I Learn America
Introduction
AT THE INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL AT LAFAYETTE, A BROOKLYN PUBLIC SCHOOL DEDICATED TO NEWLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, FIVE TEENAGERS STRIVE TO MASTER ENGLISH, ADAPT TO FAMILIES THEY HAVEN'T SEEN IN YEARS, AND CREATE A FUTURE OF THEIR OWN WHILE COMING OF AGE IN A NEW LAND.
The New Educational Edition Made Available Through NEWDAY Features: Theatrical version (92 minutes) -- Abridged classroom version (50 minutes) -- Menu to key scenes -- English Closed Captioning for English Learners -- Spanish, French, Arabic subtitle translations -- Links to resources for educators.
WHEN PURCHASING, GET 15% DISCOUNT BY USING THIS "NEW RELEASE" CODE: ILA015
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Synopsis
In "I Learn America,” five resilient immigrant teenagers come together at the International High School at Lafayette and struggle to learn their new land.
The International High School is a New York City public school dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrant teenagers, with more than 300 students speaking two-dozen languages from 50 countries.
Meet the students:
SING is a refugee from Myanmar who has recently relocated to Brooklyn, leaving his family behind. He is isolated, angry and barely speaks English. Will he accept the help of his English teacher?
BRANDON made the journey from Guatemala to America to reunite with his mother after ten years apart. Crossing the desert and making the perilous journey was easy compared to getting to know his mom again. Will he be able to meet her expectations to do well in America?
SANDRA (17, Poland) is a tomboy, a class leader and she’s also undocumented. She and JENNIFFER, a sassy classmate from the Dominican Republic, are inseparable best friends – “like a flower with water.” Sandra has grown confident in identifying as a girl who dresses as a boy, but as she faces graduation, she fears that being undocumented means she will lose all they have been able to gain once they leave the security of the school.
ITRAT came to America from Pakistan to join her father, a traditional Shia Muslim. She barely knew him after the passing of her mother. What kind of future is waiting for her in America? Will she return to Pakistan to marry or will she go to college and build her independence?
Over a school year, amidst the complexity and diversity of American life in and out of school, through Itrat, Sandra, jenniffer, Brandon and Sing, we “learn America.”
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Director Commentary
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In America, nearly one in four children is an immigrant or was born to immigrant parents.
Our classrooms are meeting a growing influx of students who speak little to no English, who are unfamiliar with American culture, and, in some cases, who lack formal education. The fate of these young immigrants is at the core of America’s continually emerging identity.
Here to stay, they are the future, and how we fare in welcoming them will define who we are for years to come.
Schools – the first and ultimate hope for integration – are generally ill-equipped to serve immigrant teenagers. The traditional paradigm relegates them to the sidelines. Yet school offers their first chance for sustained and meaningful participation in a new society. It is in school that they determine where they belong in the reality and imagination of their new culture. It is through interactions with classmates, teachers, and social workers that they shape their identities.
At Lafayette, we see one school’s efforts to prepare teenage immigrants for the complexity and diversity of life in America. The exhilarating work and individuals at Lafayette, as well as the personal transformation we see in our characters, show the power of putting young immigrants front and center. Our characters’ journeys are rooted in repressive governments, economic necessity, and family separation; yet, against a backdrop of larger social issues, they have found a haven for becoming themselves in America.