drew the most significant events in their migration process and wrote short narratives. The main findings from this study include the impact of grandmother/grandchild separation on immigrant children, children’s multiple transitions across countries and within Canada, children’s worries due to language barriers, and the value children place on peer cultural brokering. The paper concludes with recommendations and a reminder of the importance of conducting research with children.
Read full document here
Español
A pesar del interés que existe por hacer investigaciones sobre niños inmigrantes en Canadá, pocos estudios permiten que los niños participen en las mismas. Este estudio contó con la participación de diez niños nacidos en Latinoamérica, quienes llevan viviendo en Canadá cinco años o menos. Los niños (cinco niñas y cinco niños) tienen entre nueve y once años. Cinco son de Colombia, dos de Venezuela, una de México, uno de Bolivia y uno de Ecuador. Yo empleé entrevistas sin estructura y también dibujé y escribí con cada niño. Los niños dibujaron los eventos más significativos en su proceso migratorio y además escribieron narraciones. Las conclusiones que surgieron de este estudio son: 1) la separación de los niños de sus abuelas tiene gran impacto en los niños inmigrantes; 2) múltiples transiciones residenciales e internacionales causan incertidumbre en los niños; 3) el no saber inglés es una gran preocupación para los niños; y 3) es importante para los niños inmigrantes tener compañeros que les traduzcan en clase. El reporte termina con una serie de recomendaciones y recalca la necesidad de realizar investigaciones que involucren las voces de los niños.