Page 26 - ELG2005 Jul Issue 471

INTERVIEW . FEATURES & COMMENT

Black Teachers Matter What is meant by the ‘black’ in
Black Lives Matter?

It appears to me that there is an element

phenotype. The genotype is the hereditary
Noreen Caplen-Spence shares her poems and thoughts with Ron Ragsdale JAMES IVOR WADLOW/SHUTTERSTOCK of biology, in terms of a genotype and a
information the individual carries. The
behaviour, development and physical
What prompted you to become an of belonging. I wanted to escape. I felt that I phenotype is what can be seen, i.e.
appearance. When an individual looks,
If language is the tool of English language teacher? was clinging on, barely. ‘other,’ and cannot pass the ‘from here’
thought, I qualified as an operating theatre technician, I cannot watch the television when look, that could be a starting point.
but when I went to live in Cyprus in 1984 anything about this situation comes on. I cry. However, if a person is not black enough
James Joyce through Ulysses and did not speak Greek, I could not work in We are black and stateless. I believe it has to be considered black and not white
invented a way of thought an operating theatre. I was asked to teach touched black people in this country and enough to be considered white, they are in
English to a few people, and I agreed. made them feel insecure. The greatest
And Other Englishes an After that, my husband and I went to live disappointment is that the government no-person land. What happens to their
sense of self and identity?
established view. in Hong Kong. I did a course at the British systematically chose those who appeared to The ‘Windrush generation’ came to the UK between 1948 and 1972 from what were What of those Third Culture Kids
Council while I was there, and my first job be weak and expected them to go quietly. It then the British Caribbean islands. The UK had a labour shortage after the war, and
was as a language teacher in a private school seems like a culling. The lesson there is make offered jobs and residency to Commonwealth citizens. The first ship with whose parents travelled to Europe and the
North American continent in the 1950s
Slaves invented a language in Wan Chai. When I returned to the UK it a noise so that others may suffer less. immigrants from the Caribbean was the Empire Windrush. onwards? Some born in the country they
seemed like a good thing to carry on with, so The hostility towards the first immigrants
Through music, visual art, I did a diploma and finally an MA. and black people now, shows how some locals listen carefully to declarations when unless there is a deep calling. It seems like we now reside, while others were taken to
action and words. feel. I have always believed that British government speaks and writes. already live in a divided society and the those countries when they were still
children. So many questions about where
Being a black teacher in an industry governments would not fully accept people additional trauma is not healthy.
We hear it in 2020. where you would have had so few, if who look foreign in their country. Why do you think the ELT industry is home. Where are you nurtured, and feel
any, role models, must have been Governments tend to look at being re- (teaching, teacher-training, writing and What more do you think could and at home? The poem, Diaspora Blues by
Ijeoma Umebinyou sums it up:
daunting. What challenges have you elected. publishing) is so white-dominated? should be done to challenge the
Our outside palette still had, and how have you responded? Is it institutional racism, or just a racism inherent in (white) native-
unaccepted I was not daunted, and didn't really think of perception of black faces not being speakerism, both from learners and So,
Here you are
Out trueness the obstacles. There are so many that I tend One client from a welcome? administrators? Too foreign for home
to take them one at a time. I was not afraid It is a combination. Firstly, those in a position This requires such a shift of organisational Too foreign for here
Our lived experience to be rejected because I know deep down European country told to hire may feel they have no choice. It is a culture, mind set and honesty, I think it Not enough for both.
that I would need to adjust to what I see, business and anyone or anything that can might take a hundred years. My parents had
Our unapologetic hear and feel. My survival is key. me after the second destroy their business should be avoided. hope for me. I do not have hope that my
A product of mixed heritage needs to
need to breathe My first seven years were spent in day that he did not In my experience, black people are children will see that day. Only white people carve out their identity and often makes a
Denied by those outside St Vincent. We were all black or black-ish. come to England to generally not seen as cognitively able. How speak English properly. choice dependent on how they are treated.

