Perspectives Storyweavers: Holistic Education for ESLjEFL Learners1 Virginia 1. Sauve In an L2 classroom that is taughtfrom heart to heart, story takes onadifferent role than in the classroom that is primarilyabout the conveyingofinformation andthedevelopmentoflinguisticskills. In thelatterclassroom,storieshavebeen about readingcomprehensionand the acquisition ofnewvocabulary. In aclass room where the teacher recognizes education as the drawing forth ofthe in dividual and the shapingofacommunityactingon the world, storyassumes a central role. In this article the author explores the realm of story in such a classroom and shares many ofher own stories. When story is the medium of learning rather than just the end thereof, we come to see that the learners' real needsare muchgreater than vocabulary, pronunciation,andgrammar. We also seethatinsuchaclassroom,communityemerges. DansunesalledeclasseALSOUl'enseignementetl'apprentissagesefontdansun contexteouvert,personnaliseetaxesurlesemotions, IerecitnejouepasIememe rolequedans uneclasseOUl'onsepenchesurla transmissiond'informationetIe developpement d'habiletes linguistiques. Dans ces dernieres, l'etude du recit se fait dans Ie but de travailler la comprehension ecrite et l'acquisition de voca bulaire. Parcontre,dansunesalledeclasseOUl'enseignantinterpretel'education comme un moyen visant l'epanouissement de l'etudiant et la creation d'une communauteevoluantdans Ie monde, Ie recit assume un role central. Dans cet article, l'auteure etudie l'envergure du recit dans une telle salle de classe et partageplusieursdesespropresrecits. QuandIerecitsertde mediumal'appren tissage plutot que tout simplement sa fin, on en vient a comprendre que les besoinsveritablesdesetudiantsvontbienau-deladu lexique,dela prononciation et de la grammaire. De plus,dans un tel contexte, onest temoin de l'emergence d'unecommunaute. Letusconsiderforamomenthowwegettoknowoneanotherwhenfirstwe meet.Imaginethatyouhavejustbeenintroduced tosomeoneatapartyand after the basic questions discover that you have a lot in common. What do you do?Yousharestories.Onepersonstartsand the othertakesthecueand adds astoryofherown. Youlaugh, commiserate, share concerns, reflecton decisions, and in so doing you come to know one another. In sharing our TESLCANADAJOURNAUREVUETESLDUCANADA 89 VOL.20,NO.1,WINTER2002 storieswecomenotonlytoknowabouttheotherpersons,buttounderstand whatmakesthemtick,tounderstandwhytheysayanddowhattheysayand do. How,Iaskyou, canIteachanyoneanythingimportantifIdonot really know them? And howcanthey totally trustmy words, if theydonotknow me?Ibelievethatanauthenticeducatorisaweaverofstories,astoryweaver, who skillfully recognizes the beauty of each strand of human experience embodied in a story and who knows just how to place each strand as togetherweweavelivesofmeaninginand outsideofourclassrooms. As teachers, what is it that we do in a classroom? We could say that we teachtheskillsthatenableapersontobeinEnglish,thatweconveyvaluable informationabouttheEnglishlanguageandthecultureinwhichitisspoken, and to an extentthat would be true. Butitis my belief thata more relevant questionmightbetoask,"WhoareweintheESLclassroom?"Overtheyears Ihavelearnedthatwhatpeopleremembermostfrom theirexperiencesinthe classroomare the relationships theyhad withthe teacherand otherlearners and how those relationships left them feeling about themselves and the worldaroundthem. IrecallhavingaCubanstudentinmyclassroomjustafterCastroemptied out his prisons by allowing the inmates to go to Florida if they so wished. Thiswasatroublesomeyoungman.Heappearedtobearrogantandinsensi tive tothe needs and feelings ofothersin the classroom. He had a tendency to dominate every interaction, and it was not hard to see that the other students were fast reaching a pointofnot wanting him to open his mouth. Alsointheclassroomwasanoldman-InolongerrememberwhichEastern Europeancountryhewasfrom-whoseemedtobementallyabsentfromthe