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,…

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…

Asian Americans encounter barriers to mental health care, some of which are structural, whereas others may be cultural. Using data from a probability sample (N = 490) drawn from the largest Cambodian refugee community in the United States, the authors assessed the extent to which structural and cultural barriers were experienced. Surprisingly, a…

Because of the lack of research on the Khmer people in the United States, and because the Khmer have arrived here so recently, this paper describes itself as "less a state of the art analysis of Khmer resettlement and more of a speculation on their condition calling for more research." After an introductory section, the paper describes the two…

Three Southeast Asian teachers, one from Vietnam, one from Cambodia, and one from Thailand, develop curriculum materials for native language instruction for students in Project LOWELL, the Lowell (MA) Public Schools transitional program for limited English speaking Asian refugee children. Their duties and the importance of them are discussed. (PS)

Teachers must be sensitive to the diverse cultures and the sometimes difficult personal experiences of Southeast Asian immigrant students. Varied conditions of arrival have a significant impact on their adaption to life in the United States. Earlier Vietnamese immigrants were more educated and Westernized compared to later Vietnamese, Cambodian,…

The Limited English Proficient (LEP) Parent Involvement Project, a collaborative project between two state agencies, aims to help refugee and immigrant parents to be effective in their new American culture. Materials are provided that were developed for use in various adult education settings such as English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes,…

This study evaluated the adaptation and adjustment processes of 28 Khmer children (aged 10 to 15 years) in the Boston (Massachusetts) area in a summer school setting provided by the Metropolitan Indochinese Children and Adolescent Services (MICAS). Using the Children's Acculturation Problem Index and the Children's Alienation Scale, supplemented…

There are no good figures on the number of limited English speakers who are also illiterate in their native languages. This data is worth having because there is research indicating that literacy in the native language plays an important role in the acquisition of oral English and the development of English literacy. This digest reviews recent…

The revised edition of the resource catalog lists nearly 1,000 print and non-print materials for use in Maine schools where close to 7,000 children of linguistic minorities are enrolled. There are 19 sections on these groups or topics: Afghan, Asian and refugee, bilingual education, Chinese, civil rights, Eastern Europe, English as a Second…

A bibliography of materials to assist in the education and resettlement of refugees in the United States contains listings of textbooks for English instruction, other curricular materials, and supplementary materials from many sources. The citations include: materials for English instruction; curricular and supplementary materials for teaching…

This report describes and analyzes the current employment and educational pursuits of Southeast Asian (SEA) youth in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, community. The report provides information on the following: (1) demography, residential patterns, and composition of the Philadelphia SEA Refugee Community; (2) role of ethnic identity among the SEA…

This report is a comparative study, conducted in 1986-87 in San Diego, California, of the adaptation of refugee youth from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indochina, and Laos. The project examined both successes and problems of these refugee youth regarding their educational and occupational attainments and aspirations, and evaluated their prospects for…

In the assessment literature, a general recommendation has been to disaggregate scores and other data for students with limited English proficiency (LEP). This has rarely been done for most non-English language background (NELB) students in the United States, with the partial exception of Spanish speakers. Nationwide Spanish speakers make up the…

Presented is a report on a comparative study of the educational and occupational aspirations and expectations of Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese adolescents and youth in the Minneapolis-St.Paul (Twin Cities), Minnesota, metropolitan area. Data were culled from interviews with about 160 informants using a "story" approach as a…