Interview Project

Introduction

            Unalaska, AK is a unique community compared to most in the remote wilderness of Western Alaska, let alone the Aleutian Islands – the island chain that rests on the southwestern-most portion of the state. While traditionally an Unangax (Aleut) community that is one of the primary fishing hubs in the state – to the point where it has its own reality show (The Deadliest Catch) – within the last decade or so, the indigenous population fell to being the third most populous demographic with currently less than 10% of the population. Moreover, while as of 2013 the White (Non-Hispanic) population held the #2 position with a little over 1% difference between them and the top demographic of this region, as of 2021, this difference shrank to 2:1. What demographic has seemed to contain the largest population of the community? According to Data USA, it is Asia – and more particularly, the Philippines (“Aleutians West Census Area, AK).

            Given the dominance of Filipino migrants in the Dutch Harbor area, it only makes sense to wonder how the typical high school who immigrated from the Philippines to the United States adapts to such a dramatic transition. Sure, both Unalaska and the Philippines are island communities, but they could not be further apart regarding climate, language, and culture. To move from a country with a tropical climate where English, while technically an official language for government purposes, is not prominently spoken must be quite the adjustment (Tirosh, 2021). Therefore, it only makes sense for someone who is specializing in English instruction in Unalaska to interview students of these backgrounds – as not only can students be able to open up to teachers about what it is like to be a Filipino immigrant in the windswept isles of Southwest Alaska, but it may be beneficial in understanding how they can be more culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of these students.

            For the case of this interview, two students were selected: Lance Apple and Jenny Matthews. Both students are seniors in high school and officers in the local chapter of the National Honor Society. As I have been their chapter advisor for the past two years, while I have not had the opportunity to teach them as students, I have interacted with them plenty of times to build some rapport with them. Moreover, Jenny also happened to be a team member of Unalaska High's Battle of the Books team, so I had additional time working with her through that club. Given how busy these students are – whether it be wrapping up their studies in their academic courses or dedicating time at work for the weekend – it was important that these interviews not be overly time-consuming. Thus, after receiving permission from both students’ parents, these interviews took place over two days: Friday, April 5, for Lance and Monday, April 8, for Jenny. In both meetings, these students met in my classroom for 15-20 minutes to respond to the interview questions and to resolve any questions they might have. To ensure students had adequate familiarity with what the interview would be asking them, the 15 questions that would be used in the interview were emailed to them in advance to allow them to prepare their responses ahead of time.

            After the interviews, while it cannot be said that there was anything too groundbreaking in their responses regarding their experience learning English and adapting to American cultural norms, there were some enlightening points that both students addressed, which could be used in improving Unalaska's current English curriculum. If these insights can be utilized by Unalaska High School staff in designing their curriculum, it is plain to see how these might help all immigrants – especially Filipino immigrants – who enter the school in the future.

 

Summary

            Before diving into the details of the interviews, it is crucial to establish the two individuals in question. The first interviewee, Lance, is 18 years old and will graduate from Unalaska High School at the end of the quarter. Aside from his studies, he participates in Unalaska's cultural dance team and currently serves as the president of the Unalaska chapter of the National Honor Society. He moved from the Philippines to the United States when he was four, spending much of his childhood living with his aunt in Iowa. It has only been recently – only six years ago – that he has lived with his family, as his father was working in the fishing industry in Unalaska and desired to reunite their family, including his older sister and his younger brother, in one central location. His family has lived in Unalaska ever since.

            As for Jenny Matthews, she has only been residing in the United States since 2019, spending the past 4-5 years here in Unalaska, AK. Like Lance, she is also 18 years old and will graduate from Unalaska High School at the end of the quarter. Aside from her studies, she serves in a few organizations, including student government, the high school "Battle of the Books" team, and as a secretary for the National Honor Society. Unlike Lance, while Jenny’s family does participate in the fishing industry, they do not intend to remain in the United States. Nevertheless, her family, which includes a middle-school-aged sister, has remained in the community at the time of this report.

