Training Manual

TRAINING MANUAL

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Welcome! 3 2. RYTE Board Contact Info 4 3. General Tips 5 4. First Day Tips 6 5. Lesson Preparation -Guidelines for Planning lessons 7 -Top 10 Common Mistakes 9 -ESL Level Sample Curriculum 10 -Explanation of the TOEFL 19 -Sample worksheets 21 6. Information on Countries -Republic of Columbia 25 -Sudan 27 -Haiti 29 -Vietnam 31 -Kosovo 33 -Somalia 35 Appendix A: Maps 37 Appendix B: Role-playing Demo 38

2 WELCOME TO RYTE!

The plight of the world's 22 million refugees has finally gained heightened attention in recent months, and as members of the Boston community (which hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the United States), we are in a unique position to play an active role in the resettlement and healing processes of asylum- seekers here in Boston.

R.Y.T.E. (Refugee Youth Term Enrichment) is an ESL tutoring program for Somali, Haitian, Afghan, Kosovar, Vietnamese, Colombian and Ethiopian refugees enrolled in high schools located throughout the greater Boston area. Since its founding in 1986, R.Y.T.E. has grown to become a crucial resource for the regions refugee community an indispensable supplement to the efforts of ESL counselors and other community organizations, which also seek to support refugee adolescents as they make their way through the complicated U.S. public school system.

As one of the largest community service programs at PBH, we welcome our dedicated and compassionate new tutors to the R.Y.T.E. family to help us realize our singular mission!

3 RYTE EXECUTIVE BOARD CONTACT INFORMATION

CO-DIRECTORS Jennifer Gloeckner [email protected] (3-7883) Jennifer Hsiao [email protected] (3-2100)

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS Anthony Arnold [email protected] (3-3686) Helen Curry [email protected] (3-3444) Jyoti Kandlikar [email protected] (3-6207) Shashank Sinha [email protected] (3-3040)

DAY COORDINATORS Friday: Allie Thomson [email protected] (3-5959) Saturday: Radhika Datar [email protected] (3-2394) Sunday: Allison Khaskelis [email protected] (3-3534)

4 GENERAL TIPS

Ø Prepare for the tutoring session. Set 2-3 objectives to be met and get the appropriate materials.

Ø Develop some routines. For instance, you may wish to begin each session discussing how the students week went.

Ø Observe from informal conversationdoes the student use complete sentences, correct grammatical structures? What is the choice of vocabulary? What are the problems with pronunciation? Make a written note of these things that can be the basis of what youll work on together.

Ø Dont discount the importance of informal conversation for getting to know one another (be sure to share information, not just grill the student).

Ø Nurture the shy students innate abilities with progressively more involved questionsfirst yes or no type questions, then what, when, where, why, how questions.

Ø Reduce your input to correction only during the tutoring portion of your time together.

Ø Take interest in the students culture. Find out what festivals, customs, and other traditions the student participates in. Learn some of the students language.

5 FIRST DAY TIPS

The main goal of your first session is to get to know your student. This is the time to learn about his or her educational background and personal interests. You should be able to accomplish these tasks in a one- to two-hour session. Start off with introductions. Tell each other about yourselves. Explain why you are there and find out why he or she is there. Try to put your student at ease. Remember, your student is likely to be more nervous than you. It is important that your student have confidence in you. No one wants to know that a tutor is insecure, nervous, or self-conscious. So even though you dont have a lot of practical experience, present yourself as someone who is well prepared and who knows what he or she is doing. Be careful, though, not to promise results that will later prove impossible to accomplish. Some basic rules for the first session are these: Be honest. Be direct. Be yourself. Ask questions to find out about your students reading history and expectations. Keep your questions open-ended, and ask only one question at a time. Be sure to give your student plenty of time to answer each question before jumping in with another one. Next, get a writing sample from your student. Since you both need to know how to contact each other in case of cancellations, begin by asking your student to write his or her name and telephone number for you. In exchange, provide yours. Then, if you think your student can write a sentence or a short paragraph, ask for a writing sample on the topic you have just discussed. You will learn a great deal from reading this sample. You will learn if your student can write at all, if he or she has a sense of sentence structure, and if his or her spelling is functional.

1. Dont try to do too much. 2. Do some preliminary, informal assessment. 3. Dont you use his native language too much. 4. Keep corrections to a minimum. 5. Speak naturally.

6 GUIDELINES TO LESSON PREP

Try to find the specific needs of your students during the first few lessons. Talk to them and try to get a writing and reading sample to get an idea of their general level. Ask students about their interests or things they would like to work on. Do they need help with homework? A certain topic? Test preparation? College applications? Try to work on what the student needs to learn while making sure they are challenged and productive. Vary your teaching material and methods and be creative!

I. Getting to know your tutee and fun stuff A. Dont jump straight into books and work- try to get to know your tutees B. Introduce yourself and find out more about your students through conversations C. Bring in things that interest you (hobbies, photos) or resources to explore (laptops, mp3 players, etc.) D. Crossword puzzles, word searches, scrabble, and other word games E. Anything that seems intersting (what would you like to do if you were a tutee?)

II. Writing A. What to think about 1. Basic sentence structure 2. Parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbsnot so much what they are, but how to use them) 3. Subject/verb agreement 4. Tenses and when to use them 5. Conjunctions, preposition 6. Commas, periods B. Try to have the student write as much as possible. 1. Journal writing (unless disliked by student) 2. Find odd pictures and ask your students a series of questions about them. Later talk about the pictures 3. Writing out answers to questions 4. Practice with 5 paragraph essay questions (into, body, conclusion) 5. Students often find writing tedious and frustrating, trying to avoid it as much as possible. Encourage your student to write and stay focused on the task. III. Pronunciation A. Common problems 1. Adding syllables to words on paper. For example, bank is pronounced ban 2. Dont allow your students to rush through pronounciation; encourage them to SLOW down- realize this can be frusterating for them B. Practicing pronunciation 1. Repeating drill s with words and sounds 2. Reading out loud

7 3. Conversations and dialogues 4. Fun tongue twisters

IV. Reading A. Have vocabulary for readings prepared beforehand. Ask questions as you go along. B. Suggestions for reading: 1. Short poemsShel Silverstein, Langston Hughes, Robesrt Frost 2. Short stories and folktales 3. Cartoon version of Shakespeare stories 4. Magazines- those aimed at kids are easier to read 5. Try matching up the reading with your students intersts C. Listening comprehension 1. Read short passages, ask questions. Have questions written out to answer 2. Listening tapes 3. Close exercises: students fill in words to music as singer sings

V. Where to find materials A. Loads of worksheets created in the RYTE file in 1st floor PBH B. Workbooks, textbooks, atlas, and dictionaries in crates and the PBH library C. Magazines and newspapers D. Websites: http://www.toefl.org http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/about1.html- MCAS webpage http://www.collegeboard.com/ http://www.manythings.org/ --A website of games for ESL students http://esl.about.com/bllessonplans.htm --Lesson plans and resources http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/FLClipart/ --Cute clipart for teaching foreign languages http://eslsv001.esl.sakuragaoka.ac.jp/teachers/BR/games/Games.html- list of games for ESL students http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/staff/visitors/kenji/kitao/material.htm- reading and questions on American holidays

There are a lot of helpful sites out there-- just do a search and see what turns up

8 TOP 12 WRITING ERRORS

1. Subject/Verb Agreement The girl have a good job. The girl has a good job My brother live with me. My brother lives with me.