classroom.Heneverspokeandhadafar-offlookinhiseyesmostofthetime. Heshowednosignsoflearninganything.RauldemandedattentionandIlya needed it, so I took a chance and asked Raul to spend some time with Uya and try to get him talking. Proudly, Raul said he would help and, at coffee time,Isawthetwosittingonabenchoutsidespeakingwithgreatanimation. (Theyhad tospeakwiththeirhandsandbodiesbecauseUya's knowledgeof English was minimal to say the least!) Iwas delighted and couldn'twait to find outwhathad happened. AtnoonIasked Raulhow ithad gone, and he too was excited. By asking him a few questions, Raul had discovered that they shared a common love of music. Both played the guitar. They were often seen together after thatday. Ilya begantospeak up more in the class room. His connection with Raul had helped him to connect with the class room as a whole, and Raul continued to take pride in facilitating Ilya's emergence into the world of English learning. I don't think it was just my imaginationthatheseemedmuchlessofanuisancetoeveryoneelse.Hehad found a valued role, and he did itby sharing stories with an old man with whom, from allobviousperspectives,noonecouldhaveexpectedhe would havehad anythingincommon. 90 VIRGINIAL.SAUVE I believe that, as educators, we are at best storyweavers who recognize thatinthe classroomexperiencehumanbeings are learningto discoverand claim their highest selves; that they, and we, are learning what it means to live in community with one another; and that we are creating a vision of possibilityfor a world inchallengingtimes. As you read someofmystories and ideas, your own will surface, and I invite you to let this be a time of reflectingonthestoriesinyourteachingand learningpractice,storieswhose inherenttruthscaninformyourownfuturepracticeasaneducator,onewho draws forth thepotentialofherorhisstudents. ForCanada'sFirstNations' peoples,the role ofstoryissolid andvalued. Some years ago the Saskatchewan Council for Education of non-English Speakers (SCENES) had a conference in which they invited a Native story teller tospeakafterlunch. Neverhave Iexperienced sucha powerful story teller. He spoke from the heart, in his own words, and his mastery of the audience was total. We laughed, we cried, and we got angry. At one point manyofusfelt thatitwasjusttoomuch,andwewereready towalkoutthe door. Buthe knewjusthowfarhecould pushus, and atthatpointhe made uslaugh,and onceagainwewereinhishands. Astoryisawholeexperience.Ithasabeginningandanending.Although weoftenforgettheoriesandideas,wetendtorememberstoriesbecausethey connectwithsomething inside us: emotions, ourownexperiences, ourown dreams. Whenweheara good storyitbecomeswovenintoourownlibrary ofstories, alteringnotonlythe shape ofthe other's storyin thejourney,but that of our stories as well. The second-language learner comes into our classrooms with stories. In many classrooms, these stories seldom if ever haveachancetobetold. Ibelievethatthewiseteacherunderstandstheneed for her students to tell some of the significant stories of their lives, and in doingso to claim once again the dignity ofbeinghuman and unique as we walk onthe land and make ourimprintonit. Ido notsee this as a teaching techniquebecauseto dosois to trivialize the relationship wehave withour stories. Storytellingis more a naturalsharingthatcomes outofthe relation shipwecultivatewithlearnersandamonglearners.Whentheindividualsin a classroom feel safe to be who they are, with all their fears, doubts, and questions,aswellastheirachievements,failures, and dreams,thenand only then can they move from the stories of their past to understanding and taking control of their present and their future. And in this new land their future is also our future. We too are participants in the ongoing drama of creating a multiculturalsociety and a peaceful, healthy planetfor us all. As aneducatorIcanchoosetobe a weaverofstories,past, present, and future, withthose learnerswhohaveentrustedthemselves tomyclassroom. I would like to tell a story of a woman I shall call Jill. She is a sewing