Adult basic education and English as a second language teachers, as well as volunteer tutors, can help new refugees acquire functional English through the use of a survival kit. The Literacy Volunteers of America's guide to teaching conversational English recommends these items for a survival kit: a written copy of student's name, address, and telephone number, which is helpful in dealing with persons who may not understand his/her English; alphabet and number cards for teaching their names; price tags, sales slips, and newspaper ads to teach numbers and the use of money; coins and "play" bills to teach the value of coins and currency; a neighborhood or city map to help the student navigate; a list of clothing sizes of the student and his/her family; a cardboard or paper plate clock for teaching time; a calendar to learn days of week and months; a menu and bus schedule to help students learn to order food and use a metropolitan bus system; and pieces of colored construction paper to teach colors. Elaborations could include poker chips to learn the number system and a picture file to teach vocabulary. While survival kits initially require close supervision by an instructor, they can help new refugees learn the English they need every day, without a textbook and with inexpensive materials. (YLB)