Innovative program in Minneapolis helps Somali children ease the transition to school

This very interesting article tells how Somali immigrant children are learning English in their school. Many of these middle-school kids have never been to school and don't know how to read their native language.    - - Donna Poisl

By Beth Hawkins

 A folk tale is a story that is passed on. One generation tells it to the next, which recounts it in turn to another. The process contains the germs of much: language, culture, identity, customs and relationships, among other things.

As the human brain develops, folktales — as well as nursery rhymes, songs and other forms of word play — allow it to both categorize all of the aforementioned things and to relate them to one another.

Earlier this week Stephany Jallo and Miriam Adam took turns reading a folktale to a group of Somali children who have been in the United States, with one exception, for less than six months. The teachers read the story, “Wiil Waal,” in English and Somali, respectively.
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