2. Correct Verb Form I am write this letter to I am writing this letter to explain what happened. explain what happened.

3. Correct Pronoun Form I gave she the money to I gave her the money to buy some new books. buy some new books.

4. Correct Part of Speech We celebration his birthday We celebrated his birthday last week. last week.

5. Capitalization and My friend worked every My friend worked every Punctuation monday in june. Monday in June. we had juice cereal and We had juice, cereal, and toast for breakfast toast for breakfast.

6. Possessives Jason borrowed Mary car Jason borrowed Marys car last Friday. last Friday.

7. Word Order I gave to Mary the letter. I gave Mary the letter. We have a cat black. We have a black cat.

8. Run-on Sentences My sister had the flu she My sister had the flu, so went to the doctor he gave she went to the doctor. He her some medicine now gave her some medicine; shes feeling better. now shes feeling better.

9. Sentence Fragments I had a good time. When I I had a good time when I went to the beach with Tom. went to the beach with Tom.

10. Parallel Structure Nancy likes swimming, Nancy likes swimming, skiing, and to play baseball. skiing, and playing baseball.

11. Wrong Word The soldiers rose the flag The soldiers raised the flag early yesterday. early yesterday. The passengers were The passengers were reading there books. reading their books.

12. Missing subject. Tom left because didnt like Tom left because he didnt like the music. the music.

9 ESL LEVEL I SAMPLE CURRICULUM

WEEK 1 Grammar: Present tense of verb to be Activities: · Use grammar book to review to be and gerunds by having the student repeat pattern for all subjects. (I am singing, you are singing...) · Have student listen as you dictate sentences. The student should write down as many words as he or she can understand. · Practice the p/b sound. Place a piece of paper in front of the mouth; P moves paper, B does not.

WEEK 2 Grammar: Nouns and pronouns Activities: · I spy: Point to something and describe it. Determine the appropriate pronoun that would be used. · Bring pictures of family, friends, home, etc. Practice possessives (My brother, my roommate, my desk... · Practice tongue twisters in a book.

WEEK 3 Grammar: Present continuous, simple present Activities: · Write down beginnings to sentences. Have student finish them (While I ate dinner...) · Make up a conversation about a particular theme. Write it down. Repeat it, exchanging roles (I am going to the movies. Do you want to go with me?) · A busy day. You say a time of day and they will tell you what they do at that time. (Brush my teeth and eat lunch.)

WEEK 4 Grammar: Regular and irregular plurals Activities: · Make a list of words. Recite sentences that may contain some of these words. The student circles the words he hears. · Practice the s/sh pronunciation · Go through Life and identify pictures. Try to speak in complete sentences.

WEEK 5 Grammar: Prepositions Activities:

10 · Learn and review prepositional phrases. Give student photocopied list from back of Azars grammar book. · Read a short story to student. Have him summarize after you finish. · Review directions. Have student stand and move as you call out directions.

WEEK 6 Grammar: Go / going to; future tense Activities: · Make up a scenario and ask the student to describe what he would say in that situation (ordering a menu, going to see a counselor, going shopping, etc.) · Discuss the transportation system in Boston · Ask the student about his or her plans for the future (e.g. career, family, education)

WEEK 7 Grammar: Interrogative questionswhat, where, why, who, when Activities: · Read am article from Time, People, or Life and answer the w questions · Try to listen to part of a TOEFL tape and answer the accompanying questions · Practice telephone conversation

WEEK 8 Grammar: Demonstratives, expletive it/ there Activities: · Look at a page in the picture dictionary and identify objects. What are they used for? · Identify and describe different parts of the body and different articles of clothing. · Make up a story from a picture from Time, Life, or People

WEEK 9 Grammar: Modalsmay/can; conjunctionsand/but Activities: · Create different scenarios and ask the student to respond (e.g. getting a drivers license, seeing a doctor, telephone skills, etc.) · Make sentences with vocabulary words. Try to get more than one word in a sentence. · Impromptu speech or storytelling.

WEEK 10 Grammar: Past tense (regular and irregular) Activities: · Give your student a list of words and ask him to make a story out of them · Read transcriptions from TOEFL listening comprehension section in the back of the TOEFL book. Slow down or repeat as necessary, adjusting to his level. Have him answer accompanying questions. · Play a game of Mad Libs.

11 ESL LEVEL II SAMPLE CURRICULUM

WEEK 1 Grammar: Review of all ESL Level I structures Activities: · Go through all the Grammars covered in ESL Level I and work on the ones with which your student is having difficulty.

WEEK 2 Grammar: Present and past tense of to be Activities: · Use Azar grammar book to review to be and gerunds by having the student repeat the pattern for all subjects (I am singing, you are singing...) · Go over various social roles and relationships (e.g. teacher/student, parent/child, etc.) · Make up a conversation about a particular theme. Write it down. Repeat it, exchanging roles. (I am going to the movies. Do you want to go with me?)

WEEK 3 Grammar: Review of all ESL Level I structures Activities: · Describe the various seasons and holidays and what occurs at each one. · Make up a story from a picture from Time or People. · Ask the student about his or her plans for the future (e.g. career, family, education).

WEEK 4 Grammar: Comparison of adjectives including irregulars (e.g. good/better, bad/worst); superlative Activities: · Create scenarios and ask the student how whe would feel in those situations. · Go through Time and identify pictures. Try to speak in complete sentences. · Superlatives from Azar grammar book. Look around the room and using superlatives, compare things in the room.

WEEK 5 Grammar: Simple present passive voice; modals should/might Activities: · Go through a newspaper and describe different functions of the media. · Practice telephone conversation. · Create different scenarios and ask the student what he would do (e/g/ getting a drivers license, seeing a doctor, going shopping).

12 WEEK 6 Grammar: Pronouns (relative, object, reflexive) Activities: · Discuss views on the ideas behind an article in Time or Life · I Spy: Point to something and describe it, practicing description words (e.g. shades of color). · Bring pictures of family, friends, home, etc. Have the student create sentences about the pictures.

WEEK 7 Grammar: Past and active participles (regular and irregular) Activities: · Create a timeline of the students life that includes important events and their dates. · Look through one of the magazines and summarize the important events of an article · Play a game of Mad Libs.

WEEK 8 Grammar: Compound nouns; the words, too, very, and enough Activities: · Take a magazine and go over the advertisements in the magazine · Make flashcards with nouns and see how many can be combined to form a compound noun. · Play a game of Scrabble with the goal of creating compound nouns

WEEK 9 Grammar: Infinitives vs. participles after verbs; invitational would like; if clauses Activities: · Discuss different ways of asking for something (i.e. different levels of politeness) · Write down beginnings to sentences. Have student finish them · Create different hypothetical questions. Have the student answer them (e.g. What would you do if you won the lottery?)

