“Read my lips”

Our oldest daughter started play school a few months after our arrival in Saskatoon.  Parents were required to volunteer in the classroom several times a month. There were 3 ways in which one could sign up for:  (1) Show and Tell circle, (2) bringing snacks, and (3) clean-up.  Parents were on a rotation.

I did not mind helping with snacks or cleaning up, however I dreaded the times I was on the “Show and Tell” rotation. Sitting around the circle meant that I had to speak English in front of everyone and I would be the one on the spot.

Inevitably, my day to sit around the circle and share my story arrived.  Even though I rehearsed my lines at home in front of the mirror, when I started speaking it I mispronounced a very common word.  I was not even finished saying the word when my own daughter interrupted me, looked at the teacher for approval and said:  mom, please read my lips – it’s in this way that you say it – repeating the word very slowly.  The teacher and the other parents burst into a laughter and I wanted to call “Scotty – to beam me up” of that situation.

The other day, after more than 25 years since that dreadful experience, I casually encountered that same teacher at a doctor’s office.  For my surprise, she not only recognized me, but also remembered my daughters’ name and the Infamous line – “mom, please read my lips”.

by S.B. de Freitas

“It Only Happens to an Immigrant”

We would like to hear from you.  If you have anything you would like to share with us that may help another immigrant to cope with Cultural Shock please send us your story.

Cultural shock is one of the most heard expressions when one establishes oneself as an immigrant, but what it really means?  Every individual is different and this life time changing experience affects each one in different ways.

You may write about your own or “someone else’s experiences.  Below are a few questions to guide you when writing it.  The length of your text should not exceed 250 words and it can also be written in Portuguese.  You may write something funny that “IT ONLY HAPPENS TO AN IMMIGRANT”

When you arrived in Canada …..

(a)   Was is it really what you envisioned it?

(b)   Was it easy to adapt to the new way of life?

(c)    What were your challenges?  How did you overcome them?  Did it take a long time?

(d)   How about your language skills?  Was it at the level you needed it to be?

(e)   Did you think of going back home?  What made you stay?

(f)     What were the funny things that happened to you when trying to speak English?

Please send you text to:

ananpollock@gmail.com or Sueli.bizetto@usask.ca