instructorinalargegarmentfactory, ajobshehasheldforover30years. She is well liked by the operators and the management alike, because she gets TESLCANADAJOURNAUREVUETESLDUCANADA 91 VOL 20,NO.1,WINTER2002 things done, quietly but surely. When the supervisors won't listen to the concerns of the operators, they tum to Jill, whom they can address in Chinese, the dominant language of the plant, and in whom they have con fidence. If she can help them, she will, without making waves. When the supervisors or managers have an extrajob to be done, they askJill because theyknowshewillnottumthemdownregardlessofhowstressfulitmaybe forhertogeteverythingsheneeds todo done.Theseextrasarenotapartof her job description. Other instructors do not do them. ButJill understands only too well the terrible boredom of the operator's job for she did it for many years, and perhaps more important, she knows the soul-numbing effect of the supervisors' condescending remarks, having endured them throughoutherownemploymentasanoperator. For years Jill has attended English classes at night, as well as EWP (Englishinthe Work Place) classesinthe plant. Inspiteofthose classes and her determined effort to learn the language, she had not made much progress. Pronunciationcontinuedtobeaproblemforher, asdidherability to phrase things in English syntax. She continued to think in Chinese, and largely still does. But because of her dedication to the plant in which she works, her employer sends her weekly to special communication classes withother administrative personnel to improveheroverallcommunication inEnglish. Aboutsixmonths ago somethingsignificanthappened and her learning took off. She entered the classroom that day looking tense and unhappy. I asked her if something were wrong, and she told me how upset she was about the way one supervisor always talked to her. She especially disliked thefactthatthiswomanshookherfingerunderhernoseandspoketoheras ifshewereastupidchild.Iaskedherwhatshewouldliketodoaboutit.She lookedsurprisedandsaidshewouldlikeittostop.AgainIasked, "Butwhat wouldyouliketodoaboutit?"Thistimeshesaid,"Iwouldliketotellhernot totalktomelikethat.Iwouldliketoaskhertospeaktomepolitelywhenshe wants me to do something and to not shake her finger in my face." Then I askedJillifshecouldsaythistothesupervisor.Shesaidshedidn'tthinkshe could, that when she was nervous her English wasn't very good. Iasked if shewouldliketowritealetter.Shelookedhappyandsaidthatshewould,if Iwould help her to doso. Shethensatdown and proceeded towrite down her ideas as best she could. I corrected the letter. She then rewrote it and delivered ittothe womanand waited righttherewhilesheread it, anactof greatcouragefromwhereIsat.Thesupervisorwasstunnedandapologized toJill.Jillcamebacktothe classroomwiththebiggestsmileonherface, and I knew that something major had shifted for her that day. Today she still struggles with grammar, but she has a totally different sense of self. She knows she can communicate. She now knows she can learn, and she is learning.Sheknowssheisvaluable.Nowshehelpsotherpeopleinthegroup 92 VIRGINIAL.SAUVE who are struggling, and each time she does this she seems a little stronger. Evenherfacelooksdifferent,asifshehasrelaxedmusclesheldintensionfor yearsofswallowingherhumiliationandanger. Whatdoesthisstorytellus abouttheESLclassroom?Well,ittells us that what learners need most is not always the traditional elements of the L2 classroom.InJill's case, whatshe needed mostwas self-confidence, and the routetothatendwasinexperiencingsuccessinstandingupforherdignity. My role was simply to support this as best I could, to ask her questions to help her clarify what she was ready (or not ready) to do, and then to bear witness tohersuccessandacknowledgeit.In30yearsofdoingadulteduca tion,IhavecometoaplacewhereIseeaccountability(theoppositeofblame) as one of the most valuable concepts for people to learn in their lives. Jill made a decision to change 30 years offeeling humiliated by drawingsome boundaries