Eng469 casestudy

Changes for Southern Bhutan

By: Kayla Cooper

Bhutan•Population: 708,427

•Government: Constitutional Monarchy

•Ethnic Groups: Bhote, Nepalese (Lhotsampas), indigenous tribes.

•Religions:

Lamaistic Buddhist, Indian and Nepalese influenced Hinduism.

Background Information

• Lhotshampas are one of Bhutan’s three main ethnic groups.

• Majority of refugees from Bhutan are Lhotshampas and were forced to leave in the early 1990’s and have spent years in refugee camps.

• Most of the Lhotshampa fled to Nepal or India.

Lhotshampa and the Refugee Crisis

• The Lhotshampa are of Nepali origin and began to settle in southern Bhutan in the late 19th century.

• In the 1980’s the Lhotshampa were believed to be a threat to political order within Bhutan.

• Thousands of Lhotshampa were taken captive and over 2,000 were tortured.

What Happened

• The Bhutanese government changed its policies and Nepali migrants were stripped of their citizenship and considered illegal immigrants.

• They were subject to discrimination and were denied the opportunities for education, employment and business prospects.

Changes for Southern Bhutan

• After the late 1980’s the Bhutanese government tried to regulate language as well as dress codes throughout the country.

• Schooling was no longer provided in Nepalese and it was demoted from its position as an official language.

• All southern Bhutanese (Lhotshampa) were forced to wear traditional northern dress when out in public.

In the Campswww.bhutaneserefugees.com

•“Refugee people are poor in wealth but rich in kindness, helpfulness and ability.”

-Yethi Raj

•Over 100,000 Bhutanese were forced into camps.

•So far roughly 25,000 of them have been resettled and there are about 75,070 still in camps.

Meet the Young People: Baradi

• I’m a Bhutanese girl. I live in a refugee camp with my family. Though I was small when I came from Bhutan I remember it well because my parents always talk about our beautiful home, our land, and our animals. We have photos to help us remember. I remember playing with my friends in beautiful gardens but today when I look around I see only bamboo huts everywhere. Outsiders look at us and say that we are lazy people, that we are getting everything and have comfortable lives in the camps, but this is wrong. We did not come here through choice. In Bhutan, every day the army used to come to my village and they would beat and torture my parents and the elders and take any food they liked. We were able to bear this but they continued coming time and again.There is a saying, ‘the bird of the forest will be happy in the forest itself, not in a cage’. Like this bird, I also won’t be happy until I’m a citizen of my motherland, Bhutan.I wish all people could see that I’m not happy to be a refugee even if we are well looked after. My friends and I may be educated but it does not have any value without freedom. I won’t be proud of my knowledge until I have citizenship.

Devanagari Script

• Nepalese is written in Devanagari Script.

• There are 11 vowels. 6 oral and 5 nasal.

Devanagari Script

Linguistic Features

• Attenuated gender system. The gender is restricted to non-human female animates.

• Only two genders for nouns. Masculine and Feminine.

• Written in Subject Object Verb order.

A Family of Three

• The family I am tutoring spent years in a refugee camp before coming to the U.S.

• Prakash (M) is 26, Rimla (F) is 22 and their daughter Prajeeta (F) is 2.

• Prakash and Rimla were both born in Bhutan and their daughter was born in a refugee camp in Nepal.

Getting to Know Their Levels

• Day 1: Get to know you sheet with basic simple present tense questions.

• Day 2: Low-beginning worksheets that dealt with everyday vocabulary.

• Day 3+: Intermediate to High-Intermediate conversational work. High utility vocabulary and cultural introductions.

Learning English

• Prakash and Rimla both know a great deal of English and have completed schooling up through the secondary level.

• I would classify both of them as mid to high intermediate when it comes to their knowledge of English, and highly proficient in Nepalese.

ð and θ•Two sounds in particular that we’ve been working on are the voiced and voiceless “th” sounds.

•These don’t exist in Nepalese and are difficult for my students to pronounce.

In Our Sessions

• Discussion work and coming up with new conversations.

• Learning the rules for crossing the road. When, Where & Why.

• Getting a library card.

• Sample Job Applications and Driving Tests.

• Reading comprehension skills.

Learner Variables

• Both of my tutees have a high interest in learning English. Their main goals are to become successful in their new lives and be able to communicate with native English speakers.

• High motivation

• Confidence

Refrences

• www.bhutaneserefugees.com

• UNHCR Bhutanese Refugee Report (Jan 2011)

• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/devanagari.htm