Outside the United States
Unlike many immigrant learners of English, Imanuel maintains strong ties with family in Rwanda. This excerpt from his classroom interaction with a peer shows Imanuel telling his peer that he calls home every two weeks and speaks with his family there for one hour (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).
That tie to his family in his home country which appears in the classroom reference to calling home also comes up in Imanuel's fourth interview from March 2006. In that interview he discusses his elders' wishes that his children know Rwandan culture and language and how he is following those wishes.
| Imanuel: | they think we live well | |
| J: | safety | |
| Imanuel: | yes safety and we are rich | |
| J: | spoiled | |
| Imanuel: | we are spoiled yes | |
| J: | they are happy | |
| Imanuel: | happy for us | |
| IR: | there aren't any other feelings about the fact that you live here? | |
| J: | Sometimes older people are concerned for the future of our children and our culture, whether they will lose the culture | |
| IR: | And what do you think? | |
| J: | we think that they are going to learn what is good in the American culture and keep what is good in our culture and mix them and make something good. That's what we think . But for them they think that because of what they see on TV they are very very concerned do you teach your children to keep our culture? | |
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In Portland
Imanuel immigrated to the United States to be with 3 of his siblings and their family. In doing so, Imanuel's extended family became an important support system which enables both a connection with their Rwandan heritage and language and social support in a new country to aid in pursuits like learning English and understanding workplace and general United States cultural issues.
According to the first two in-home interviews, Imanuel and his wife lived with relatives for the first two years. They now share their apartment with a brother-in-law.
The following excerpts from the classroom and an in-home interview present evidence for this family support network. In the first excerpt, we hear Imanuel tell his classmate about a weekend activity: going out with his entire family to the movies (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer). In the second excerpt from a 2006 interview, he talks about going on vacation together with his extended family.
| IR: | that's good and are there other cultural things you do together? | |
| Imanuel: | no | |
| IR: | family vacation? | |
| Imanuel: | vacation | |
| IR: | do you take your vacation all together, do you travel together? | |
| Imanuel: | during the summer we go to the beach, we go to the beach ( ) I forgot where, in California, wait, I forgot | |
| IR: | uh uh | |
| Imanuel: | last year, we went to Disneyland | |
| IR: | ah Disneyland, the whole family | |
| Imaanuel: | the whole family, yea | |
| IR: | what a trip! | |
| Imanuel: | yes, it was good | |
| IR: | the children must have been thrilled | |
| Imanuel: | yes the children ( ) | |
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This social support of the family is seen helping to preserve a connection to his Rwandan culture in the maintenance of the use of Kinyarwandan, and family social events such as Sunday dinners and dancing.
| IR: | before you told me that you see your family every week, that is a kind of community | |
| Imanuel: | community | |
| IR: | so can you explain me a little bit, how you see your family, who they are, how many family members live here in Oregon , can you tell me | |
| Imanuel: | my family | |
| IR: | here uhuh | |
| Imanuel: | I have, uh I have my brothers, 3 brothers and my big sister, that's my family | |
| IR: | and they have children | |
| Imanuel: | yes they have children my brother who's called ( ) he had 6 children and ( ) has 3 children and ( ) he has one child, but he doesn't live here, in Europe and my sister 2 children | |
| IR: | in London? | |
| Imanuel: | no, here | |
| IR: | ( ) | |
| Imanuel: | ( ) | |
| IR: | and you told me that each week, you get together and you eat | |
| Imanuel: | eat barbecue | |
| IR: | ( ) | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
| IR: | you do other things aside from eating, you go | |
| Imanuel: | yeah we do other things, we dance | |
| IR: | oh good here or | |
| Imanuel: | here, at home or ( ) | |
| IR: | ( ) | |
| Imanuel: | no during 3 hours | |
| IR: | you dance? | |
| Imanuel: | yes ( ) | |
| IR: | ah | |
| Imanuel: | I don't know if you've ever seen this | |
| IR: | no I have never seen this | |
| Imanuel: | no | |
| IR: | ( ) is there music? | |
| Imanuel: | yes we have Music in Kinyarwanda | |
| IR: | it's taped? | |
| Imanuel: | yes it's taped | |
| IR: | okay you don't make music and dance | |
| Imanuel: | no we don't make music, we put on the music and we dance | |
| IR: | everybody | |
| Imanuel: | everybody | |
| IR: | and the children too: | |
| Imanuel: | yes ((laughs)) | |
| IR: | this is after dinner | |
| Imanuel: | yes after dinner ( ) | |
| IR: | for 3 hours? | |
| Imanuel: | for 3 hours, so if we're tired, we… | |
| IR: | take a break | |
| Imanuel: | take a break, that's it | |
| IR: | it is very tiring, isn't it? | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
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The historical and hybrid nature of immigrant language identity is seen in Imanuel's language use within the family. In the family, adults speak Kinyarwanda to each other but speak English with the children (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer)
Imanuel's family also plays an important role in his socialization into a the cultural contexts for English language use in the United States. Since Imanuel's brother works at the same place as Imanuel, he learns about behavior at the workplace in Kinyarwandan. Imanuel's brother has been in the United States longer than Imanuel and his wife so they are able to take advantage of this and learn about cultural mores beyond the workplace from him.
| IR: | you talk about it? | |
| Imanuel: | yes, yes | |
| IR: | ah that's interesting | |
| J: | American history as well. | |
| IR: | American history? | |
| J: | about the United States, the independence, the first president. We talk because one of his brothers is a citizen and he has taken courses to be an American citizen. He talks a lot about the history which he learned so then we can get an idea. | |
| IR: | so he shares what he knows about American culture | |
| J: | yes, yes. The stars. The stars we didn't know what they represented the states, details he has taught us, American independence when there were colonies, you know, history yes. | |
| IR: | Interesting | |
| J: | that's how we learn | |
| IR: | you learn a lot like that. | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
| J: | because we have the curiosity to know, when we are together, it's easy because they've been here a little bit longer. They've been here so long that they know a lot. That's how we learn | |
| IR: | That's good. | |
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