WEEK 10 Grammar: Past continuous; present perfect Activities: · Give your student a list of words and ask him to make a story out of them. · Read transcriptions from the TOEFL listening comprehension section in the back of the TOEFL book. Slow down or repeat as necessary, adjusting to his level. Have him answer accompanying questions · Impromptu speech or storytelling.

13 ESL LEVEL III SAMPLE CURRICULUM

WEEK 1: REVIEW OF TENSES

Activity: An idea would be to start with the verb to be, which is outlined in many of our grammar books such as Azar. Move on to other verbs, emphasizing basic patterns (e.g. I dance, you dance, he dances, etc.) and irregular ones as well. Make sure to cover the general forms for past, present, and future, and try your hand at perfect/imperfect tenses if your tutee seems up for it.

Discussion Topic: Giving directions

Have your tutee give your directions on how to get to a certain location. This location could be the bathroom, the corner store, or even downtown Boston. This is a particularly challenging exercise as it will make your tutee use both his English and memory skills.

WEEK 2: REVIEW OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Activity: Emphasize the fact that adjectives describe nouns and that adverbs describe verbs. You should introduce the technique of converting adjectives into adverbs and vice-versa (quick <> quickly, dangerous<>dangerously, etc.). Give your tutee a set of nouns and verbs, and have him make sentences out of words from the list. The catch is that he has to modify every noun and verb he uses with an adjective and adverb, respectively.

Discussion Topic: Emergencies

Simulate a telephone conversation in which your tutee is seeking help for a friend who has swallowed poison. Vary the nature of the emergency (e.g. fire, robber, etc.). Give your tutee a detailed model of what he should saw when talking to a 911 operator.

WEEK 3: REVIEW OF PRONOUNS/POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

ActivitY: To emphasize the importance of pronouns, speak to your tutee without using this grammatical advice (e.g. My mother loves my father. When my father wants a beer, my mother opens a beer for my father.) Then speak to your tutee using pronouns to show him how less cumbersome it is (e.g. My mother loves my father. When he wants a beer, she opens it for him.) Make sure your tutee speaks to you without, then with, pronouns. Make sure your tutee understands the significance of possessive adjectives such as my or your.

14 Discussion Topic: Ordering from a menu

WEEK 4: REVIEW OF QUANTIFIERS AND COMPARISONS, SUPERLATIVES

ActivitY: Make sure your tutee can make comparisons between quantifiable things (e.g. He is taller than her. I have less money than you.) Prepare a list of pairs of objects (school bus/go-cart, apple/banana). Have your tutee make as many comparisons between the pairs of objects as he can (Apples are harder than bananas. Bananas taste better than bananas.). Look at the Azar book for treatment of superlatives (e.g. the best, the tallest). Look around the room and using superlatives, compare things in the room.

Discussion Topic: Reading instructions on a bottle of medicine.

WEEK 5: MODALS

ActivitY: Make sure your tutee understands the modals may, can, and should. Have a list of situations prepared for your tutee. One such situation might be that your tutee is very thirsty and there is someone holding a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. To each situation, have your tutee ask a question which uses one of the modals taught.

Discussion Topic: Leaving a message on the answering machine

WEEK 6: INFINITIVES AND GERUNDS

ActivitY: Use the Azar grammar book. Explain to your tutee that the infinitive form of virtually all verbs can follow the properly conjugated form of certain other verbs (e.g. I have to sing, I have to go, I have to study). Explain the use of gerunds (e.g. I am walking). It is difficult to explain these grammatical concepts to someone who has never been exposed to them. Just remember to teach your students these concepts in a patterned way (e.g. I am walking, I am talking, I am shouting).

Discussion Topic: American Politics

WEEK 7: CAUSATIVES MAKE, HAVE, GET

ActivitY: A good way to teach this concept is to have the students write down behaviors that they dont normally like to do (e.g. dressing up). Ask them under what conditions they would do those behaviors (e.g. were having friends visit us and my mother asks me to). Put the two phrases together to make one sentence (e.g. My mother makes me dress up when we have friends visiting).

Discussion Topic: Reading instructions on a bottle of medicine.

15 WEEK 8: RELATIVE PRONOUNS AND SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

ActivitY: Construct several paragraphs using sentences that contain only single, principal sentences (e.g. My mother went to the store. The store was on the corner of Cannon and Emerald streets. She bought a box of Cornflakes. The cornflakes were sitting on the top shelf). Have your tutee rewrite the paragraph using relative pronouns (e.g. My mother went to the store that was on the corner and Cannon and Emerald streets. She bought a box of Cornflakes that was sitting on the top shelf).

Discussion Topic: Poetry.

WEEK 9: THE PASSIVE VOICE

ActivitY: Prepare a set of sentence pairs that differ in the nature of their voices (active vs. passive) but whose contents are similar (e.g. I kicked the ball vs. The ball was kicked by me.) Have your tutee explain the difference between the two forms. Then have your student write a paragraph on a topic of his choice entirely in the active, and then entirely in the passive.

Discussion Topic: Sports.

WEEK 10: THE CONDITIONAL

ActivitY: Teach your student basic conditional forms. Have sure they know how to use if (If I win a million dollars...) and would (I would send my son to Harvard). Students should also know how to use conditionals in bot the present and past tenses.

Discussion Topic: Plans for the future.

16 ESL LEVEL IV SAMPLE CURRICULUM

WEEK 1 Grammar: Review of all ESL Level 1,2,3 structures Activities: · Go through all of the grammar covered in previous levels and work on the ones with which your student is having difficulty.

WEEK 2 Grammar: Past perfect Activities: · Give your student a list of words and ask him to make a story out of them. · Read transcriptions from TOEFL listening comprehension section in the back of the TOEFL book. · Impromptu speech or storytelling

WEEK 3 Grammar: Who vs. whom Activities: · Bring pictures of family and friends. Have the student create sentences about the pictures. · Look though a People magazine and summarize the main points of one of the articles that deals with a popular figure. · Explain some of the differences between written English and the English many people use (e.g. who/ whom is used in writing, but many Americans dont use whom when speaking).

WEEK 4 Grammar: Negative adverbs: hardly, barely, scarcely, rarely Activities: · Have the student write down rare events and afterwards describe what happens when those events occur (e.g. It rarely snows in May, but when it does...). Discuss why certain events are rare. · Do the find-the-error-in-the-sentences exercises in TOEFL books. · Create different hypothetical questions. Have the student answer them. (What would you do if you won the lottery?)

WEEK 5 Grammar: Noun clauses as subject of a sentence Activities: · Read through one of the articles in the magazines and circle all of the noun clauses. Summarize the article. · Write a letter to anyone you want. Pay close attention to the differences between business letters

17 and friendly letters. · Boggle game. Shake letter cubes in a container; let them settle into the grid; try to form words of three or more letters in a connected chain.

