In elementary classrooms, teaching immigration often begins and ends at Ellis Island--without discussions of racist migration policies or engagement with current issues. Although contemporary immigration is rarely discussed with elementary students, the number of young people from immigrant and/or refugee backgrounds in the U.S. continues to rise.…

Cambodian Americans are a fairly recent language minority group in the United States; most families arrived in the United States as refugees during the 1980s. Over the past 30 years, there has been great concern in the community regarding the maintenance loss of their native Khmer language. This article provides an historical and contemporary…

Between 1975 and 1987, 140,000 Cambodians arrived in the United States; most have settled in California. This handbook for teachers and administrators who work with Khmer students and their parents begins with an overview of Cambodian history, and pays special attention to events since the Communist takeover in 1975. The second chapter,…

This study investigates the settlement of Cambodian adolescents in New South Wales (Australia). It looks at their participation in education and employment, the effects the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia had on those who lived through it, and the identity problems that usually occur in young people as a result of migration. According to the 1986…

Basic information that teachers of English as a second language should know about Indochinese refugees, including the identification of different ethnic or regional groups and characteristics of four Indochinese languages, is presented. Indochinese refugees come from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The five major groups of people are unrelated…

The early 1980s saw an influx of Southeast Asian refugees from various demographic groups and backgrounds to Minnesota. As teachers, the author and her colleagues regularly added children from these groups to their classrooms, receiving little explanation of a student's history or language proficiency. To counteract increasing teacher resentment…

One of a series of refugee orientation materials, this guide to employment is intended to assist Khmer refugees in their understanding of the employment situation in the United States and to give them necessary information for obtaining work. The text is in Khmer followed by an English-language version, which is not an exact translation but which…

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide the American teacher or sponsor with information on the use, limitations and availability of dictionaries that can be used by Indochinese refugees. The introductory material contains descriptions of both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, a discussion of the inadequacies of bilingual dictionaries in…

This guide contains a list of hints for tutors of English as a Second Language who may be tutoring: (1) an adult needing to learn English in order to live and work in this country, or (2) a student needing to learn English in order to go to school. The list of hints is followed by sample lessons intended to show the kinds of things which can be…

The United States history supplement, one of a series of six high school instructional supplements designed for Indochinese students in American high schools, is written in Khmer and is intended to help students understand the regular textbook. Its content is adapted from a number of standard secondary textbooks, and consists of two parts: basic…

This guide lists academic resources in the United States which may assist educators working with Indochinese children. The institutions where teachers can obtain information and/or assistance are listed alphabetically by state. Under each institution is given the name of the department or program doing work in the following fields: (1)…

This paper is intended to provide information and suggestions that may be useful to the volunteer or professional teacher of English who is working with adult Indochinese refugees. In addition to offering general information on language teaching at the adult level, the guide provides information on the linguistic background of the refugees,…

This bulletin attempts to underscore the numerous school-related difficulties experienced by students whose dominant language is not English, and suggests steps that school administrators and teachers may take to alleviate the problems. Among the issues considered are: types of entering language behavior, possible problematic combinations of home…

In an effort to address both the interests of Khmer and Vietnamese refugee students and the experiences of refugees making the adjustment to life in the United States, the Galang Refugee Processing Center developed a social language unit to add to the curriculum. The unit is designed to teach students socially appropriate ways to make and…

This brief article discusses, in English, Vietnamese, and Cambodian, the best method for Indochinese refugees in the U.S. to learn to speak and understand English fluently. The grammar-translation method is not recommended. Instead, audiolingual methods are stressed, as well as constant oral practice, either with a teacher or native speaker.…