around how she would be treated in future. In the past six monthsthatsupervisorhasnotoncetreatedherinademeaningfashion.Jill's decisionnotonlyaffectedherlife,butitalsoforced thatwomantoseeheras aperson.Ifenoughpeopleinthesupervisor'slifedothesamething, thereis nodoubtinmymind thatshe toowillchangeas a result. Learninginvolves makingshiftsthatenableustobemoreinalignmentwithourtrueselves,our highestselves. When weenable a personto learnsomethingthatwillchangetheir lives for the better, we can trust that this will have ramifications not unlike the ripplesthatexpandoutwardwhenonedropsapebbleintoastillpond.Here is anotherstory from the workplace thatdemonstrates this process ofinter connectedness. Shandra is a housekeeper in an urban hospital. Of Hindi heritage,shecomesfrom asmallSouthAmericancountry.Shandraattended afour-day workshopIconducted forherdepartmentaboutthree yearsago. I remember her because she seemed to isolate herself from others by her perfectionismand herassumptionthatothersshould seethe world the way shedid.Shewasstuckinblame. HowsurprisedIwasafewmonthsagowhenIreturned toherhospitalto facilitate a communications workshop. I noticed that she was much more fluid inherrelatingtoothers,butIwasnonethelessunpreparedforwhatshe shared with me at the coffeebreak. Shetook me aside and said, "Virginia, I just wanted to thank you for that workshop you did three years ago. It changed my life." Needless to say, she had my complete attention now. I askedhertoexplain.Shesaid, Itwas thatideaofaccountability. Iwenthomeand Ithoughtalotabout that. Myhusbandand Ihadnotbeengettingalongtoowell.Iwasal waysnagginghim todo"hisjobs" andhe wasalways upsetwith mefor nagginghim. TESLCANADAJOURNAUREVUETESLDUCANADA 93 VOL.20,NO.1,WINTER2002 OnedayIlookedatthe garbageoverflowingandIthoughtaboutwhat youhadsaid aboutaccountability.WhenIhadtoldyouaboutthesoiled utilityroominthehospital,youhadaskedmeifthatwasnotsomething Icoulddealwithmyselfand youwere right. Icould.Therewasthis gar bageoverflowingand Ithoughttomyself, "Icanemptythat." Idid, and Ifeltmuchbetter. SoathomeIstarteddoingmoreandmoreofthe little thingsaroundthehousethatIused towaitfor myhusbandtodo. I didn'tsayanything. Ijustdidthem. Afteraboutthreemonths,myhus bandnoticedandhespokedifferentlytome.Hesaid, "Youdon'tnag meanymore.Ifeel somuchbetter."Wegetalongalotbetternow." ThenShandra decided that ifthis ideaworked athome, maybe it would work at work as well. "One day, the perfect opportunity arose. There was this onenursethatnooneliked. Shetreated thehousekeepingstafflikedirt. Ifwemissedsomething,"Shandratold me, Insteadofquietlyremindingus,shewould yellatus infrontofthe doc tors,theothernurses,patients,visitors,anybody.Itwassoembarrass ing. Shedidittomethis day. Ihadgoneintocleanapatient's bathroom,butshewas usingitand Ithought1'dcomebacklater,but wegotreallybusywithdischargerooms andIforgot. Thenurse screamedatme,wavingherarmsaround,andIrememberedwhatyou hadsaid.Ididn'tsayanythingatthatmoment.Iwaited untilshewent intotheMedRoomand Ifollowed herin.Isaid,"Mrs.Smith,Ineedto talktoyou.Idon'tmind youcorrectingmewhenImakeamistakebut couldyoupleasedosoprivately?Itisreallyembarrassingwhenyou yellatmeinfrontofotherpeople."Thenurse lookedflustered and apologized. Shandra finished her story by saying, "Today, Virginia, that nurse is a changednurse!"Ahugesmileonherfaceshowedmethepride,delight,and strength shehad gained from shiftingfrom blame to accountability. By this point, several other housekeepers had come back into the room and heard herstory. Onesaid, "Iknow who youmean! Shetreatseveryone differently now. Itisasifshesees usfor thefirst time!" And here we have it-the cry of us all to be recognized! The chronic complaint of so many immigrant workers going into service jobs is that of feeling invisible. Most accept this as the price of leaving behind a country and culture ofwhich they were a part, in which they felt respected for who they were. But a few, like Shandra and Jill, realize that they do not have to