Immigration and Inclusion

What classifies one as “the other”? Xenophobia, or the dislike/fear of foreigners is a very real problem in schools. However, it is not limited to majority classrooms, but minority classrooms can also breed a brand of xenophobia. 

In the story The Island, Armin Greder explores the reactions of a community when a stranger washes up on the shores of their island. He is naked, does not speak their language and is stranded at the hands of the villagers. They are confused. They do not know who he is or what they should do with him. It is a fisherman that stands up for the stranger at first and reminds the villagers that they cannot send him away for it will lead to his death.

I read this story with a grade four class in an international school. As a mixed group, they were outsiders in the country where they resided and came from drastically different cultures. However, all but one could not connect with, or feel empathy for, the main character in the story. As a whole, the group sided with the villagers, wanting to protect their family from the stranger without thinking of the stranger’s emotional well-being or health. 

This story is not for the teacher who likes to skirt around important topics. In fact, it may leave you and your students feeling slightly ill at the mistreatment of the stranger.  The experience of reading this story with my grade four students resonated within me as I realized that even in international schools- where multiculturalism is encouraged, accepted and recognized, student understanding of immigration and inclusion may still be lacking.

That is why I find this book so important. If you are working with your class on multiculturalism, immigration or even a unit on who we are... then this story would be an excellent way to bring up issues surrounding these topics.