Ja migrated to Aotearoa/New Zealand from Myanmar as small child. She attends school in South Auckland as a Year 6 student and has worked hard at attaining both proficiency and fluency in English as a speaker, reader and writer.
I came across Ja as a writer when I was analysing student texts with her teacher Mary, as part of Mary’s professional learning with me. We were reading a range of texts from Mary’s class and discussing what her students could and could not do as writers and what their next learning steps might be.
I was very taken with the rawness and honesty of Ja’s text which depicts her experience of being a migrant student/young person in Aotearoa/New Zealand – its positives and its negatives – so I decided to find out more.
Ja had written the text from her heart during an independent writing session at school. Mary (her teacher) realises the importance of giving her students the opportunity to ‘write about what they want to write about’ and hence schedules a daily independent writing session in her class. As she says, “Most of us timetable sustained silent reading each day, so why not have sustained silent writing as well.”
Ja’s work is, to me, a good example of a student using the writing process meaningfully to reflect on and explore a deeply significant aspect of their inner life.
Ja crafted and re-crafted this text by and for herself and is proud to share it with a wider audience through my website. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Watch The Video
Read The Text
Jenny P
Thank you for your courageous and powerful writing Ja.
I am sorry to hear that you receive such negative comments, and hope that some of the mockers might modify their views when they read your writing. You are an awesome role model in your positive self-beliefs, so I encourage you to keep writing to make a positive difference in Aotearoa.
Sandra
Well done Ja, so brave to speak so plainly and write so effusively. No one should have to to endure racism. Thank you for speaking out. Stand Tall !
Michael W
Kia ora Ja
I want to leave a comment to thank you for sharing your excellent, courageous video and of course superb writing – but of course, it’s sad to hear you had to experience this. Despite the mockers and those with unkind words, keep shining your strong, positive, light while you Stand Tall.
Annabel Holderness
While your wonderful story makes me so sad Ja, I love your writing because it reflects so much of who you are and how brave you are coming to a new, faraway country. I teach ESOL students and I’m going to share your story with some of my students because I’m sure that they will be able to relate to some of the experiences you have had. It will inspire them to write their own stories about their lives in NZ. Writing certainly helps us to cope with difficult feelings. Thank you so much for sharing your feelings.