sacrificetheirdignityjusttoearnalivinginCanada.Andwhentheycansee the power in taking accountability for expecting to be treated with respect, ratherthanjustcomplainingaboutit,everythingshifts.Amalefamilymem bersawhiswifeinadifferentlightandbegantoappreciatehermorethanhe had inhis owncountry. A Canadiannurse was forced toseea housekeeper 94 VIRGINIAL.SAUVE forthefirsttimeasapersonratherthanafunctionary, andthis changedhow she treated all the others in that role. And in both Jill's and Shandra's situations, their actions were triggered by an idea that they learned in a classroom:accountability. Accountabilityis the opposite ofblame. When we choose tobe accOlmt able rather than to blame others for our problems, we are acting out of whateverpowerwehaveinagivensituationtomakeitbetterfor ourselves. Blame is mostoften irrelevant. Itdoes notmatterwho started itorwho did what.Whatmattersiswhatcanbedonetochangethesituationforthebetter. CanyouimaginewhatmighthappeninPalestineormanyothersituationsof world conflict if the combatants could step outside of blame and into ac countability? For that matter, what might happen in our lives if we got unstuckfrom those weblamefor ourproblems and insteadlooked for what wecould dotomake thingsbetterforourselves,now,today, asweare? Years ago I was blessed to participate in a two-week Train the Trainers event with Virginia Satir, a well-known author, psychologist, and teacher. One of the teachings that has stuck in my mind from that event was the simple idea that everyone does what is logical to him or her in any given situation, and if we donotunderstand it, itis becausewe don'thave all the information.Thatideawentonlike a lightbulbin my mind. SuddenlyIfelt that I understood what made forgiveness possible. If I could just see the worldastheothersawit,howcouldIpossiblyblameandbeangrywiththat person? I know that I act in ways that are logical to me at the time, even if later Ihave cause to regret my words or actions. Ifthis is true for me, why woulditnotbesofor others?Blameis aheavyburdento carryaround, and goodness knows, our refugee learners and many ofour immigrantlearners have much to be angry about. They have every right to feel angry about things that happened to them in their own countries and things that have happenedsincetheysettledinCanada.Buthowdoesangerenabletheirlives iftheygetstuckinthosefeelings, howeverjustifiedtheyare? Buddhismteachesus toliveinthe moment. Forthatmatter,sodidJesus, and so do mostofthe world's great religions. There is suchwisdom in this idea. To let go of the past and not worry about the future is to free all our energyfor living this precious moment. To me these ideashave somuch to offerusinESLorEFL,orinanyclassroomthatisabouthumandevelopment. Whenweteachlanguage, wearemakingdecisionsatall times: Whatwordsdowe teachand whatwordsdoweomit? Whohas thepowerintheclassroom,theteacherortheleamer,orboth? And thatbeingthe case,howisitshared? Howdoweengagewhatis tobelearned?Is thereatightcurriculumto befollowed? DoItheteacherdecidewhatis taught,ordoes the process oflearningemergemorenaturallyfrombeingpresenttowhatisgoing oninthemoment? TESLCANADAJOURNAUREVUETESLDUCANADA 95 VOL.20,NO.1,WINTER2002 The storyweaver listens carefully for the learners' stories as they are offered and makes space for their telling, supporting the tellers with whatever language they need to express themselves, ask their questions, reclaimtheirlostdignity,andtakechargeoftheirlives.Magichappensinthe classroomwhen thatspaceand thattrustarethere. Iremembergoingintoa class of seniors some years ago to do some research and wanting to give something back to this group of men and women, so I offered to do a Medicine Bag workshop, an idea I had gained from Ruth Smiley, a former Saskatchewaneducatorworkinginpopulartheater.Sheandacolleaguehad written a book called Story Circles that was publishedby the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, and the Medicine Bag stories were one idea in that book. Iworried