WEEK 6 Grammar: Gerunds with possessive modifier Activities: · Busy Day. Describe various activities that the student does throughout the day and the reasons for doing them (e.g. My studying math during school helps me balance my checkbook.) · Write a resume. · Give the student a list of words and have him write a story out of them.

WEEK 7 Grammar: Past participle vs. present participle Activities: · Pretend to be a spy that is describing the actions of an important person, using the present participle. · Look at People magazine. · Pretend to be a historian that is writing about a famous historical figure; use the past participle. · Read through the editorial section of a newspaper. Discuss your and the students reactions to the articles.

WEEK 8 Grammar: Conjunctions (and, but, or, it...then, etc.) Activities: · Write out sentences with the conjunctions missing. Have the student fill in the right conjunction. · Listen to part of a TOEFL tape and answer the accompanying sections.

WEEK 9 Grammar: Correct pronoun form after than Activities: · Look through People magazine and make comparisons between different people (e.g. I would rather talk to him than her.) · Discuss views on the ideas behind an article in Time. · Compare different advertisements and ask the student what he would prefer to buy and why.

WEEK 10 Grammar: Suffixes and prefixes Activities:Activities: · Look through a list of different verbs and decide which prefixes can go with which words · Play a game of Scrabble. words which use prefixes or suffixes are doubled in score. · Write out a story out of the different words that were generated in the Scrabble game.

18 TOEFL PREPARATION What is the TOEFL?

The TOEFL program provides English proficiency testing services for international students planning to study in the United States, Canada, or other countries where English is the language of instruction.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) measures the ability of nonnative speakers of English to use and understand North American English as it is used in college and university settings. Scores on the test are required by more than 4,300 two- and four- year colleges and universities, professional schools, and sponsoring institutions. The test is offered on computer throughout most regions of the world.

TOEFL consists of 4 sections plus a computer tutorial and a 5 minute break, all of which take 3.5-4 hours. The tutorial has no time limit and teaches the test taker the computer skills need to take the examination. The four sections are:

-Listening (40-60 mins, 30-50 questions). Have visuals. Scratch paper or notes not allowed. -Structure (15-20 mins, 20-25 questions). Scratchpaper and notes not allowed *5 minute break* -Reading (70-90 mins, 44-55 questions). Need to scroll on computer screen to read passages and answer questions. -Writing (30 mins, 1 topic). Option to type or handwrite

The Listening and Structure sections are computer adaptive, which means the computer scores each question before selecting the next one. For example, if you miss questions it will give an easier question next (so it is crucial to get the first few easier questions right). This also means that you cant skip questions and come back to them later.

You can download a Computer Testing Demo at http://www.ets.org/cbt/cbtdemo.html

Random guessing generally hurts the score- best to pace yourself

19 How to Prepare for the TOEFL

Listening Comprehension ¨ Transcripts for the listening comprehension model tests are in the back of the TOEFL books. Read them to the student and have him answer the accompanying questions. ¨ The people in the actual tapes of the transcript speak at a normal pace! Dont overenunciate or go too slowly. Use the tapes once in a while so that your tutee gets used to the speed and different voices. ¨ Writing is not permitted while the tape is being played.

Grammar/Structure ¨ This is tested using complete-the-sentence and find- the-error-in-the-sentence. ¨ The grammar section in the TOEFL book is broken down by categories of error in sentence structure, such as problems with main verbs, etc. ¨ Brief review of grammar is provided also. For more specific exercises, cross reference with a grammar book like Azar. Some things need to be memorized. Assign them for homework instead of swimming through every example, but be sure to reinforce it. ¨ Always have the student reapply a concept you have just taught him by asking him to make up a sentence using the concept.

Reading Comprehension/Vocabulary ¨ Do a couple of reading passages a week from the TOEFL book or the TOEFL Exercises book. ¨ For vocabulary there is a book that groups key TOEFL words into mini-lessons with exercises that follow. ¨ Review key techniques like underlining, reading the questions before you read the passage, and skimming the first line of each paragraph. - See Sample ESL curriculum ideas and other resources for more ideas. Choose about 5-10 questions testing essential words from the vocabulary section in the model -TOEFL tests. Have the student add them to his personal vocabulary list. - Always add to your list every week. - Unless your student is really gung ho about vocabulary lists, avoid assigning long lists, but focus on words from reading passages instead. - Try to use the words and repeat them in succeeding weeks.

20 SAMPLE WORKSHEET READING COMPREHENSION

Mary and Diane are best friends. They look very much alike. They are both 13 years old, have long, brown hair, like to eat carrots and strawberries, and like to play with their dogs. One day, when Mary and Diane were chasing the dogs at the park, they saw two boys, Steven and Paul. Steven and Paul were also best friends, and they were playing basketball. Steven thought that Mary was very pretty, and Paul thought that Diane was very pretty also. The boys decided to catch the girls attention by showing off their basketball skills. They began to run around the basketball court while looking out of the corners of their eyes to see if Mary and Diane were watching them. Mary and Diane both knew that the boys liked them, and they whispered and giggled over how silly the boys looked. Finally, the boys were exhausted and sat down to rest. The two dogs ran up to the boys and licked their hands. Mary and Diane shouted, Come here! Come one, lets go! They even whistled and waved their arms, but the dogs didnt listen. Finally, Mary and Diane came over to where Steven and Paul were sitting to get their dogs. Soon, all four of them became friends and went to go eat ice cream.

1) How old are Mary and Diane?

2) What do they like to eat?

3) What were Steven and Paul doing at the park?

4) How did the boys try to catch the girls attention?

5) Why did the girls giggle and whisper?

6) What did the girls do to try to get the boys to come to them?

7) Why did the girls finally come over to the boys?

8) What happened after the girls came over to the boys?

21 SAMPLE WORKSHEET PAST/FUTURE TENSE

Word list: make die cry find do help is understand read have

1) Next week, I ______my mom cook dinner by washing the lettuce and chopping onions.

2) I ______all of my science homework two hours ago.

3) The teacher says that the class ______this book next month.

4) My friend is so unhappy because his dog ______in a car accident.

5) My sister ______all night because she got into an argument with her best friends yesterday at school.

6) To my surprise, I ______everything the teacher taught me today. I didnt even have to ask any questions like I usually do.

7) Robert ______to perform in the play next weekend as an evil villain.

8) When my family went to the beach last Saturday, I ______many seashells in the sand.

9) Although I was extremely exhausted, I ______myself brush my teeth and wash my face before going to bed.

10) I just realized that I ______not turn off the light inside my room before going to school today.

22 SAMPLE WORKSHEET AND & BUT

1) The teachers ______the students went to the assembly together.

2) The boys liked to play basketball, ______the girls would rather play soccer.

3) Jennifer is in the 11th grade ______she has many friends in the 12th grade.

4) When my family went to the movies yesterday night, my mom cried ______so did my brother.

5) I would love to go to dinner and the beach with you, ______I have too much chemistry and history homework to finish this weekend.

6) The mysteries of calculus ______astronomy will on day be solved when I study them in college.

7) My ankle was sprained from last weeks soccer practice, ______I still managed to score five goals in todays game.

