I Learn America Movie Analysis

When you look at someone, you see a person, but sometimes, you forget that that person has a story. I learned that when I watched the film, I Learn America. When I first watched the movie, I saw students that have come to America. They have come to an international school in New York to learn English. As the film goes on, you see that each of the students that they focus on have struggles that they have/had to overcome to come or stay in America. Before, I did not realize how much they had to go through in order to come to the United States. As educators, we have to get to know our students. We have to understand their lives and their backgrounds and create a good teacher-student relationship and help students build a “home away from home”.

The relationship that a teacher creates with their students can affect the environment or atmosphere of the classroom. In an article, by Hamre & Pianta (2001), it states that, “supportive relationships help maintain students’ interests in academic and social pursuits, which in turn lead to better grades and more positive peer relationships” (p. 49). Most students will work harder for teachers if they build a good connection with the student. Teachers will also look more “human” to a student and remind them that the teacher does care very much about them. The article also states that, “Talking with students about their lives outside of school is one way teachers can show an interest in and appreciation for students” (Hamre & Pianta, 2001, p. 54). Students love talking about their lives outside of school and their interests. It also allows them to show their personalities and lets the student know that their teacher wants to know about

He did not have anyone to practice his English to at home and he missed his friends in his native country. The teachers in school were able to find a way to be able to have people understand him a little more. The school had a night to share their writing. Sing was able to share his story of coming to America and having to learn multiple languages in his life to be able to survive. In the beginning of the film, I just saw him as a student trying to learn English. After he shared his story, I was shocked and happy that he was able to express himself. Sing seemed very happy too that he was able to share his story as well. For me, as a viewer, it completely changed how I saw Sing and I’m sure it also changed how his peers and teachers viewed him as well. I believe that he began to feel the positivity coming from the school and it helped him move forward. He even continued to go to school even though his commute to school took him about 2 hours every day. This shows how powerful it is for the teachers to be able to create an environment for their students to express