Books Offer Warm Welcome to Students from Refugee and Immigrant Backgrounds
How the International Rescue Committee uses books to cultivate positive personal and cultural identities for youth refugees in Washington.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) provides opportunities for refugees, asylees, victims of human trafficking, survivors of torture, and other immigrants to thrive. According to the UN Refugee Agency, children account for 30% of the world’s population, but 40% of all forcibly displaced people. Over the past decade, IRC caseworkers and volunteers have welcomed thousands of families fleeing violence and persecution to Washington state. It is the third largest refugee-receiving state in America.
In addition to housing, healthcare, and job support, the IRC Seattle office offers many services for children and youth experiencing resettlement, including educational and developmental opportunities that build the essential academic, personal, and social skills needed to succeed. foundry10 worked with the IRC Seattle office to provide multilingual and culturally relevant books for youth in several of their education programs.
A large body of research supports the benefits of youth engaging with books featuring diverse people and experiences. foundry10 receives frequent requests for literacy support materials from schools and community organizations in Washington state. In response to this growing need, we have organized multiple take home book programs, supported literacy clubs, helped school communities acquire books and literacy curriculum that are tailored to the needs of their student population, and created a multilingual and culturally relevant book list sourced from educators and youth voices.
The IRC Seattle office shared details on how the books donated by foundry10 were used in a few of the impactful youth programs they ran last year. Learn more about the IRC’s meaningful work below.
Books Foster Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
IRC’s Spring Break Camp is designed to serve new students who have arrived mid-year and are still getting used to their new school and school routines. Students attending the program receive individualized instruction from IRC educators and have a chance to familiarize themselves with the school environment and norms.
This year, 23 students enrolled in Spring Break Camp. Participants received four books each as part of a learning kit that included art and school supplies. The books selected for Spring Break Camp this year were: The Big Umbrella, Your Name is a Song, The Seeds of Friendship, and Brown: The Many Shades of Love.
These books focus on themes of positive personal and cultural identity, inclusion, and making friends. The experiences and stories of the characters reflect those of the students, such as the frustration and sadness about being teased when others can’t pronounce one’s name correctly and being a new student in an unfamiliar place after leaving home. Reading these books and completing the associated activities provide an opportunity for students to discuss their experiences and perspectives in a safe and supportive environment.
Learning Kits Bring Joy and Positive Peer Connections
IRC’s Virtual Summer Reading program is designed to mitigate summer learning and reading loss. This program is intended for new students from refugee and immigrant backgrounds and promotes enjoyment of reading, literacy skills, language acquisition, social and emotional asset development, positive peer connections, and positive cultural identity.
IRC served 86 students across five school districts in this summer’s Virtual Summer Reading program. Each student received a well-packed learning kit containing school supplies, art supplies, and books. These supplies allowed students to read along to the books in sessions, keep track of their progress in their local library’s reading log as an incentive to continue reading on their own, and participate in the drawing activities at the end of each class.
IRC used a combined curriculum of Raz-Plus ELL edition literacy curriculum from A-Z Learning, as well as a collection of lessons and children’s literature curated by IRC. It incorporates reading practice, vocabulary, grammatical lessons, guided discussions that covered tailored, culturally relevant social and emotional learning (SEL) components, and an art activity. Each week incorporated themes and lesson plans that aligned with one to two of the culturally-relevant books chosen from the IRC’s curated library of children’s literature.
Families Connect Through Virtual Summer Reading Program
Feedback from 40 participating families was overwhelmingly positive: 87.5% reported that the program helped their children’s academic progress, 97.5% said they would recommend the program to someone else who needed the same support, 90% reported an improvement in their children’s English skills after participating in the program, 95% reported an improvement in their children’s well-being, happiness, and self-confidence, and 97.5% said that their children used the supplies provided by IRC.
Student Quotes about Virtual Summer Reading:
“I read 27 books and got my prize at the library today! It’s like a sticker or patch. I’m going to try to read up to 50 books after this! Today, I went to the library and read books with my older sister and played some games on the computer too. My mom also wanted to say thank you to the IRC company for teaching me.”
“My favorite thing in this class was that we got to share the things from our own knowledge to other people and we also learned new things from other people.”
This virtual program for middle school students aimed to counter learning loss, support language acquisition, and reduce isolation during the summer months. During sessions, participants had opportunities to voice which activities they preferred, explore options they felt were more relevant to them, get to know their peers, and practice reading in English.
Books Open Windows and Doors for Girls
Talk Time gave students a chance to share about themselves, their identities, and their cultures. Stories and reading exercises reflected lived experiences of participants, such as coping with new transitions, building a new community, and girls and women facing unique opportunities and challenges in pursuing their dreams and goals.
Female participants said their favorite stories focused on Muslim women who dared to dream and pursue their achievements despite others’ negative perceptions. These participants identified with these stories and said they plan to pursue achievements like those of the scientists, artists, and activists they read about.
Over the sessions, the participant group grew more open in their conversations and named their own strengths, such as being adaptable and curious and having global perspectives. Participants also discussed what the academic school year would look like for them and shared ideas on how to achieve success.
Learn more about the work of the International Rescue Committee.
