New Discovery at the VPL

Thursday night, I went to the VPL originally planning taking a book out for my project. After arriving to the Social Sciences floor and getting help from the librarians, I was directed to the 4th floor to check out the new section on helping new skilled immigrants find jobs in BC. I was impressed with the amount of work that's put into this project. I talked to Alexis Greenwood, a very nice and enthusiastic librarian who talked to me about her experiences in regards to the project since its lauch in May this year. I explained my grad project to her and mentioned my intention to help and my ambition to push what exists further. She then kindly passed on the card of a librarian who's in charge of the Skilled Immigrant Info Centre for me to contact. Just sent over an e-mail, hopefully I'll hear back soon. Cross my fingers!

Here are some photos of the pamphlets I've got.

Oh, and the VPL librarians rock!

My first one-on-one

Getting the constructive feedback from Tak on my proposal helps guiding me to the next steps and prepare for my presentation. Knowing that I'm behind from everyone else on research and ideation due to my absence, I quickly brainstormed and tried to come up with as many concepts as possible without judging.

SOME THINGS FROM MY SKETCHBOOK–SOME MAY CROSS CATEGORIES

Visual Communications

1. Awareness campaign materials: introducing the concept in education systems
2. Public awareness: true stories, interviews, and current issues
3. Poster, pamphlets, direct mails
   
4. Yellow pages: search engine for new comers (jobs, social networks)
5. Visual cues for new immigrants to easily recognize volunteers (ie. Lance Armstrong's "Live Strong bracelet idea) http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.khLXK1PxHmF/b.4510391/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=khLXK1PxHmF&b=4510391&en=7pKHKOPmE3JELNNoE7KFKYOAIfKTLZOyEeJRL6OME
   
6. Case studies on true stories and interviews on current new immigrants
   
7. Flash cards on learning Canadian culture and deal with real problems (ie. IDEO method cards)

Interactive Activities (online)

1. Online yellow (or "multi-colour") pages: search engine for new comers (jobs, social networks, meetups)
2. Online forums in different languages
3. Online forums in easy English (to encourage new comers to learn)
   
4. Games
5. Guerilla campaign: games in malls and public places that encourage interactions between the new comers and the Canadian locals
6. Q & A online forum in easy English: talk about solving realistic problems such as filling out medical forms, car insurance, deal with car accidents, legal help, language schooling, school credential recognitions, job search, etc...

Interactive Activities (in person)

1. Buddy program (peers)
2. Exchange program. volunteers exchange cultures/language with new immigrants
   
3. Telephone booth: get people to call a retail store in a foreign country using the second language to order a shirt and describe it. (for Canadian locals to understand what new immigrants are going through in a real situation)
4. Movie booth: playing foreign movies without subtitles (same idea and goals as the above)
   
5. Easily accessible in person Q&A
6. Free cultural classes for new comers to adapt in British Columbia(highly-recommended in Holland when you become an immigrant)

My observation in Shanghai

One thing I forgot to mention in my blog and the meeting was that I got to talk to quite a few new immigrants to Shanghai (Americans, Canadians, Japanese, and so on) and observe how they are treated when I was there. I got a validation of how foreigners/new comers are more welcomed in Asia than vice versa (language and attitude-wise).

If you look Caucasian and walk into a restaurant in Shanghai, you'd be greeted with English and be treated equally as the Chinese if not more friendly. Even though menus with English translation usually don't make much sense and filled with typos most of the time, it's nice to know that they make an effort to welcome the foreigners who don't understand the language. Even cabs in Shanghai have an automated recording greeting in English for foreigners to feel like home and ease them into the new environment. Annoucements in the Metro system is also broadcasted in English following the Chinese.

I'm aware of the fact that Canada is made of verious ethnic groups and it's hard to introduce an official second languge in the public system to help the new comers. The general attitude though towards new immigrants is just quite the opposite from what I usually realize in Asia countries I've been to and grew up in (Taiwan)...

What are your thoughts? Have you come across similar experiences?

Problems and Solutions

Sorry that I haven't been able to participate in class. After submitting my proposal, I've been trying to follow up by reading people's blog entries. It's tough to understand Looks like we're breaking down our ideation into stating problems and possible solutions. Here's mine...

Problems:

1. Not enough in depth understanding of current immigrants' problems
   
2. Inevitable barrier between the Canadian locals and new immigrants due to the out-dated stories about the railway workers, issues with Head Tax and so on...
3. Misunderstanding/miscommunication between Canadian locals and new immigrants (language)
4. Awkward language learning environment for new immigrants (adults)
5. Immigrant problems is being taken too seriously which results the non-immigrants further themselves from the problem

Possible solutions:

Stay tuned...

New Blog Discovery

http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/Prejudice-East-Indians-t93297.html&st=30&start=30.html

I'm sitting in my room and can't get over jet-lag...I might as well do some work when it's quiet. I found some interesting debates on this online forum talking about prejudice against East Indians, even this East Indian girl who's lived in NY and CA is starting to be irritated by her own race. Got some interesting notes down.

By the way, does anyone know the code for making that URL a direct link instead of asking people to cut and paste? Thanks!

First day of grad workshop

Today was the first day talking about my grad project in class. I was excited to see what everyone's interested about and the problems that everyone wants to solve. Lots of interesting topics. I'm new to blogging and am totally excited to be able to get feedback online from everyone.

In a nutshell, the problem I want to explore (and try to solve) for my grad project is to bridge the disconnect between immigrants and the locals. Canada is known for its diverse cultural background. But, having gone through the immigration experience from Taiwan to Canada in my teenage life brought me to question the real connection between immigrants and locals. Yes, cultural diversity is celebrated in Canada through different festivals, but what happens after you eat that moon cake for the Mid-Autumn festival? We get to be introduced to the culture briefly, but do we really get to know the people (the immigrants who come from such culture) and help them out on an individual basis? I still have lots to narrow down, I'll be flushing out my ideas and clean it up into my proposal for next week.

I'm just going to leave this as a short post since I'm running a bit behind on prepping for leaving for Shanghai for my sister's wedding. Sorry for not going to be able to participate in person for the following 2 weeks, but I'll keep you all posted through the magic of blogging!

I'm totally open to any ideas, suggestions, and criticisms regarding my project. Much appreciated!