8) Richard is a surgeon ______Christina is a nurse at the hospital.

9) Will my cousin fly to Boston from Texas ______stay here for three weeks with me?

10) I forgot there was a math test today ______I did well on it anyway.

23 SAMPLE WORKSHEET WHATS WRONG?

1) The child have many toys because the parents spoils him too much?

2) Will you come with me to by some shampoo and milk?

3) He says to me last nihgt, Dont drank and drive because it is dangorous.

4) In the horror movie, the monster opened its mouth and swallowed the entire cities.

5) No matter how much you studdy, it will never be enough if you do concentrate.

6) The governer of Massachusetts is an extremely busy and important man.

7) For my brothers birthday I gave him a leather jacket a pair of brown Nike shoes and a thirty dollars gift certificate to Macys.

8) Dont try to fool me! I no youre tricking me and making me pay four more than my share of the food bill.

9) By reading page buy page, I eventually learnd how to put my bicyle togethur all by me.

10) When will the plain fligth arrive in new york city?

24 THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA

Background: Colombia is a republic located in the northwestern corner of South America. Its population numbers nearly 40 million 60% are mestizo, 20% are white, and 15% are mulatto. The territory won its independence from Spain in 1810, and received its borders 20 years later when Gran Colombia collapsed to create three new countries: Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia.

Political Turmoil: Colombia continues to suffer the worlds highest number of politically motivated killings and kidnappings. An insurgent campaign to overthrow the Colombian Government has plagued the nation for over 40 years, although violence has escalated drastically within the past decade. Left-wing guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitary organizations, and the Colombian armed forces, narco-traffickers and other criminal elements all participate in Colombias bloodshed. Paramilitary groups forge alliances with wealthy landowners and drug barons in return for protection against guerrilla activities, while landowners and entrepreneurs profit from the flight of peasant farmers, whose land they are able to purchase at a minimal cost. The two largest insurgent groups active in Colombia are the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Although the movement has kept large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence, the movement lacks the military strength and popular support necessary to actually succeed in overthrowing the government.

Economic Woes: Colombia faced its most recent depression in 1999, when GDP fell by about 5% and unemployment climbed to a devastating 20%. Although economic forecasts predict moderate growth under President Pastranas administration which will lower interest rates, reduce inflation, rectify the countrys financial system, and improve the public sectors fiscal solvency as part of its loan agreement with the IMF many obstacles to sustainable growth loom ahead. Unemployment remains extremely high, and extreme income distribution inequality continues to afflict the population. 1992 figures showed 17.7% of the population well below the poverty line. Growth remains stymied by foreign inves- tors reluctance to invest in a country shaken by violent negotiations, an imminent decline in oil production, and the natural disasters and depreciation that have tormented coffee growers.

Refugee Situation: Violence in Colombia has left upwards of 2.1 million civilians internally displaced since 1985, and more than 1 million Colombians have fled to other countries as refugees or migrants since 1996. 25% of these immigrants left just last year an indication of the escalating conflict and desperation found in Colombia. Most of the displaced population is composed of Afro-Colombian or indigenous farmers and residents of small, rural towns. An

25 estimated 45% of the displaced population are children ages 14 or younger. More than three- quarters of displaced children do not attend school, and two-thirds of uprooted households lack access to health services. While most of these displaced peoples are uprooted from their homes due to violent conflict between guerrillas and paramilitaries, many leave as a result of an U.S.-funded aerial fumigation of coca crops that rendered their land unusable.

Colombian desplazados tend to flee in small and unobtrusive family groups. According to a recent article in Le Monde, people flee silently, individually and almost shamefully. Most migrants initially flee to growing shantytowns on the outskirts of Colombias largest cities, where they face poverty as well as persistent danger. While living in fear of reprisals and harassment from the security services, paramilitary and guerrilla groups, many of the internally displaced also lack legal documentation, rendering them without full access to civic and political rights. Many are unable or unwilling to leave the country, due to the militarization of the border, and natural obstacles to flight: rivers, moun- tains and jungles. Those who do succeed in fleeing An internal refugee carries water back to his home. often seek refuge in Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Europe or the United States. Displaced Colombians remain in danger even after seeking refuge, as evidenced by numerous massacres, assassinations, and campaigns of terror against local leaders, humanitarian aid workers, and displaced persons. Hundreds of Colombian refugees who sought safety in Venezu- ela last year were pushed back into their country by Venezuelan authorities.

Columbian refugees in Boston mostly live in the vicinity of the Maverick T- station. Most of RYTEs Columbian students attend East Boston High School.

Sources: World Refugee Survey 2001, CIA World Fact Book. For more information: http://www.refugees.org/news/ crisis/colombia.htm, http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/ U.S.-trained Colombian military forces engage in an assault against drug pub/state/97/box3_2.htm traffickers as part of Plan Colombia. The $1.4 billion plan includes funds for the army, for aerial fumigation of drug crops, and for social programs.

26 SUDAN

Background: The Republic of Sudan is the largest country of the African continent, comprising a total area of 2,505,800 square kilometers (967,490 square miles). Sudans population consists of Arabs often of mixed ancestry residing in the north and black ethnic African groups (including the Azande, Dilla, Nuer, and Shilluk) living in the South. Northern Sudan is also inhabited by other ethnic groups, including the Beja, Jamala, and Nubian. Approximately 70 percent of Sudanese adhere to Sunni Islam, with most Muslims living in northern Sudan. Most of the residents in southern Sudan either follow indigenous beliefs and traditional religions (25 percent of the national population) or practice Christianity (nearly five percent). Although English is widely spoken across the country, Arabic is the official language of Sudan. Moreover, other African languages and dialects, such as Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, are often utilized in the south. However, a program of Arabization has been implemented to encourage greater use of Arabic in the southern regions of the country.

Decades of Civil Strife: Racial, reli- gious, cultural and political disparities amongst Sudans northern and southern populations have plunged the nation into a protracted civil war since 1983. An estimated two million Sudanese have perished in the conflict, and an additional four million have been internally displaced, constituting the largest internally displaced population in the world. In fact, nearly two million Sudanese who had hitherto lived in the south have either fled the country or migrated northward to Khartoum, the capital and nations largest city. The conflict has been precipitated by insurgent demands for political autonomy within Sudan. Some extremists have even advocated for secession from Sudan and the formation of an autonomous country in the south. In a concerted effort to attain these objectives, the principal rebel organization, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), supported by its political counterpart, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), launched military campaigns in eastern Sudan. The current Sudanese government leaders staged a coup détat in 1989 to usurp power. Political authority vested in the National Islamic Front (NIF) has been severely abused, resulting in the armament of militia groups to attack both military and civilian targets in southern Sudan. The NIF uses income from Sudans oil fields to buy advanced bombers and other weaponry for the war in the South. In addition to launching air strikes against the civilian population, Sudanese government forces have thwarted humanitarian efforts to deliver relief aid to several locations. In 1998, the deadly combination of drought, aid blockage, and incessant warfare delivered a crushing blow to the civilian population: a devastating famine befell the Bahr el-Ghazal Province in the south, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people. Unfortunately, the conflict has only exacerbated, as evinced by intensified aerial bombardments conducted by the Sudanese government. According to a United Nations report, pro-government northern militias have abducted approximately 5,000 to 15,000 residents, primarily women and children, of Bahr el-

