This paper reports on the review and revision of the Overseas Refugee Training Program's curriculum in English as a second language. The discussion focuses on the rationale and guidelines for the revision, the resources used to guide the process, and the criteria used in the selection of competencies. Specific intentions in revising the list of…

The curriculum in English as a second language of the Overseas Refugee Training Program, a federally sponsored program designed to prepare Southeast Asian refugees for resettlement in the United States, uses a competency-based model and the format used in the Oregon State Minimal Competencies curriculum. The specialists who developed the refugee…

Dialogue journals serve as conversations between teacher and student and provide a student-centered, communicative activity in which literacy skills can develop naturally. Students write as much as they choose about any topic, and the teacher responds as a co-participant in an ongoing, written conversation. The journals can be adapted to a variety…

The intensive, pre-arrival training program provided by the International Catholic Migration Commission at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center in Bataan for Vietnamese, Khmer, and Lao adult refugees on route to the United States is in the process of self-examination and development. Three trends are emerging for new program directions. The…

The Free Money Game is a group activity designed to: (1) familiarize refugee students with the purpose of public assistance, which is to maintain recipients at a survival level for a limited time; and (2) make students aware of the lack of options open to welfare recipients, the depersonalization associated with the bureaucracy, and the insecurity…

A Chicago vocational English language training program (VELT) conducted a needs assessment survey of employers of limited-English-proficient (LEP) workers in assembly, packing, shipping, janitorial and housekeeping, machine operation, and food preparation jobs. The purposes of the survey were to determine: (1) the employers' methods of obtaining…

Preparation for American Secondary Schools (PASS) programs designed to prepare 13- to 16-year-old refugees for the transition to American secondary schools have been implemented in the refugee training centers in Thailand and the Philippines. The curriculum emphasizes language and math skills and cultural orientation. Students also develop…

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…

Immigrants leaving Vietnam through the Orderly Departure Program in Bangkok, Thailand, experience stress and difficulties very different from those endured by refugees fleeing by land or boat. The cultural orientation program addresses their needs to assimilate their loss, gain equilibrium, and get resettlement guidance and information. These…

The benefits of using drama as a teaching technique became evident in the Work Orientation program at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center when a team of teachers presented two plays for their lower-level students. Students enjoyed the activity and were able to discuss work-related problems freely. As a result, the students' self esteem was…

A design for individualizing in-service training for teachers of English as a second language and cultural orientation for refugees to meet the needs of instructors with different backgrounds and degrees of experience is presented. The teachers and their supervisors identify each others' needs and interests, state learning objectives to be…

Cooperative Learning is a teaching methodology based on the belief that learning increases as students develop cooperative skills. A recent experiment with cooperative learning at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center indicates that it can be used effectively with low-level learners of English as a second language to foster both language…

The adult English literacy program at the Phanat Nikhom Refugee Camp has developed techniques for actively engaging the sometimes reluctant students in the skill development process leading to literacy. A literacy warm-up chart used daily for five minutes develops the prereading skills of sequencing and left-to-right eye coordination; a variety of…

This inaugural issue of the journal concerning education programs for refugees in the United States contains 20 articles dealing with teaching English as a second language (ESL) and cultural orientation. They include "The IESL/CO/PET Program" (Anne Morgan); "Studying Refugees' Languages: A New Approach in Staff Development"…

The D-E Work Orientation Program at the Phanat Nikhom Refugee Camp is designed to prepare upper-level (D and E) students to enter and succeed in the American workplace. This preparation is especially important for these refugees since they are more likely than the lower-level students to get jobs during their first few months in the United States.…