A fascinating story about the kids in this Missouri elementary school. Some of them are African refugees and are struggling to fit into their new community. It is hard to teach children a new language when they can't read or write in their own language, but these teachers are managing, especially with art and music classes. DP
African refugee students at Grant Elementary bring new meaning to the phrase 'culture shock'
BY Morven McColluch, Jennifer Gordon, Katlin Chadwick
COLUMBIA — On a Monday morning in December, it takes a few minutes for the fifth-graders at Grant Elementary School to settle into art class. Today, they are finishing up their holiday cards for cancer patients.
Desire is focused, head low, working in great penciled detail on a drawing of houses and a road; he has already finished his holiday card with a watercolor snowman on the front. He briefly answers his neighbor's questions before returning to his picture. Drawing with pencil is his favorite.
Art is expressive, but for Desire — pronounced "De-SEER" — it is also the easiest form of communication. Iratubona Desire, called Desire by his classmates, is one of nine African refugees who attend Grant: Six come from Tanzania, two from Somalia and one from Rwanda. There are three others whose families fled Somalia but spent time in Yemen, in the Middle East, before coming to the U.S.
The 12 students at Grant reflect a growth in the number of African refugees in Columbia. In the past five years, Dan Murphy, the education and civics coordinator for Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbia, has enrolled about 50 African refugees in the Columbia Public School District. Students at Grant, like Desire, are using the language resources available, but are still struggling with full assimilation into American life. Additional methods, like art, can aid the process.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
1 comment:
Excellent article about my community! Many of these children's parents are my students and they are struggling along with their children.
One comment-Refugee Services does not put refugees in public housing, as the article says. They provide them with fully furnished apartments, bicycles and bus passes. Unfortunately, many of the families end up in public housing because of lack of transferable job and English skills that would enable them to find jobs. It's a tough road in so many ways.
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