Support your local refugee development efforts!

Diversity Day 2008
Thursday, May 15
Emily Griffith Opportunity School
1250 Welton St.
Denver
9:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Tour the World!

For one day each year, the crossroads of the world are at 12th and Welton Streets. Travel from room to room and visit exotic places you always wanted to see. Our school will be transformed to represent various areas of the world with food, pictures, music, dance, videos, and native dress. Students from these regions are eager to tell you about life in their countries.

Shop in the international market! Sample ethnic food along the way, or stay for a lunch of global cuisine! Enjoy a variety show featuring talent from around the globe! Get first-hand cultural perspectives in the Hall of Nations! Don't miss the dramatic flair of the parade of nations!

Come along for the tour--the world is waiting!

11:30 - 2:30
Sunday, May 18

Augustana Lutheran Church
5200 E. Alameda Ave.
Denver

From Bosnia to Zimbabwe, Global Market is a chance to celebrate, connect and learn from the diverse sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tales of the many cultures of the globe represented in Denver by a variety of refugee, asylee and immigrant communities. Entertainment, food, art, crafts, jewelry, fashion and more.

Latin Music• Hmong Dancers• Nepalese Dancers• AfricanDrumming &Dance
• Jewelry • Beading • Weaving • Handbags • Clothing • Wood Carvings • Batik Wall Hangings • Coffee Products • Henna • Wire Art

Denver Refugees Working to Learn to Earn

ECDC/The African Community Center owns and operates a thrift store near downtown Denver. Safari Seconds is staffed entirely by refugees. The store was started as a response to the need for a "work lab" where adult refugees could get hands-on job training in a newcomer-friendly environment.

A recent column in the Denver Post describes a typical day at the store. Click here to read the article.

Refugees in the news

No tidy answer to labor pinch

Thanks to volunteer Kirsten Wilson for passing along this story. It's from today's Denver Post, and the article discusses the issue of relocating Denver's Karen (Burmese) refugees to the San Luis Valley to take jobs in agricultural work.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8928935

Suddenly, Aurora!

I guess I should never say "never." Recently, I've received quite a few in-home tutor referrals for women in Aurora. Most live near Havana and Colfax, although there are a few others scattered throughout the east side of town.

If you're waiting for a student, and Aurora appeals to you as a tutoring location, just let me know and I'll get you set up!

Clueless about lesson planning??

In an earlier post I mentioned the excellent Website for Eastside Literacy's ESL Program. If you haven't yet seen their materials, take the time to check it out. Why reinvent the wheel? The site is exceptionally well organized, easy to navigate, and to the point. You will not get lost or overwhelmed as you read and print materials.

This information is everything we just couldn't fit in when you attended training. This is the information you are looking for!!!

• Start with the Lesson Planning reminders
• Check out the short but very useful list of Web resources and books
• Get answers to some commonly perplexing tutoring issues and some issues specific to ESL students
• Curriculum ideas by topic! Be sure to explore the links on the left as well as the helpful information on the right side of the screen. Includes worksheets!!!
• Practical English for every adult, also known as Equipped For the Future.
• All things work-related from looking for a job to moving up and moving on. Includes worksheets!
• Money! Budgeting! Yes! Yes! Lesson plans and support material available here.
• Teaching English using techniques for learning disabilities. Many of the things we do when working with our lowest-level language/literacy learners are the same things we do when addressing the needs of learning disabled students. Good, good material here!
• Look here for more techniques, but scroll down to "Teaching Techniques."

Assessment: Where am I going and how do I know when I'm there? I often field questions about how tutors can assess their students and what, exactly, students should be learning. In our program at school--as in many programs nationwide--we use a competency-based model. The state of Washington has a formalized criteria list for adult ESL (Colorado is working on one). Print out the charts and use them as your guide to lesson sequence and student progress.

• Listening/speaking
• Reading/writing

If you really dig into the materials on Eastside Literacy's site, you'll be an expert ESL tutor before you know it--and your student will be the competent communicator you had both hoped for.

A Bird's-Eye View of Refugee Matters

Google and UNHCR have teamed up to show the world a clearer view of refugee issues around the globe. Google Earth, Google's powerful goespatial mapping program, has been tagged with an extra layer of information detailing some of the places where refugees live. This includes camps, open areas, and urban situations.

Click here for a brief news article about the use of Google Earth to raise awareness of refugee issues: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/08/unitednations.sudan

To view the tour, you need to first download the Google Earth software onto your computer. Click the link to access the download and then click the large green button on the upper right part of the screen. http://earth.google.com/ Next, add the UNHCR layer by clicking here: http://www.unhcr.org/googleearth/UNHCR_Google_Project.kml

If you've never used Google Earth, take a few minutes to use the tutorials. Once you find yourself navigating the globe, activate the UNHC layer and spend some time visiting the world's refugee camps. It's quite educational.

Sorry for the inconvenience

Ouch. Your Volunteer Coordinator is battling through an outbreak of shingles. Who knew the human body could put itself into so much pain?

I'm going to try not to miss any work, especially since I was just out for spring break and then the TESOL conference; however, I'm going to try to do a lot of my work from home and I may be a bit slower than usual in getting things done.

Please bear with me. Thanks.

And, a public service announcement: If you are over 60, please, please get the shingles vaccination. It's not available to anyone under age 60, but if you qualify, just do it! This is a terrible, protracted illness that produces excruciating pain. Trust me, you don't want to come down with shingles.

Take care of yourselves.