The Mesosystem

4.2.5.1 Dahlia in Relation to her Parents/Siblings

According to Dahlia‟s close family, she is someone who initiates, likes to contribute in conversations and asks any questions to anyone around whether she has previously met the people with whom she interacts or not. One of her sisters said about Dahlia:

She is very kind to me and love helping me. Sometimes maybe too much and does never want to tell me “no” which I would love her to do sometimes when she feels tired or can‟t help (Fieldwork/conversation with Maya, Dahlia‟s eldest sibling, in June 2013).

Dahlia relates well with all the members of her family especially her sisters with whom she interacts on regular basis mainly in French but also mixes French, English and Arabic when it suits her. She often positions herself in terms of her family and talks about them whenever she is given the opportunity to express her ideas or narrates her weekends or holidays. She either relates a film she has enjoyed watching, a book she has loved reading or a match in which she has participated in her mainstream school or an activity she has shared with her sisters, all discussed enthusiastically in French (Observation 19 October 2012, 23 November 2012, 8 February 2013, 16 March 2013). When I am upset with her often because she takes her time to do things and risks to be late, she gets really sad. The parents often hear that Dahlia is a polite girl and kind to everyone around her. She proves to have much patience with younger children and the

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elderly. Her relationship with her parents is respectful and close. She confides to her family whenever she faces obstacles with peers. Whenever Dahlia encounters any kind of difficulty, she talks to me who calms her down by explaining the reasons why children or adults act the way they do. As for her relationship with her siblings, Dahlia is helpful and plays much with her nephew on a regular basis. She gets into a habit of speaking French to him. Dahlia‟s sisters compliment her in her written work and her physical ability and appearance:

I love the fact that you love learning and that when I teach you something, you are very attentive and interested; I love it when you share your work and efforts in school with us. (Fieldwork/conversation with Maya in June 2013).

4.2.5.2 Dahlia in Relation to her Mainstream Teacher and the

Mainstream Teacher in Relation to Dahlia.

Dahlia has often been described as an anxious, shy little girl by her mainstream school teachers (“in terms of confidence, she is quite nervous at times anyway I don‟t know whether it is an EAL barrier or it is her personality” Interview with Mrs Smith on 28 June 2013). Her Year 5 class teacher, Mrs Smith, believes that Dahlia is the only child who goes to a complementary school (“I think it is only Dahlia/she goes on Saturdays, doesn‟t she?”) in the class. The teacher sees Dahlia as an EAL pupil “to some extent” and she adds that she is also aware that Dahlia has quite a broad range of vocabulary.

She understands the meaning of quite common words and her understanding of some words are better than some children who are not EAL but obviously she benefits from the repetition she has to process what I am saying before she actually resolves an issue or answer a question (Interview June 2013 with Mrs Smith).

The teacher understands that the pupil does not have any specific learning needs. She assumes that Dahlia translates from French to English (“she probably translates it in her own head”). Mrs Smith just has to make sure that Dahlia understands everything. It is

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her first experience with a multilingual child (“it is quite a new thing” the teacher said). She admittedly believes that:

Dahlia is developing confidence all the time and she is putting her hand up and answering questions. [To Mrs Smith] that shows that she is confident, listens, understands and processes information. She has got a good understanding of what she has been taught (Interview June 2013 with Mrs Smith).

However, as she has moved up a group in mathematics in the course of the summer term, Dahlia does not feel she is as good as the others in her group. The teacher acknowledges that there is a slight gap between her and her peers which can be filled when she gains confidence.

The teacher carries on by asserting that Dahlia is not a dominant person at all because she is “just very polite” and that she prefers to let everybody else take their turn. She is “not forceful and that is part of her character”. At times, the teacher has to distribute roles to the members of Dahlia‟s team. The teacher makes sure that her pupil put her point across as she realises that Dahlia “[could] be happy sometimes for others to take the lead”. By asking Dahlia how she obtains the answer to a particular problem, the teacher ensure that her pupil does work out the answer and does not just rely on someone else (“because she can rely on others a little bit to get the answer to this”). Dahlia explains the feeling of anxiety in terms of peer pressure as she is aware that she takes longer to complete a task in mathematics than the other members of the group (fieldwork June 2013).

4.2.5.3 Dahlia in Relation to her Peers

The social condition in which a pupil evolves plays a significant role in language learning as positive interactions with peers can act as motivation and cooperation in the child‟s determination to learn or vice versa. In this particular year of investigation, Dahlia is disturbed with a new pupil at school.

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That child clearly tells Dahlia that she wants her to stay away from certain children. Dahlia says “OK” and walks away. The next day, the same little girl approaches Dahlia and frankly tells her “I was jealous of you”. Dahlia starts understanding what is going on. She is told that at this age, children are insecure and can attempt all sorts of strategies (pleasant or unpleasant) to attract attention. From this experience, Dahlia understands the situation better and can stand her ground when other incidents occur. In fact, Dahlia is a victim of being excluded by a circle of mates on several occasions. She often accepts it and walks away. However, the other children are used to seeing Dahlia as polite and accepting the cruelty that the day she is firm and resists the mockery, the children are shocked and treats her as a nasty child. This period is difficult for Dahlia and her family as they worry about her self-esteem. The father de-dramatised the situation by affirming that what counts is Dahlia‟s performance at school. He believes that Dahlia will succeed socially if she achieves well academically. I have a different attitude. I believe that at this young age when a child builds his or her “foundation”, the peer pressure can jeopardise a child‟s self-confidence.

From the observation I did at the end of the academic year, in the mathematics period (see Appendicesx 10), I could clearly see Dahlia as a pupil who did not impose herself when she worked in a team. At this point, I attempted to investigate a bit more and questioned her teacher on their point of view regarding Dahlia‟s attitude and relationship with her study group in the afternoon of my observation session. On several occasions, she had the right answers which showed that she followed up the objective of the lessons. However, the cooperation within the group was poor. I could see the girls somehow reserved and whenever, they had an answer, they did not show any excitement. On the contrary, I noticed the boys who were much organised to divide the exercise and distribute part of the question to every member of the group. Two

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explanations were given by Dahlia and the teacher. First, Mrs Smith admitted that Dahlia:

[D]oes not feel that she is as good as the others in that group because she moved up a group and so there is a slight gap but she is more than capable of staying in that group and will stay in that group in Year 6 (interview 28 June 2013 with Mrs Smith)

Dahlia says that she sees that “everybody in the group [is] much faster than her and it [makes] her feel odd” (Fieldwork 28 June 2013).

Another explanation that may give an answer to the distance between Dahlia and her peers is the fact that Dahlia has the reputation to be the teacher‟s pet. This was pointed out to me in an informal conversation with Dahlia‟s friend who admitted that “everyone [said] that Dahlia [was] Mrs Smith‟s pet”. At this point, Dahlia responded that she was “not the only one but another girl in the class was as well” which confirmed the former statement.

At the beginning of the year, I took note in a diary (October 2012) regarding Dahlia‟s comments from school that a small incident made Dahlia refuse to go to school. She actually wanted to move to another school. She claimed that she did not relate to her peers the way she hoped to. On several occasions, she felt isolated.

In the next section, I would like to emphasise the relation between the parents and the mainstream school pertaining to multilingual education.