Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Refugee Students
Enabling Academic Success for Secondary Students with Limited Formal Schooling*
A research report from Brown University addressing concerns about SIFE education. The report documents a successful literacy program in a Boston public school: the Haitian Literacy Program at Hyde Park High School.
New Americans, New Promise: A Guide to the Refugee Journey in America
Author Yorn Yan describes the refugee experience in the United States and how to best help refugees through the acculturation and transition process of becoming a New American. This book is available for purchase from Fieldstone Alliance.
The Vancouver Sun: A Tough Beginning
This articles tells the story of student Johnny Romah, and discusses efforts in Canada to educate SIFE students.
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS)
Provides technical assistance to service providers working with refugee children and their families in the U.S.
BRYCS: Involving Refugee Parents in Their Children's Education
Resources for helping educators increase parent outreach to refugee families.
BRYCS: Welcoming and Orienting Newcomer Students to U.S. Schools
Resources targeted towards helping newcomer students adjust to their U.S. school environment.
CAL: U.S. Resettlement Domestic Service Provider Toolkit
The Cultural Orientation Resource Center offers these resources designed for resettlement agency staff and others who provide initial Reception & Placement orientation to newly arrived refugees in the United States. This section features lesson plans and promising practices on various CO topics as well as program development resources.
CAL: Refugee Support Resources
Resources for refugee support including books and videos from the Center for Applied Linguistics.
Center for Applied Linguistics
CAL provides language education products and services to educators, service providers, and businesses.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Country Information
Weblinks to information on hundreds of cultures and countries across the globe.
Colorín Colorado: How to Support Refugee Students in the ELL Classroom
This Bright Ideas article explores the unique challenges that both refugee students and their teachers face, as well as a number of suggestions of ways to address those challenges and a list of useful resources.
Education Week Article: "Schools Brace for Bhutanese Wave"
This article from Education Week describes efforts of educators across the country who are preparing for a wave of Bhutanese refugees to enter their schools. Subscription necessary to view article.
Education World: Meeting the Educational Needs of Migrant Students
These resources include articles, state-wide models and programs, and curriculum ideas for educators working with migrant students.
Human Rights Watch: Children's Rights
Information on refugee, displaced, and migrant children.
International Center of Indianapolis: Transitioning Refugees*
Transitioning Refugees: Connections at the Crossroads — A Resource Guide for Service Providers and Volunteer Mentors
This article from KidsHealth provides an overview of causes, signs, and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and how children can be affected and treated by PTSD.
Maryland State Parental Information Resource Center
The Maryland State Parental Information Resource Center's (PIRC) mission is to help parents, community members, and educators in Maryland work together to increase family involvement and improve student achievement. The website offers extensive information in Spanish, as well as information for newly arrived immigrants.
National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs
This is a listing of organizations across the country that offer educational programs for people working with populations that have experienced violence, and that provide treatment services for victims.
National Institute of Mental Health: PTSD Information
Introduction to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), including definitions of key terms, and information on helping children and adolescents cope with PTSD. Information is also available in Spanish.
New York Times Article: "Making the Refugee Experience Less Daunting."
The story of a resettled refugee now helping new refugees assimilate to the U.S.
The Refugee Educators' Network, Inc. began as the Education Subcommittee of the Sacramento Area Refugee Forum in the early 1980s. Since then, REN members have developed a collection of books, videos, magazines, and artifacts that serve as a bridge between educators and refugee communities.
Resource Guide for Serving Refugees with Disabilities
The Resource Guide for Serving Refugees with Disabilities is written as a how-to for caseworkers and advocates who serve refugees with disabilities. It is available through the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Secondary Newcomer Programs: Helping Recent Immigrants Prepare for School Success
This article by researcher Dr. Deborah Short provides an overview of newcomer programs and how they address students linguistic, academic, and acculturation needs.
Teacher's Guide: Home of the Brave
Home of the Brave, a novel written in free verse by Katherine Applegate, tells the story of Kek, an eleven-year-old boy from the Sudan who arrives as a refugee to Minnesota in the middle of winter. The Teacher's Guide for includes discussion questions, activities on idioms and language, and web resources about the war in Sudan. Highly recommended for ELL educators and students. Appropriate for grades 4-12.
The National Child Tramautic Stress Network: Resources for Refugees
Resources for helping refugees cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Refugee Experience Series is a group of volunteers in the Washington, DC area dedicated to raising awareness of the refugee experience through films and discussions.
The Tibetan Alliance of Chicago is a volunteer organization dedicated to empowering Chicago's Tibetan community and fostering its further development. The Tibetan Alliance provides services aimed at enabling the community and each Tibetan to meet their needs and achieve their economic, social, cultural and political goals.
U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service: Information for New Immigrants
Links to a booklet, "Welcome to the United States." The booklet covers basic information about housing, jobs, education and healthcare in the U.S. Downloadable in English, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian/Creole, Korean, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu and Vietnamese.
U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement
Resources and information from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency.
U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
A national network of 10 U.S. resettlement agencies offering assistance to refugee families.
UNICEF Information by country about universal education.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The UN Refugee Agency's website.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Child Refugees
Information on child refugees from the UN.
United Nations: World Refugee Day
Information on World Refugee Day, June 20th.
Vermont Folklife Center: Refugee Experiences
These educational resources for grades Pre-K-12 focus on the question, "What does it mean to be a refugee?"
Vietnamese American Civics Association (VACA)
Founded in 1984 as a Mutual Assistance Association (MAA), VACA provided an array of services designed to help Vietnamese refuges and immigrants to address daily living needs, successfully adjust to a new country, culture and language and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Services offered by VACA include: naturalization assistance, ESL, employment services, social services and health education.
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