Winooski Placement 1: 10/3/2016

On Monday, I was able to meet my ELL placement, and for the sake of privacy throughout the blog, I will refer to the student as S. Much of our first meeting together was sitting side-by-side watching his classmates present their plans on how they are going to complete their semester long project. He did not present his plan in this class, but he was scheduled for next class. He chose to do his project on the Nepal Civil War, an event that has effected him personally due to the fact that he is from Nepal himself and came to the United States because of this same civil war. Through conversation towards the end of class with the little time we had left, I was able to figure out a little bit of background behind his family values rooted in Nepal. In Nepal, his family, along with other traditional families believe in the Hindu Caste System, something that S does not observe personally himself. The caste system is a cultural phenomenon in Hindu countries that classify its citizens into certain categories, and what partly lead to the Nepali Civil War was the Royal Party of Nepal deepening the division between the multiple castes. S was apart of the Brahmin caste in Nepal, one that is atop the pyramid of castes that largely includes the religious class of the country. It will be interesting to see what views his immediate family holds towards the caste system considering the fact that he completely rejects it and any divisions that may come along with it.