thatthesebeginning-levelseniorswould nothavesufficient Englishto tell theirstories,but as always, nothing is more motivating than the desire totell ourstoriesand be acknowledgedin them, toberecognized and seen for the essence ofwho we really are. Ihad put a red mittenin my bag that day, and an old Chinese man picked up the mitten and began talking about his childhood in China. Sometimes he would laugh and at other times he had tears in his eyes; I don't fully understand yet how we knewwhathewas tryingtosay,ashisvocabularywassmallandhisEnglish grammar virtually nonexistent, but understand we did. Other Chinese speakers in the group helped him find key words he could not find, and whenhe finished, hesighed contentedly, and inhiseyes and haltingwords wesawthejourneyofthisman'slifefromachildinChinawhohadwornred mittens knitted byhis grandmother, to a man recognized and respected for his achievements in his country, to a man now strugglingwith old age and an environment he could not yet comprehend, and that certainly did not comprehendhim. Ithinkofanotherseniorcitizen, this one inWinnipeg, a Filipinowoman who picked up a blue candle from the bag and told her story of putting a candle in the window every night to guide her husband home when the Japanese soldiers came and took him away to work as a porter during the occupationofhercountry. Forthreemonthssheputacandle in thewindow every night and prayed for his safe return. Finally, he did come home, hungry,exhausted,anddemeanedbyhiscaptorsbutsafeforthemoment.In hertellingofthisstory,weallcriedwithherassherememberedherfearand herpain,andwesawmorethanherexperience.Wesawtheexperienceofthe Filipinopeople and ofoccupiedpeopleseverywhere. Shelearnedthewords totellherstory,andwelearnedalotaboutcourageandfaith and thehuman ability tosurvive. Whatdoes ittakefor a teachertobeastoryweaver?Firstandforemost, it takes the willingness to set aside one's ego and be fully present to the learners in the classroom.Itisnotatalleasy. Wehave all had students who pushed our buttons. Perhaps they were disrespectful, or loud, or dominat- 96 VIRGINIAL.SAUVE ing,oruncooperative,orcritical.Buthowoftendowetakethetimetoreflect on what it is inside us that creates these buttons for others to push? Our reaction to these students is never about them; it is about us. The student whois disrespectfulorcriticalpushesourinsecuritybutton.Theonewhois loud,dominating,oruncooperativepushesourpowerbutton,ourneedtobe incontrol. Whenwebeginto reactfrom these places, wearenotatourbest, andwearecreatingintheclassroomfeelings andsituationsthatarenotatall conducivetogoodeducationalpractice. How do we set aside the ego and take account of our own reactions inwardly before they manifest and create problems in our teaching? It is a dalffitingtask,butfarfromimpossible.Ihavefound ithelpfultolearntheart oftwinattention. Youare listeningto the otherpersonwhosayssomething thatpushesabuttonorcallsforth anunfinishedmemorysomewhere.When youare listeningwithtwinattention, you continuetobefully presenttothe other, but at the same time you acknowledge to yourself that something is going on inside yourself that bears attention; you mentally set it aside and determine towork onitlater. When youare no longerwith that individual, you sit down with your journal and start exploring the emotion, or the memory,and thereactionyouhad when thatwas triggered. Youworkwith it as much as you can or until it no longer has power over you. Slowly, slowly, you regain those pieces of yourself that have been taken, or given, away in the past. It is a work of inner healing. Native people call it soul retrieval. Thestoryweaverisalsoahealer.AsanadulteducatorIhaveworkednot onlywith immigrantlearners,butalsowithinmates,womenonsocialassis tance,universitystudents,andworkersinavarietyofworkplaces.Onething that is common to all of those contexts is the wounds that each of us carry around, unwittingly allowing them to misdirect our good intentions and damageourrelationshipswithothersandwithourselves.Thechildwhohas