Promoting a Culture of Welcome for Refugees in Schools: Approaches & Opportunities

Fostering Community Engagement and Welcoming Communities is supported by the

Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR/ACF/DHHS)

Photo credit: Welcoming Rhode Island

Why Schools? Schools set the stage for welcome

Today’s Agenda

1. What is a Welcoming School Environment? Sanja Bebic, Center for Applied Linguistics

2. Examples of Welcome in Schools

Shirin Herman, Houston Independent School District

Ann Marie Kudlacz, SSCA, Omaha

Paw Spai Moo, Lincoln High School

3. Audience Discussion

4. Additional Resources

Recognizing the Challenge…and the

Opportunity

Why build welcoming schools?

As a result of attending a welcoming school, students:

• have higher self-confidence

• have better overall well-being

• achieve at higher rates academically

And schools:

• achieve better attendance rates

• lower drop out rates

• improve rates of parental involvement

Suárez-Orozco, C., Suárez-Orozco, M.M., & I. Todorova. (2008). Learning in a new land: Immigrant students in American society. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Frank, T. H. (2005). The Handbook for Developing Supportive Learning Environments. Eye on Education.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cQ0EAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT15&ots=eBxGKT7SYh&sig=KI9JIwsdUj7ZTr1B-M7c8nwmzK4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Overseas Context

Diversity of contexts

• Educational backgrounds

• Access to education in countries of asylum

• Cultural orientation programs for U.S. resettlement

– Adults

– Children and youth

What are the key

ingredients of a

Welcoming School?

What do you think? (Type in your chat box):

Ways to Engage Students

How do we help students feel at home in their school? Examples:

• Host after school clubs (Around the World Club)

• Train students to offer tours of the school to newcomers

• Have students take pictures of school routines and locations and prepare an orientation

binder for new students

• Have students label parts of the classroom in English and their home language, if possible

• Have students share about their

home cultures and languages

across the content subjects

• Have bilingual students work with

newcomers; provide bilingual

dictionaries

How do you engage

students?

What do you think? (Type in your chat box):

Engaging Educators

School Personnel are critical for establishing a culture of welcome. Examples:

• Professional development on cultural awareness and instruction of diverse

learners

• Provide texts and other resources in the various student languages and about the

cultures in the school

• Promote the use of online translators or language liaisons to translate documents

and orally communicate with families

• Encourage content teachers to communicate with ESL teachers,

counselors and other support staff

How do you engage

educators?

What do you think? (Type in your chat box):

Engaging Parents

Many refugee parents have little school interaction and may not engage with

more established parents.

• Hire parent and family liaisons

• Offer on-site ESL classes

• Conduct an orientation

• Prepare translated packet

• Show video about the school

• Conduct parent tours and classroom walk-throughs

• Host bilingual parent meetings

• Invite community speakers (nurse, librarian, resettlement worker)

• Train parent volunteers to welcome new families and provide new information

How do you engage

parents?

What do you think? (Type in your chat box):

Engaging the Broader Community

Schools can help connect refugee families with the rest of the community.

• Bring the community into the school (health services, job fairs, ESL classes for adults, etc.)

• Develop robust volunteer programs that engage diverse people in the community

• Develop partnerships with other community services to provide programming and supports

• Participate in community service projects initiated by the school, students, and/or families that bring people together to work on a shared interest

How do you engage the

receiving community?

What do you think? Type in your chat box):

Education Impact Grant for

Refugee Students

Houston Independent School District

Multi-lingual Department

Shirin Herman

Houston’s Refugee Outreach Workers

• Orientations- Parent guides and school video

• Home visits

• Interpretation

• Parent/Teacher Conferences/Ambassador

Program

• Service Brokering

• Crisis Intervention

Challenges that Impact Parent

Involvement

• Acculturation Stress on the Family

• Access to the Family

• Self Sufficiency Timeline

School personnel can help refugee

students by:

• Observing to see if additional services are

needed

• Protecting students from teasing or bullying

• Teaching students about rules of acceptable

behavior before disciplining

• Identifying students who demonstrate

chronic negative behaviors

Nebraska: Bringing the Classroom to the

Community

SSCA Omaha

• Refugee Resettlement Agency

• Community Center /

On-Site Refugee Programs

• Liaison with Refugee Leaders

• Resources and Links to Services

Omaha Refugee Task Force

- Education - Housing - World Refugee Day

- Employment - Health

Community Partners and Collaborations

Omaha Public Schools

• Parent meetings

• ESL and Refugee Program/

Yates Community Center

• THRIVE Club

• Quilted Conscience

Nebraska Partners and Collaborations

SSCA Omaha

www.sscaomaha.info

THRIVE Club http://www.ops.org/high/south/STUDENTS/ActivitiesClubs/NonCurricularClubs/THRI

VELeadershipClub/tabid/1288/Default.aspx

You’re Welcome in Omaha

http://nebraskaishome.org/

A Student Perspective

Paw Spai Moo

Lincoln High School

Lincoln, NE

Moderated Discussion

• Share your examples

• Questions for the speakers

• Areas that you think need

further attention

Additional Resources

• BRYCS (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services):

http://www.brycs.org

• I LEARN AMERICA: www.ilearnamerica.com

• Immigrant Integration Educator’s Resource Guide: www.coloradotrust.org

• Refugee School Impact Grant:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/school-impact

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: www.unhcr.org

Secondary Newcomer Programs in the U.S. Database

http://www.cal.org/CALWebDB/newcomer/

CAL Resources

www.culturalorientation.net

www.welcomingrefugees.org

Promising Practice: Bridging Cultures at West Fargo High

School

Contacts:

Sanja Bebic, CAL, sbebic@cal.org

Shirin Herman, Houston Independent School District,

SHERMAN@houstonisd.org

Ann Marie Kudlacz, SSCA, akudlacz@sscaomaha.org

Susan Downs-Karkos, Welcoming America,

susan@welcomingamerica.org