New to Canada

First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants is another anthology about the adolescent newcomer experience. The anthology includes contributions by authors from Mexican, Venezuelan, Kazakh, Chinese, Romanian, Palestinian, Swedish, Korean, Haitian, and Cambodian backgrounds, with stories that touch on the challenges of prejudice, language barriers and homesickness.

 

 

 

 

 

A Step from Heaven
tells the story of
Young Ju, who at age four, is forced to leave her Korean
home and loving Halmoni (grandmother) to move with her paren'ts to Mi
Gook (America). In America, Young Ju's paren'ts struggle with several
low-paying jobs and are handicapped by their language barrier.
Struggling with alcoholism and domestic violence, Young Ju's father
crosses
a frightening line in his cruelty, forcing Young Ju to make a decision
that
will set her mother, younger brother and herself on the path to another
new life in America.

 

 

In Learning to Fly, Jason, a recent immigrant from China, makes some bad decisions as he
comes to terms with small-town racism while trying to fit in. He wants to leave his small town in Canada and return to
China, where he and his mother lived until four years ago. His white
high-school teachers do not know how smart he is, and his
classmates jeer at him. Driven to join the crowd of potheads, he bonds
especially with his Native American classmate, Charles. Desperate after the police catch him buying
drugs for his friends, Jason thinks of suicide, but he finds help in
surprising places. The clipped dialogue perfectly echoes the
contemporary scene, the harsh prejudice felt by both the new immigrant
and the Native American, and their gripping story of friendship .

 

 

Told through a series of poems, Inside Out & Back Again is the story of Hà, a young girl who in 1975 is forced to leave Vietnam with her mother and brothers and
resettle in Alabama where she finds refuge but also cruel rejection,
especially from mean classmates. Based on the author's personal experience,
this first novel captures a child-refugee's struggle with rare honesty. Readers will be moved by Hà's sorrow as they recognize the
anguish of being the outcast who spends lunchtime hiding in the
bathroom.

 

 

 

Movies are a great way to capture an adolescent's attention. Reel Canada: Integrating Skills Through Canadian Film is an intermediate ESL text for adult and young adult
learners that uses Canadian films as a starting point
for learning English. Each chapter builds
upon the content of a film from the National Film Board of Canada,
while examining new vocabulary, grammar structures, and themes. Reel Canada is the first book in the Culture Link series.

 

 

 

If there's one thing teens love, it's music. O Canada: Integrated Skills Through Canadian Music is a great ESL resource for teens that will introduce them to the Canadian music scene, while learning English at the same time.   The book uses Canadian songs and songwriters as a
starting point for learning English. Each
chapter builds upon the content of its focus song, examining new
vocabulary, grammar structures, and themes. O Canada is the second book in the Culture Link series.