"What We Might Become": The Lives, Aspirations, and Education of Young Migrants in the London Area

TY - JOUR

T1 - "What We Might Become": The Lives, Aspirations, and Education of Young Migrants in the London Area

AU - Cooke, Melanie

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - This article draws on three in-depth interviews with teenage migrants, two asylum seekers and one from Portugal. The interviews reveal experiences particular to young new arrivals attempting to find ways of being in a global city where they find themselves living in multicultural localities that are occasionally the sites of conflict as well as "togetherness in difference" (Ang, 2002, p. 162). The lived experiences of the informants are contrasted with their positioning by their educational programmes and ESOL teachers. I question whether the education they are receiving and the kind of classrooms they are placed in best serve young refugees and other migrants as they attempt to finish their interrupted schooling and become members of local communities and the workforce.

AB - This article draws on three in-depth interviews with teenage migrants, two asylum seekers and one from Portugal. The interviews reveal experiences particular to young new arrivals attempting to find ways of being in a global city where they find themselves living in multicultural localities that are occasionally the sites of conflict as well as "togetherness in difference" (Ang, 2002, p. 162). The lived experiences of the informants are contrasted with their positioning by their educational programmes and ESOL teachers. I question whether the education they are receiving and the kind of classrooms they are placed in best serve young refugees and other migrants as they attempt to finish their interrupted schooling and become members of local communities and the workforce.

U2 - 10.1080/15348450701804698

DO - 10.1080/15348450701804698

M3 - Article

VL - 7

SP - 22

EP - 40

JO - Journal Of Language Identity And Education

JF - Journal Of Language Identity And Education

IS - 1

ER -