Hello and Happy Friday from Literacy Connexus everyone! Hopefully, by the time this blog makes its way to your inboxes and screens, it finds you happy, healthy, and rejoicing in the fact that it’s Friday with a hot cup of coffee (or tea) in your hands.
There’s been a lot of talk about refugees recently. With summer fast approaching, many of us had already begun preparations for incoming refugees: boosting our programs, finding resources, saying our prayers for safe passage, and looking for ways to welcome them into our communities. Now, is not the time to let up in our efforts!
While much of the goings-on in the world is out of our control, there are things that we can do to continue to help and prepare – in our very own classrooms. How you ask? By making English real for our students.
Have you heard the saying “It’s all Greek to me.”? Well, that’s how many students feel when looking at English for the time. English can seem like an insurmountable obstacle comprised of abstract symbols to many students at first. And, for students who aren’t literate in their first languages, written English can seem almost made up.
As teachers, community volunteers, and others simply guided by the Lord, it is our job to turn this abstract collection of made up symbols into something real and tangible for our students to grasp and be successful with. Luckily for us, Tacoma Community House, in Tacoma, Washington has made it easy with their e-book Making It Real: Teaching Preliterate Adult Refugee Students.
With funding from the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Section, the Tacoma Community House Training Project has developed this book containing a wealth of successful strategies and techniques for teaching both beginning literacy and speaking skills. The richly illustrated text includes:
A list of survival competencies for speaking, listening, reading, and writing
A plethora of activities for introducing, practicing, and applying these new skills to the students’ lives
Strategies for teaching pre-literate refugees in a multi-level ESL class
www.tacomacommunityhouse.org
To check out this amazing resource for yourself, click the link here: Making It Real: Teaching Preliterate Adult Refugee Students. I have personally read this text from front to back (I even used it in a research project), and I can attest to how truly amazing this resource is. It has everything from tips to activities, scope and sequence guides to lesson plan guides. It really is worth the read, especially as we search for ways to help and welcome the refugees coming into our communities.
Until next time, blessings and happy teaching.
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