            When observing the similarity between Lance and Jenny's responses, there are a few things of note. First of all, both students hail from similar regions. When asked if their communities are rural or urban (at least compared to Unalaska), both safely indicated that their communities in the Philippines are relatively more rural. As Jenny put it, "If you want to go to the mall, you could take an hour's drive [from my hometown]" (Wolford, April 8, 2024). In context, given that the nearest shopping mall to Unalaska is in Anchorage – almost 1,200 miles away – it makes sense why someone might respond like this. Additionally, both share the same heritage language: Bisaya, commonly referred to as Cebuano ("Visayan Language"). While this does likely narrow their home communities to the Visayas region of the country, which lies in the central portion of the archipelago, this does not narrow it enough to indicate that they are from the exact location (“How Many Islands In the Philippines? Everything You Need to Know,” November 12, 2023). Beyond where they are from, both Lance and Jenny took the time to express how welcomed they felt in Unalaska, partly due to the area's large Filipino population. As Lance, who had experience living in other communities in the United States, put it, for someone who had lived in the United States since he was four, living in Unalaska provided an opportunity to reconnect with his culture, something which he did not feel as able to do when he had lived with his extended family in Unalaska (Wolford, April 5, 2024). If anything, these remarks indicated something about Unalaska that is unique to many other locations in the United States: being in a relatively rural community with a large shared Filipino population allows someone who newly relocated to Unalaska from the Philippines to feel right at home – regardless of the blustery sub-Arctic conditions they surround themselves with.

            With that said, however, there are some notable differences between Lance's and Jenny’s experiences immigrating to the United States. First, there is their prior knowledge of English. On the one hand, before relocating to the United States, Jenny had some prior knowledge of the English language thanks to the English courses she took as a student back in the Philippines. While she did not come out of this education with fluency in English, she did indicate during the interview that she did not necessarily struggle when she began her courses in Unalaska. With that being said, later in the interview, she did express some frustration with the secondary language (L2) support Unalaska provides, primarily discussing how she felt rushed into Secondary English classes that spent more time with literature units and writing projects instead of providing immigrant students with a review of the fundamentals to prepare her for those higher-level courses (Wolford, April 8, 2024). As for Lance, as he moved to the United States when he was four, when he began his education in Iowa, he had no knowledge of the English language whatsoever. With that being said, while he did gain some mastery of social and academic English after a while, it was done at the cost of his heritage language. As he illustrates, "…when I was in Iowa, I didn't speak my language at all. I didn't do anything culturally and I was kind of Westernized." This disconnect was so noticeable that he did not feel genuinely exposed to his culture until he reunited with his family in Unalaska (Wolford, April 5, 2024). Thus, while Unalaska does have some ways to go to ensure that Filipino students – even those with prior knowledge – develop fluency in English, it is a better place to start than in other locales, which do not prioritize maintaining students' knowledge of their heritage language and culture.

            Another difference that was brought up when comparing both interviews pertains to the acceptance of Filipino culture in the United States. While, as indicated previously, most Filipino immigrants tend to have a better time culturally acclimating to Unalaska, given the community's large Filipino population, as Lance brought up in his interview, there were moments throughout his childhood when he felt discriminated against because of his background. While he did not provide specific examples of how he felt discriminated against while in Iowa, there were moments when – as he reflected on his life – he recognized moments where he was treated differently because of his ethnicity. Moreover, growing up, he felt compelled to "strip away" his culture to fit into the cultural standards imposed upon him by his community and school. As he expressed it, for a Filipino student to attend an all-white school, it can be "really hard" (Wolford, April 5, 2024).

 

Reaction and Analysis

            This portion of the report will be dedicated to analyzing Lance and Jenny’s interviews. Overall, while there were several similarities between both of their experiences – ranging from the region they are both from to the overall sense of cultural support they feel in Unalaska – the differences between their upbringings do indicate the type of obstacles an English Language Learner might experience if they spent the entirety of their K-12 experience in the United States compared to one who spent only part of their time in the US. Moreover, given how anomalously large Unalaska's Filipino population is per capita compared to most communities in the United States, hearing Lance's experience growing up isolated from his Iowa culture might provide a more authentic experience of the average immigration experience for somebody from the Philippines. With that said, as these were the only two participants for this interview (as Penelope Sanders was unable to participate), this might be too hasty of a generalization. At the very least, given the sizeable Filipino population at Unalaska High School, there is the possibility of follow-up interviews to develop a clearer picture of how living as an immigrant from the Philippines here compares to how it is in other areas of the United States.