27 Ghazal during the past fifteen years. Many were sold into slavery.

Sudanese Refugees: During the civil war in southern Sudan, thousands of young children were separated from their parents and fled to Ethiopia, traversing more than 1,000 kilometers on foot during their odyssey. But during 1991 and 1992, these children were forcibly returned to Sudan. The children subsequently fled on foot to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya, with most dying along the way. According to the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, seven People wait for food in Tietkou, southern thousand [Sudanese children] have grown up in a system Sudan. Many walked for days to get here. of group care supervised by tribal elders or in informal foster care established in the refugee camp. With war in Sudan continuing, return to a homeland for these children and young adults could mean forced military conscription and/or other danger to their lives. In 1999, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State, referred approximately 3,800 Sudanese children and young adults from Kakuma Refugee Camp to the United States for refugee resettlement. Nearly all were male since female refugees were married off into the local population. Between November 2000 and September 2001, nearly 3,800 Sudanese refugees will be resettled in 28 states by ten resettlement agencies in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Along with providing them basic necessities, the agencies offer assistance to the refugees in connecting to social services, high school, and other education/training programs and job services for up to 90 days after arrival in the U.S. About a dozen Sudanese refugees live in the Boston area, specifically Jamaica Plain. They attend English High School.

Tips for tutors:

· Our Sudanese students speak Dinka. Since Dinka is an oral language, they had no experience with reading or writing prior to coming to learning English.

· Sudanese students are relatively recent arrivals, and are still at a basic English level.

· Sudanese have had particularly traumatic experiences. All of the students in our program are orphans, and saw many friends die during the journey to Kenya. They then spent nearly a decade in refugee camps before coming to the Some of Sudans Lost Boys on the long trek from Ethiopia to Kenya, a U.S. Be sensitive! trek that all of our Sudanese students made. Most of the boys who started from Ethiopia did not survive the trip.

28 HAITI

Background: The Republic of Haiti, found on the island of Hispanola, is one of the poorest nations in North and South America. With a population of approximately seven million people, Haiti is primarily black, with only 5% being white or mulatto. The average life expectancy is 49.83 years, taking into account the high prevalence of AIDS among the adult population (over 5% of the population is infected). The official languages are both French and Creole. Religions include Roman Catholic (80%), Protestant (16%: Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, and other 3%. In addition, one half of the population practices Voodoo. The is a literacy rate of 45%.

Political History: Haitians underwent nearly thirty years of a dictatorship followed by military rule. The dynasty led by Francois Papa Doc Duvalier resulted in much depletion of natural resources including the rich soil that had previously identified Haiti as the Gem of the Caribbean. The Tontons Macoutes, Duvaliers secret police, kept the lid on dissent. In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, representing the poor and working class, became elected as President, temporarily ending the military state. However, a military takeover in 1991 forced Aristide into exile. The military, facing an imminent U.S. invasion, yielded power back to Aristide in 1994. From 1994 to 1996 Aristide served as President and was succeeded by his close associate Rene Preval. However, the two eventually had a falling out. In 2000, Aristide was again elected president by 92% of the votes in an election held by necessity to assure continued funding from the US. However, opposition parties had boycotted the poll due to violence by pro-Aristide supporters in the runup to the election, violence which has continued since. The continued political violence has led other countries to suspend aid to Haiti, leaving the country even more impoverished and with an unemployment rate of over 65%.

Economic troubles: Haitis economic situation underlies much of the political unrest, for 80% of Haitians live in abject poverty. Nearly half the GDP comes from services, and yet 70% of the population uses agriculture as a means to survive. In other words, the majority of the goods and services being produced are done by a smaller percentage of the population. Most Haitians do simple subsistence farming, despite the very poor soil found on most of Haiti. There are very few trees, and the land was raped years ago of its nutrients. The agricultural attempts are not always successful, but Haitians rely on

29 neighbors and bartering to get living essentials. Thus, no elegant market is flourishing. But, Aristide is working to encourage growth. The GDP is growing at 1.2% a year, a modest but tangible figure. And, while there was a recently a fuel price hike of 40%, prices seem to have leveled off as the currency has gained stability.

Refugees: Haitian refugees have been sailing for America since the 1970s, but have had difficulty in winning refugee status. The fact that many Haitians came for economic rather than political reasons may have been influential, as was the fact that Haitis military government was a reliable American Cold Supporters of Jean-Baptiste Aristide take to War ally. Since Aristides return to power in 1994, the streets in March 2001 against opposition the U.S. has tried to support the government by politicians and their supporters. discouraging refugees from leaving Haiti. The U.S. Coast Guard often intercepts vessels headed for the mainland. However, as of 2000, there are at least 1 million Haitian refugees in the U.S. Many more Haitians apply for asylum than are accepted by the US government, but there is still a strong outflow from the country to not only the U.S. but to the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and Venezuela. About 60,000 Haitians currently live in Boston. They are spread throughout the Boston area, but most of our Haitian students live in Dorchester and attend Chelsea or South Boston High school.

Tips for tutors: The U.S. Coast Guard rescues Haitian boat people in 1993. · Native language: Creole. Many students also speak French.

· Most of our Haitian students speak English at least moderately well. Some are nearly fluent.

· Reading skills, on the other hand, vary greatly, although nearly all our Haitian students have at least basic English reading skills. Some students can even read at a moderate to advanced level, but some students have only basic reading skills.

Sources: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/ factbook/geos/ha.html#Intro http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/ amer_carib/haiti.htm http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/pub/state/97/ box5_4.htm

30 VIETNAM

Background: Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia with a population of 80 million. France nominally granted Vietnam independence in 1945. But the French were determined to maintain control and installed a puppet figure, leading to warfare with Vietminh forces led by Ho Chi Minh which ended in a French defeat in 1954. The country was split into two zones, South and North Vietnam, with the South assisted by the United States and led by Ngo Diem, and the North ruled by Minh. Reunification elections scheduled for 1956 were never held, and warfare soon broke out between the two sides, with the U.S. militarily intervening in 1965. Mounting casualties forced the U.S. to withdraw by 1973, and South Vietnam fell two years later. Three million Vietnamese were killed in the war. The aftereffects of the war linger today, in that Vietnam is one of the poorest countries of the world and remains a Communist dictatorship. Even today, nearly 40% of Vietnamese are below the poverty line. However, literacy rates are over 90%, a reflection of the importance given to education in Vietnam.