I was valued, loved and had the ability to
can they be, after all, they were slaves. Slaves
our palette. learn. I saw other people who looked like me learn from a woman, let do physical work. Black and Human A teenage male once said to me, “I behave
like I’m black because that's how the
in positions of authority: a family member teachers treat me and my friends have my
was the headmaster of the school I attended. alone a black one. Or is it perhaps a distorted, racist view Emancipate and liberate from
We remain in exile All the holidays were spent with my second from learners around the world that an those palpable chains. back.” I want to go somewhere I can be
what I want to be.
And alone family. Both parents worked and the four Whenever there were subtle changes to English teacher must be white to be It seems to me that Black Lives Matter
boys were very able academically. There I had immigration rules, we monitored and took authentic? Find freedom
You do not shine more by role models. appropriate action. As new immigrants, we The mindset of schools is that their clients with every breath. only after a black death that the media
chooses to tell us about. Otherwise, die
Putting out my glow In the UK, there were role models who did not want to tell family at “home” how it would prefer the ‘real thing.’ Someone white. Hold that sweet, fragrant inhalation. quietly, accept you are not equal in any
showed me the black British experience. I really was because we did not want their pity. “It’s only natural,” I was once told.
saw struggle. I saw people who didn't give up. Colourised photos, money and presents were One client from a European country told Visualise a way, say sir and do what you are told.
I look at my grandparents. I’m sitting at
When together I saw people who helped each other as well as sent so that they could see how good me after the second day that he did not come future with a piano and they are here with me, here
pull each other down! everything was. This was done at an to England to learn from a woman, let alone confidence and hope.
We find ourselves. I learn and I give people and institutions unconscious level, of course. I can say that a black one. It seemed that I ticked two where I live. I have my two sons and I’m at
peace, mostly. Until I turn on the news –
When alone we die. three chances. To survive as a black person, with my adult eyes. boxes. Oh, dear. However, I was not fired, I Noreen Caplen- and when I turn on the news, I just want
you need to be a good observer of white When I look back to my childhood it was lived to teach another day. Spence was born on
people. Watch and learn. Listen and learn. not an easy one. I did not tell my parents An agent who sends children to the UK the island of St to go out in the middle of the road and
kneel – and just see what happens. What
We are sick Keep something of yourself safe that can’t be what was happening at school. Again, I from an Asian country told a member of staff NOREEN CAPLEN-SPENCE Vincent. As a would happen, if an old black woman
damaged, even if the storms get rough. wanted them to be proud of me. I wanted at one school that if he got rid of the black teacher-trainer for
We are tired them to think that I could cope. I see that woman, they could send many children. Pilgrims and the kneels in the middle of the road?
Having a job in teaching where the
We are drowned You came to the UK as a child from St same behaviour in my sons. It is only when Again, I survived. British Council, ‘learners’ are not black might upset the
Vincent, as part of the ‘Windrush things get really bad that they speak about it. Noreen has
We are burned generation’. How has the political The effect on me was profound. I know How can we encourage more black addressed balance of power and give black people
scandal concerning people who were students to consider teaching English the sense of status, justice and a say in
We are lashed that there are people who think and act on conferences, given society. We can’t allow that to happen!
detained, denied rights and the idea that I should not be here. This is a as a career?
We are sick threatened or actually deported from country for white people. As I sit here and There must be a supportive atmosphere workshops and facilitated teacher professional I once wrote a few words in Latin and
development around the world. She was the
the UK by the Home Office affected write, I know how my feelings and behaviours where all stakeholders believe in equality, was asked by a white man, “where did you
head of the International Study Centre at learn Latin?” Swinging from the trees, was
you and your family? have had to accommodate. honesty and clarity. There is a lot of double- Kent College, Canterbury, for ten years. She
We need a new way We have been profoundly saddened for the I feel sad for my sons, I feel I have made speak around. I’ve seen many pages written has taught students from primary to post- my reply. Private institutions consider the
bottom line. Black teachers might devalue
Of having and being individuals and their families and friends. It bad choices in continuing to live here. I feel about diversity. Now those words need to be graduate level and is interested in language their product.
brought back some of the trauma of my for my white friends who try to make me feel activated. learning within a cultural context, and how In my experience, their product is
For all our sakes. childhood, and the feeling of not being part loved and wanted. I have become more There are black teachers out there. I wish cultural understanding can improve our lives. enhanced.
of somewhere you have tried and felt a sense suspicious of native young men in groups. I them luck, but I would not recommend it
26 July 2020 editorial@elgazette.com 27