            With that said, when looking at the universal sense of cultural support both Jenny and Lance experienced here in Unalaska, it is apparent how encouraging students' cultural expressions rather than suppressing them can positively impact a student's life. As seen by their membership in the National Honor Society alone, neither Jenny nor Lance felt like their teachers were doing what they could to, as Ofelia Garcia (2009) puts it, "remediate their limitations and their English learning." Instead, both of them felt that teachers were "[holding them to] higher expectations" that their teachers knew that they could achieve (p. 323). With that being said, is that to say that Unalaska has no room for growth in ensuring that its students master their heritage and L2 languages? No. On the one hand, one of Lance's key criticisms toward the school was that, to be fully effective in helping those with a dialect of Tagalog as their heritage language, teachers should take some time to familiarize themselves with the vocabulary and structure of Tagalog. According to him, this would "make it easier for students to learn the differences of… structure" and allow students who are likely embarrassed to feel accepted by the teachers (Wolford, April 5, 2024). . As for Jenny, she wishes that the school's English curriculum could be more considerate of students – whether by providing them with needed language skills they might be lacking or pulling aside lower-level English speakers to a break-away classroom for a part of the day (Wolford, April 8, 2024). . This last point is telling, as while most ELL students are taught in the same classroom throughout the day, for elementary and middle school students, the district pulls lower-achieving students away from classes that might be of great interest to them – such as electives like band or shop. These responses indicate that, while Unalaska might be able to take for granted that Filipino students generally feel welcomed due to the community's large Filipino population, the school has some improvements it might make to help these students better academically.

            When diving into the point echoed by both Jenny and Lance concerning the disconnect between the cultural support they receive and the lack of desired English support, it makes one wonder what both the school and community can do to ensure that students are holistically supported to become fluent bilingual learners. On the one hand, while Lance’s suggestion that teachers learn Tagalog to some extent might be seen as an additional burden that many teachers might not want to engage in, especially if that requires taking several college classes to do so, there is an approach that might be able to bridge the gap: Funds of Knowledge. As stated in the introduction of this essay, one crucial thing to note about the Philippines is that, as a former American colony, it does recognize English as one of its official languages. Moreover, as indicated by Jenny's childhood experience taking English classes in the Philippines, there are likely many adults who are bilingual in both languages to some extent. In fact, as of 2024, the school has a high school English teacher who immigrated from the Philippines herself. With this said, how can the school exercise this potential asset in improving its English curricula? One way might be through engaging in household interviews, as Luis C. Moll et al. (1992) demonstrated. In the interviews highlighted in their report, educators conducted interviews in Mexican working-class communities in Tucson, AZ, to understand more about their cultural values, unpack harmful stereotypes, and analyze parents' attitudes toward their children's education (pp. 135-138). By adopting this approach, they were able to adopt a culturally sensitive curriculum while also better understanding the unique perspectives about their students' living situations (p. 139). In Unalaska's potential approach, educators may do much of the same while also being able to work alongside parents to help their students learn English. This might even be an opportunity for teachers to learn more about the mechanics of Tagalog and its regional dialects, which may contribute to a better understanding of how to approach teaching students vital concepts in English. Likewise, teachers might be able to glean from these critical academic vocabulary terms in Tagalog, which, as Jana Echevarria and Anne Graves (2005) noted, can help teach students concepts such as rhyming and alliteration (p.230). Additionally, if interviews with parents are unfeasible, the school can consult the Filipino English teacher for suggestions; as Rosie Maum (2012) puts it, they likely are “better qualified to teach [English learning] strategies and are more empathetic to their students’ linguistic challenges and needs.”

            Another key takeaway from this aspect of the interview might be the stifling impact that norms-based testing has on curricular choice. As Donna E. Alvermann and Stephen F. Phelps (2002) point out, testing often comes with biases that reflect content aligned with the norms of mainstream society. Moreover, they often negatively impact marginalized communities and do not assess the actual capabilities of English Language Learning students (pp. 314-315). While it is understandable that schools like Unalaska might prioritize offering content that is aligned to ensure that secondary students can be prepared for standardized testing, it may disadvantage even those students who have some knowledge of English – like Jenny. While larger schools might excuse this by pulling more students out to ensure that these curricular gaps are filled, this is not feasible in a small rural community with a large immigrant population per capita. While there is not much that can be done from a local level to address this point, from a national level, this might be more evidence to support alternative forms of assessment, such as authentic assessments as seen in Hawai’i’s Studies of Heritage and Academic Languages and Literacies Program, over traditional testing (Davis et al., 2005, pp. 26-34).