Refugee History: The growing number of Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. is due primarily to US military involvement in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. The first wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived immediately after South Vietnam (which had been supported by the US) fell to North Vietnam in 1975. This wave was composed primarily of South Vietnamese government officials and members of the Vietnamese elite who were either included in the American airlift out of could arrange their own flight. For years after the airlift, Vietnamese continued to flee their country, traveling in overcrowded, leaky boats to neighboring countries. This exodus continued through the 1980s for several reasons, including political repression, economic difficulties, and constant warfare. Since 1990, the majority of Vietnamese refugees have been political prisoners and their families; others come through family reunification programs and join other family members already abroad. Currently, 1.2 million people of Vietnamese origin live in the United States. The experience of these refugees has been varied. Some experienced long stays at refugee camps in Southeast Asia before arriving in the US. Still others were directly admitted through governmental programs. While many came with families or to be reunited with family members already here, others arrived without any connections. Private agencies contracted by the government were mainly responsible for placing refugees in the later years of immigration. Most found themselves members of a refugee community, where Vietnamese cultural tradition remained strong. These communities for the most part have flourished, despite being located in lower income areas with less desirable schools. Todays Vietnamese refugees are less likely to drop out of school than their teenage counterparts of other ethnic backgrounds. Often because of the struggles their parents and family remember and because of low socio-economic status, they feel an extraordinary pressure to succeed. There are negative

31 trends as well, however. Vietnamese youth are more likely to be institutionalized than other Asian counterparts and indeed most ethnic groups in the US. The poverty rate among Vietnamese nationwide is 24%. Many of the refugees currently in the Boston area live in Dorchester, particularly concentrated around Fields Corner and Savin Hill. The approximate number of Vietnamese residents there exceeds 10,000, mostly refugees or children of refugees. Dorchester is an area of Boston that has seen many problems over the years. There is much economic distress. 26% of residents live below the poverty line, U.S. troops burn an enemy-controlled South Vietnamese as opposed to the 19% who live below the village in March 1968. poverty line in Boston as a whole. The majority of Vietnamese refugees attend either Chelsea High School or South Boston High School. Boston High School has a Vietnamese bilingual program for its refugee population.

Teaching issues:

· Native language: Vietnamese. Vietnamese is a tonal language with a simple grammatical structure. The written form of Vietnamese is a modified version of the Roman alphabet.

· Vietnamese students tend to be more quiet and reserved. Part of this stems from the respect given to elders (including teachers) in their culture.

· This respect, however, sometimes translates into shyness about telling their teacher that they do not understand what he or she is saying. Just asking, Do you understand? is not enough; teachers should ask questions to test that understanding.

· While learning English they tend to be better at writing and reading, and they learn grammar and vocabulary very quickly. On the other hand, they tend to have difficulty speaking and are hesitant to attempt verbalization.

· Something to pay attention to is that in pronouncing words, Vietnamese students often leave off the final sounds Vietnamese refugees pose in the boat that took them to Thailand. of words.

32 KOSOVO

Political History: The collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s precipitated the worst crisis in Europe since the end of World War II. A decade of upheaval produced political chaos throughout the Balkan region, wars which at one pointed involved not only local antagonists but also the worlds major military powers, the flight of millions of civilians and a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing not witnessed since the dark days of the Nazi era. Organizations such as UNHCR were at times almost overwhelmed by a series of virtual back-to-back crises throughout the 1990s, but the humanitarian operation undoubtedly helped to save entire populations from ethnic cleansing. At the height of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s, nearly three million people fled their homes. The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement was supposed to bring peace to the Balkans. But in 1999, the Serbian government began waging war on the civilians of Kosovo, in response to demands for autonomy. This created an immense refugee crisis.

Refugee Issues: In 1999, nearly one million people fled or were forcibly evicted from the Yugoslav province of Kosovo as NATO warplanes launched an air campaign against Serbian forces there. The majority of Kosovar refugees had returned to their towns by the end of the year in a stunning reversal of the fortunes of war. In Bosnia, 660,000 people had gone home and a multi-billion dollar reconstruction program had been undertaken.

But as the old century ended, despite progress in these areas, major problems remained and the entire region faced an uncertain future.

As many as two million people remain uprooted. These include an estimated 1.2 million people internally displaced in their own countries, 600,000 refugees who found sanctuary in nearby states and another 200,000 refugees currently living outside the immediate area.

33 The return of people to their original homes where they would now be part of an ethnic minority has been particularly slow and trouble- some in the last few years. However, as the security situation and the political environment improved, more minorities returned in early 2000 than in previous years. Legislative and administrative reforms were approved, making it easier for returnees to reclaim their properties and some progress was made in reversing the wartime ethnic cleansing. But if those were all encouraging Kosovar Albanians refugees flee to Albania in the spring of signs, obstacles remained, including 1999. Many were able to later return. the opposition of some local leaders to the reintegration of civilians of other ethnic groups and ongoing difficulties in some areas to reclaiming old properties.

In Kosovo, the rapid return of hundreds of thousands of refugees was a major success. An international aid program helped them and other internally displaced persons to survive the bitter winter months. But those successes were tempered by yet another crisis when 210,000 Serbs, Roma and other non-Albanians fled in advance of the returning Albanians or were later forced to leave Kosovo, principally for other parts of the rump Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Their eventual return will be a key challenge for UNHCR in the near future. Their arrival only added to the crisis facing the Belgrade government, already politically isolated, under crippling sanctions and recovering from the NATO air campaign. It was already hosting a half million refugees from the earlier Balkan wars, and together the refugees and internally displaced formed the largest group of uprooted peoples in Europe.

Tips for Tutors:

· Native language: Kosovar Albanian (nearly identical to Albanian spoken in Albania)

· Kosovar Albanian is closer to English than most native languages of students in the RYTE program, (i.e, they use Roman alphabet). Therefore, Kosovars tend to learn English relatively quickly.

· Most of the Kosovar Albanian students would have arrived during the summer of 1999; as a result, they tend to be in the upper levels of ESL or in regular English programs.

· The oral English skills of Kosovar Albanians tend to develop more quickly than their written skills.

· Many of our Kosovar Albanian students have witnessed some terrible tragedies (some have even been members of the Kosovo Liberation Army). So, remember to be sensitive about what you say, especially if you talk about conflict, war, or ask them about their homeland.

· Most Kosovar Albanians are Muslim. However, they are generally not as observant as our other Muslim students.

34 SOMALIA

Background: Somalia occupies the Horn of Africa on the eastern coast of Africa near the entrance to the Red Sea. An estimated 7.4 million people remain in Somalia today, over 85% of whom are ethnic Somali. Nearly all Somalis are Muslim. Somalia remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimate GDP per capita of $600 and a literacy rate of 24%.. The country lacked a government from 1991 until 2000, when a coalition of tribal leaders established a new government. This new government is rejected by many warlords, however, who continue to occasionally attack government-controlled areas.

