Phila. Summer Program Helps Refugees Conquer English

This program is helping immigrants learn English, including this teenager who has fled so many places, he is now learning his fifth language. Happily and with the help of all these new friends. DP

By Kristen A. Graham, The Philadelphia Inquirer

redorbit.com: First, Fareed Hamraqul and his family left Afghanistan, fleeing the Taliban for Uzbekistan in 1992. Then, five months ago, they left home amid more unrest, this time ending up in Philadelphia.

Hamraqul, who will be a junior at Northeast High School in September, now spends sweltering summer mornings soaking up his fifth language. The bright teen's English is halting, but his message is clear.

"Every day, students help me, teachers help me," Hamraqul said yesterday through a translator. "Thank God I am here."

Here is the Philadelphia School District's summer refugee program at Northeast, one of four around the city. It's a free, intense summer class designed for high school students who are new to the country or who want extra help with English.

For the last six years, many new immigrants have spent their summers learning English, making up credits, and working to feel more comfortable in an American classroom. The school district uses the word refugee loosely, and most often it is not referring to those who seek political asylum in the United States.

The stakes are high. Immigrant students tend to stay in school and graduate, said Ana Sainz de la Pena, who directs English as a Second Language and bilingual education for the district. By contrast, many American-born English language learners struggle and drop out.

More than 13,000 of the district's 167,000 students are not native English speakers, and the number has held steady, Sainz de la Pena said. While most schools have some English language learners, Northeast is a magnet for many immigrant groups, as is Washington High in the Northeast and Edison and Kensington elsewhere in the city.

In Uzbekistan, Hamraqul had to deal with not just the fallout from a peripatetic, violent early life, but also a system he couldn't understand.

"My brothers went to school, people made fun of them," he said. "My parents didn't learn Russian because there was no one to help."

Just a few months into his American experience, Hamraqul has been bolstered by his school experience, and has a plan. He wants to become fluent in English, earn his high school diploma, and study at community college, then a university. He wants to teach English to other immigrants. He dreams of being a family man.
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