            As for the significant difference between Lance and Jenny's responses – cultural support – both of their responses clearly illustrate the necessity of adopting a bilingual approach to L2 English learners in contrast to an assimilationist approach. While, as seen from both Lance and Jenny’s responses about Unalaska, it is apparent how the community strives to preserve and maintain Filipino language and culture, when looking at Lance’s description of growing up in Iowa, not all communities are culturally responsive. If anything, as illustrated by Kathryn A. Davis et al. (2005) when discussing the educational context of Hawai’i and the United States’ treatment of bilingualism throughout the 20th Century, Lance's childhood seems symptomatic of the traditional American approach of forced assimilation (pp. 2-4). While this probably was not entirely intentional, as it could have been likely that Lance was one of a very few Tagalog-speaking students in his community, the inherent need to act more "Westernized," as Lance put it, made him feel culturally divorced from his family still living in the Philippines, his heritage language, and his culture. If there is anything that could be said from Lance's childhood, it is that while teachers need to ensure that ELL students successfully develop literacy in the English language, it is critical to ensure one does so without divorcing them from their heritage language and culture. Ensuring that both languages and cultures co-exist enables students to see how both can work together to help them thrive in the world that awaits them.

 

Conclusion

            To conclude, many things can be taken away as a part of these interviews with Lance Apple and Jenny Matthews. While many takeaways were not even elaborated on in this report, including a deeper analysis of the stated Spanish influence of Bisaya brought up by both students and how that could be utilized in cross-curricular settings, two primary themes were illustrated from both of these conversations. Firstly, it is necessary for any immigrant population, regardless of size, to feel that they are linguistically and culturally supported while in school. Secondly, regardless of whatever cultural support a school gives its immigrant population, there is no substitute for a quality pedagogical experience.

            On the one hand, as illustrated by both Jenny and especially Lance, cultural support does wonders in helping students feel comfortable and secure in their learning environment. Being in a community with a high percentage of people from the Philippines, students have ready access to individuals who know Tagalog and its various dialects along with essential elements of their culture – from cuisine to dance. Having such a rich cultural experience here makes students feel less worried about the pressures that often come in many American communities to become more Westernized. Additionally, as indicated from Lance's childhood growing up in Iowa, when migrant students are less exposed to their culture, it can become quite alienating, as not only do they have to face concerns of discrimination from their peers, but, as they become less connected to their language and communities, they begin to lose these elements that keep them tied to their heritage communities – feeling, as Lance described it, “culturally washed out” (Wolford, April 5, 2024). 

            On the other hand, this interview also exposed some weaknesses Unalaska City School has in its approach to English Language Learning instruction. On the one hand, while insisting that all teachers learn a small amount of Tagalog to familiarize themselves with the vocabulary and structure of the language might seem unfeasible (as Lance suggested), scholars such as Jana Echevarria and Anne Graves have demonstrated how a bilingual approach to L2 English instruction can lower the barrier to entry for English Language Learners. Whether from familial interviews or working with their English Teacher who immigrated from the Philippines, Unalaska can proactively educate teachers in some of the essentials of the Tagalog language to make this suggestion possible. On the other hand, while it is understandable that Unalaska can only do so much in their standard English classes to supplement English Language Learners in part due to the school's commitment to follow Alaska Core Standards and prepare their students for norms-based testing, perhaps Jenny's suggestion could serve as a catalyst to provide more effective forms of assessment to evaluate students – especially English Language Learners. Whether that be by emulating a total curricular overhaul to implement something akin to Hawai'i's SHALL program or simply by relying more on authentic assessments to track school progress, effective student growth should not be compromised for the sake of sticking to the same method of testing that has been present for decades now.

            At the end of the day, engaging in the interview opportunity was enlightening. It better illustrated how important Unalaska's commitment to providing culturally responsive resources for its large Filipino population is in fueling student growth and illuminated some weaknesses in Unalaska High School's current ELL program. Honestly, this sort of activity should probably be used more regularly by Unalaska staff, as candid responses from students like Lance and Jenny have illustrated how student feedback can be used as a barometer to measure a school's current progress and what they can change to provide students with a more effective pedagogical experience in the future.

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References

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Davis, K., Cho, H., Ishida, M., Soria, J., & Bazzi, S. (2005). It’s our kuleana: A critical participatory approach to language minority

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Garcia, O. (2009). Emergent Bilinguals and Tesol: What’s in a name? TESOL Quarterly, 43(2), 322–326.

     https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00172.x

 

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Tirosh, O. (2021, October 13). The Philippines’ Language Report: What language is spoken in the Philippines? LinkedIn.

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Visayan language. sinaunangpanahon.com. (2023, September 29). https://sinaunangpanahon.com/visayan-language/

 

Wolford, E. (2024, April 5). Lance Apple Interview. personal.

 

Wolford, E. (2024, April 8). Jenny Matthews Interview. personal.