Refugee Issues: The overthrow of Somali President Siyad Barres regime in January, 1991 set off fights among the 16 rival factions in Somalia. The wars between clans and the prolonged drought have forced more than 900,000 Somalis to flee to neighboring countries. Around 400,000 of them, many of whom in a serious state of exhaustion and starvation, took refuge in Kenya. After Kenya began limiting the number of refugees, Somalis began fleeing to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has begun setting up camps within Somali territory to alleviate the strain on neighboring countries. However, some 285,000 Somali refugees remain in Ethiopia, 131,000 in Kenya, 20,000 in Djibouti and 10,000 in Yemen. The UN is presently conducting a voluntary repatriation program by land, air and sea, to the regions in the north and south of Somalia where a relative peace prevails. In 1995, sporadic fighting in the northwestern region has led to a repatriation operation from Ethiopia being suspended. With the improvement of the situation in the region, the UN has begun the repatriation of refugees as a pilot program. Between Febru- ary and March 1997, 2,600 Somali refugees were repatriated from Ethiopia. Negotiations are in progress to repatriate another group of 8,450 Somalis from Libya.

Many Somalis have been coming to Scandanavia, Western Europe, and North America to settle permanently. In North America, most settle in Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and Minneapolis. Boston has an estimated Somali population of 3,000. Our Somali students live in Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, and attend English High School.

35 Tips for Tutors:

· Somali is the main language spoken in Somalia.

· Many Somalis have a knack for language. Some of them have oral and written knowledge of Somali, Arabic, and English upon arrival to the U.S. Others, however, may have never learned to write in ANY language.

· Somali is a language very different from English. You might not have ever heard some of the sounds that Somali uses.

· The War in Somalia began in 1991. Yet some of our students came to the U.S. only this year. This means that some of students may have been in refugee camps in Ethiopia or Kenya for ten years. Some of the camps had less than adequate or no schooling. Ten years of interrupted schooling is clearly an impediment to learning. Bear this in mind. If your student takes a long time to learn a concept, DO NOT assume that they are slow. They may be simply re-adjusting to a learning atmosphere.

· The oral English skills of Somalis tend to develop more quickly than their written skills.

· Many of our students are very devout Muslims--for example, one of our former tutees kept the Ramadan fast even during track season. As Muslims pray 5 times a day at ordained times, you may have to take a break from tutoring to allow your student the time to pray.

· Many of our students will not want to have physical contact with members of the opposite sex. (This includes handshakes!!!)

An aerial view of a refugee camp near the Somali border in Kenya.

36 37 RYTE ROLE-PLAY LESSONS These lessons are based on mistakes that we have noticed that tutors frequently make.

1. DO NOT BE LATE.

When you agree to tutor a student, you take on a special role in the students life that demands responsibility of even the most irresponsible people. If you are late, it indicates that you do not care about the relationship you are trying to build. It also sends the wrong message, and you might find your student turning up late. Needless to say, showing up is the fundamental requirement of RYTE. If you know you will not be able to attend a tutoring session, contact your student at least two days in advance and a RYTE officer / day coordinator one day in advance. Reschedule with your student when possible.

2. BE CONSCIOUS OF PERSONAL CONTACT ISSUES.

Some cultures are very conscious of contact between opposite sexes, to the extent that offering your hand to your student might be an inappropriate gesture (obviously, hugs and even more dramatic greetings would also be inappropriate). It is always good policy to follow the lead of your student, because as your relationship progresses, your student will become more comfortable with you, but in general, do not assume anything about personal contact.

3. DO NOT RUSH INTO WORK WITHOUT SOME TIME FOR INTRODUCTIONS, ETC.

Not only is it a good idea to get a little more comfortable with each other before beginning a lesson, to ease whatever awkwardness there is at first, but an important part of the RYTE experience is sharing yourselves-experiences, thoughts, and hopes-with each other and finding common ground. Helping our students to assimilate into American culture, another goal of RYTE, can in part be met by informal conversations about weekend activities and general chitchat.

4. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOUR STUDENT WANTS TO ACCOMPLISH BUT KEEP THE STUDENT ON TRACK.

RYTE exists to help refugee youth get the preparation they need and want to succeed. Part of your challenge as a tutor will be deciding what your student needs and what he/she wants. Your student might bring in some math homework and want to work on that; even if you have labored to create a worksheet on grammar, you should respect the students choice. You are there for the student. On the other hand, you might notice over the course of a few weeks studying for the SATs that your student sorely needs help in verbal skills, but only wants to work on math, which she is already skilled in. You

38 have a responsibility to try and steer the course of study towards the verbal, if you can, and to explain the importance of both areas to doing well. It is a fine line, but you will find it.

5. DO NOT BE TOO LAX WITH YOUR TIME.

Although RYTE students are highly motivated, they are teenagers nonetheless and sometimes require you to be the motivator. Accordingly, if your student wants to get a drink of water or take a break, be firm with returning promptly and diving back in. While you may want to incorporate games into your lesson plan, you want your student to learn some concrete things each session.

6. DO NOT TALK TOO QUICKLY, TOO SLOWLY, TOO SOFTLY, OR TOO LOUDLY.

You must strike the right balance. Speak too quickly or softly, and your student will miss what you are saying (and may be too kind or shy to point it out); speak too slowly, and you may insult your student. And speaking loudly does not help someone understand English better.

7. REALIZE THAT SMILING AND NODDING DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN UNDERSTANDING.

When tutoring a student, do not assume he/she understands because of nods and smiles: make your student demonstrate understanding, either to you or someone else. Vietnamese students, especially, will seem to understand when they are completely in the dark.

8. LISTEN ATTENTIVELY.

Tutoring is not all fun and not a breeze every session; there are times when you will be bored or tired, but dont let your student know that! Checking your watch constantly, rolling your eyes, and yawning do not go unnoticed by your student.

9. WHEN TUTORING MORE THAN ONE STUDENT, BE CONSCIOUS OF BOTH STUDENTS.

If you are lucky enough to have more than one student, let them know how lucky you are by paying attention to both. If one is asleep, then you have done something wrong. Also, allowing them to work together, or having one explain something to another, can sometimes be very valuable.

10. DO NOT NITPICK.

Inevitably there will be pronunciation and grammatical problems, especially with recent immigrants. When a student is speaking or reading, do not stop and nitpick everything: it can be incredibly frustrating and counterproductive. Instead, concentrate on solving specific problems. If you do want to work on

39 pronunciation, let your student read for five minutes uninterrupted and then correct problems.

11. DO NOT ASK INSENSITIVE QUESTIONS.

Many refugee youth have had traumatic life experiences that we must take seriously at all times. Do not make light of their experience, ask insensitive questions about sensitive issues, or pry into family situations. They will come out if and when your student wants them to, and in that case, you can be a valuable friend and counselor. On the other hand, you want to show interest in your students background, so by all means find out about their culture and life.

12. JUST BECAUSE YOUR STUDENTS ENGLISH IS BASIC, DO NOT ASSUME HE/SHE IS UNINTELLIGENT.

This is basically self-explanatory. These students are almost as old as you, they may have had wonderful educations in their native countries, and in many cases it is only their English skills that are deficient. Do not insult them!

13. SMILE A LOT AND BE ENCOURAGING.

Show enthusiasm for and satisfaction with your students progress, however little. It is important for students of all ages to know that their teacher is happy with them, and they in turn will be spurred on.

14. DO NOT END ABRUPTLY.

Again, you have a responsibility to your student that does not end at the stroke of any hour. Staying after a lesson, being available by phone, or meeting at other times when necessary all send the message that you care about your students success.