beenabusedcanbecomeanabuserofothers.Thechildwhohasbeenignored canbecomethe loudmouthjoker.Thepersonwhose personalpainhas been too long ignored can become the chronic complainer. When I see a person consistently behaving in dysfunctional ways, I see a person who is hurting deeply inside and is stuck in behaviors that work to ensure that hurt will continueuntilherecognizesthesourceofhispainandallowsittotransform. I cannotchange that person, but if I care enough and am patient enough, I may be able to ask the question or make the observation that enables that individual tosee, forjustan instant, the consequences ofhischoices, and to seealsothattherearealternativechoicestobemade. We have all had the experience of looking at another person and seeing the obvious. If only she would do such-and-such, her problems would be largely resolved. Butshe does notsee it, and my telling heronly drives her further into the kind of defensiveness that makes it even harder to see for TESLCANADAJOURNAUREVUETESLDUCANADA 97 VOL.20,NO.1,WINTER2002 herself. The wise witness loves the person inside the form, no matter how dysfunctional that form has become. The wise witness honors that individual's right to make the choices that define her own life. The wise witness also sees the inherent power this person has to make new choices and recreate her experience of life. That is having faith and hope as our guidingperspectives.AsVirginiaSatirsaid,eachpersondoeswhatislogical tohimorher. Eachoneseesthepictureas lifehas thus farpainteditfor that person. Wemayseeamuchbroaderpicturethandoes theleamer,and ifwe canpaintthatpicturesuchthatthelearnercanseehimselfinit,thenwehave openedthewayofpossibilityforthatlearnertochangewhenreadytodoso. The woundedness of adult learners, and children for that matter, is ig noredatgreatrisk, foritisourwounds thatcauseus togetstuckandunable to grow into our potential. When I do the Medicine Bag stories in a group where people know one another, where the level of trust is high, some wonderful things have happened. I recall one group of women in a job trainingprogramsomeyearsago. The firsttimewedid thisexercise,people dug deep to share stories that had marked them in a significant way. One woman, throughtearsofshameand anger, told ofa doctormolestingherin a hospital when she had first come here. We were the first people she had evertold,andshetrustedustotellnooneelse.Thedoctorwasapersonwho spoke her language. At the time this happened, she did not speak any Englishandshedarednottellherhusbandashewouldhavekilledtheman, and she did not want to risk losing her husband. Another woman, whom everyonehadseenforhergreatstrength,washerselfamazedwhen,intears, shespoke ofherguiltasachildof8whenshewas unable tosavetwosmall children who had been entrusted to her care when a flash flood roared through a canyon and sent her scurrying up a tree to safety. Not everyone tookthiskind ofrisk,butallofusweredeeplymovedbythosewhodid,and the groupbecamecloseafterthat. Theyhadsharedandbeenentrustedwith theirdarkestsecrets, and itchanged the relationship they enjoyed with one another. Whenitcametime tofind work, theywentoutoftheirway topass on leads to one another, even if it meant more competition for a job they wanted themselves. The stories enabled a community to emerge out of a groupofstrangers. In myexperience,when there is asenseofcommunity, everyone's learn ing is enhanced. The teacher's job is easier, and so is the learners'. Ithelps them to askquestions withoutfear ofbeingembarrassedbytheirignorance or seeming slowness to catch on to new ideas. When the trust is there they cantake the risks theyneed totaketoextendthemselvesbeyondwhere they are to where they want to go. They can learn from one another's mistakes, and they canshare their resources for the benefitofall. When people share theirstories and are acknowledged for them, they come tofeel thattheyare acceptable as they are, without conditions. They can let go of the defenses 98 VIRGINIAL.SAUVE