Written by Jiayin Huang (Medicine, Class of 2023)
It is clear to all of us that the COVID-19 pandemic affected and still affects the lives of people from all walks of life. While it has taken a heavy toll on vulnerable populations and healthcare professionals, the pandemic also hits close to home. In the initial months following public health’s distancing regulations, medical students were forced to retreat into their homes. Unfortunately, adapting to this new reality has proven to be a challenge for many of us, as the fine line between the terms “social distancing” and “social isolation” became ever so frail. Despite these trying times, we soon realized that turning towards each other for mutual support was the best way for us to mitigate the repercussions of isolation. Throughout these past months, many of our classmates have gracefully shared countless resources and initiated projects to help each other cope with social isolation. It is thus in the same vein and with a desire for connection and closeness with friends and peers that Ashkan Salehi, an incoming Med-2 student, started a unique initiative that marries both bonding and learning.
The “McGill Medicine Online Language Learning Social” initiative was created in early April 2020 by Ashkan in the hopes of providing fellow classmates with an inviting platform to escape isolation and bond with others through the informal learning of languages. Ashkan has since organized and coordinated a total of 15 sessions each lasting around an hour, covering languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Farsi, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew and American Sign Language. Some languages, like French and Spanish, were taught in both the beginner and intermediate level.
Behind the scenes of these sessions held over Zoom are many student volunteers, whom Ashkan calls tutors. One or more tutors who speak the language lead each session and are encouraged to teach basic medical terminology and greetings to the attendees. The structure of each session is flexible and depends on the tutor’s level of comfort. While some tutors prepared presentation slides to guide their session, others have taken a more informal and conversational approach. When we spoke with Ashkan, he insisted on wanting to give a shoutout to some of the tutors: “I am very thankful for tutors such as Nardin, Bert, Jordy, Yossef, Samer, Sarah Khalil, Jiayin, Alice, Charles, Owen Luo, Jun, Morgan, and Anny for teaching us about the languages they know.” We interviewed Nardin Farag, a fellow incoming Med-2 student, on her experience as a Spanish tutor.
“Being a tutor for this COVID initiative was a great experience. Giving a workshop was probably a bigger learning experience for me than it was for the attendees because I was able to work on my “teaching skills” and it also allowed me to dive back into the basics of the Spanish language. Being unable to travel and have conversations in this language, it was very enjoyable to share this passion. I also attended the workshop on ASL, and it was super interesting. Ashkan and the tutor made sure throughout the hour that we were in a safe-space to ask questions! Thanks Ash!”
As an attendee to these sessions, there really isn’t any requirement, other than a curiosity and willingness to learn. On the Facebook group where Ashkan communicates to his classmates about upcoming sessions, interested students will find a warm welcome message stating that there is no required linguistic proficiency level and that sessions will be held informally, creating a safe and non-judgmental space for peers to express themselves. We talked with Owen Luo, also an incoming Med-2 student, and here is what he has to say regarding his experience attending the language sessions:
“As someone who began the journey of learning French last September, I was initially devastated that the public health measures put in place to plank the spread of COVID-19 had taken me away from my peers and in-person language instructions. While spending my quarantine in my Ontario home, it was challenging for me to find opportunities to continue practicing and improving my French. However, Ashkan’s “McGill Medicine Online Language Learning Social” made it possible once again. His planning, expert facilitation, and real-time translations ensured that each session reinforced my comfort in exercising my existing vocabulary and taught me a volume of new words! It was also very rewarding to learn some ASL and to even teach some conversational Mandarin over the course of these past few months too!”
The impacts of this initiative go beyond the social aspect of bonding virtually. Indeed, Ashkan and the attendees soon realized that learning languages opened doors to learn about different cultures and appreciate our diversity, while making us reflect on important social issues, such as the need for linguistic accessibility in our healthcare system. As Ashkan puts it, “In a way, we want to inspire future healthcare professionals to try to understand the communities associated with these languages and cultures. When it came to better understanding and empowering Deaf persons and their communities through the ASL session, I especially strived for the mission of increasing accessibility in medicine for this community through a basic awareness of ASL.” The ASL session was led by a special guest, Jordy Perpiñá St-Jacques, a Deaf person who is now offering instructional ASL sessions. The session garnered a significant amount of interest amongst the student body and received a lot of positive feedback following its success. We talked briefly with Jordy to ask him about his experience working with Ashkan and the students:
“I was happy to have the opportunity to teach a basic American Sign Language class to medical students. Because of COVID-19’s impacts, I decided to teach an online class and it was a challenge for me because I had to figure out how to practice together with students by helping them introduce themselves and practicing alpha finger spelling. These students are amazing at adapting to the learning of American Sign Language.”
All in all, four months later, Ashkan’s “McGill Medicine Online Language Learning Social” has now grown into a fun, supportive and inclusive community for students to reconnect and socialize despite the restrictions posed by the pandemic. Ashkan plans on continuing this initiative until the end of FMD, given a large amount of “positive feedback about spoken language sessions and a demand for them to continue (for example, Owen Chen and Bushra are dedicated, astute and skillful French-language students who have expressed interest in continuing the French language sessions).” This initiative is one to applaud for its mission and impact on reducing student’s feelings of isolation while being a platform for socially-conscientious learning and for celebrating our diversity. It serves as one of many proofs that we are stronger together in the face of challenging times.
Memorable moment from the initiative:
“I never realized the significance of my initiative, until during the middle of our American Sign Language (ASL) session (taught by the amazing Jordy Perpiñá St-Jacques). It was at this moment that I finally took in the fact that we have sixteen passionate and dedicated future physicians and dentists, across the country, who have volunteered their time and effort to learn something that is completely new to them, in the valiant effort of better understanding and serving fellow Deaf persons in our population. This session meant a lot to all of us as future healthcare professionals. Even though it was a small step forward in learning about ASL and the challenges faced by Deaf persons, it was an important one for highlighting the issue of increasing accessibility in healthcare, in terms of increasing diversity and inclusion, and increasing cultural sensitivity in healthcare. Prior to the ASL session, we had done sessions in different spoken languages, but to me, none will be as socially-conscientious, or as useful, as the ASL session.”
~ Ashkan Salehi, Organizer of this initiative