The Refugee Education Partners is an ESL school that takes place each Saturday at Southwark Elementary School in South Philadelphia (11:30am to 1:30pm), serving the children of the Burmese refugee community.
The school is managed by Program Coordinator, Kim Leichtner. Assisted on a weekly basis by volunteers who kindly share their Saturdays with this community in need, Kim has been volunteering her time to keep the program running and we are grateful for all her efforts, as are the children and families being served!
If you're interested in getting involved as a volunteer teacher or donating always-needed English language learning books and games, please contact Kim Leichtner via email at kim.leichtner@gmail.com or by phone at 267-687-1740.
Update: March 2011
It's been a busy and fun spring semester with the students! Through weekly thematic lessons, our students are continuing to develop their conversational skills, build vocabulary, practice pronunciation and work on their reading and writing skills. They have learned all about traveling including modes of transportation, types of places to travel to and how to ask for and give directions. They learned about the family unit, family relationships and how to describe people based on appearance and personality. Students also learned about places in the community and the jobs that people in those places do that help make up our community. Students talked about what they want to be when they grow up. Volunteers brought in job-related outfits and students had their pictures taken of the occupation they aspire to when they are older (see slide show). Their job choices varied as much as their personalities: teacher, doctor, principal, pilot, karate kid, soldier and computer programmer. We are going to create a scrapbook with these pictures as we wrap up a memorable first year in just a few weeks!
Update: February 2011
Last Saturday, we kicked off the spring semester with a full class of volunteers and students. To ring in a belated New Year, volunteers worked with students in small groups on their time-telling skills and vocabulary. The efforts of our volunteers are helping these students develop their English language skills and providing them with much-needed personal attention that is usually not available at school. We're excited to continue to build relationships with these students and the community!
Update: January 2011
Refugee Education Partners, the Saturday school for Burmese Karen refugees in South Philadelphia wrapped up a strong fall semester (2010) with the help of community volunteers and student volunteers from University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Medical School. The ESL students enjoyed learning about some of the fall and winter holidays including Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. One Saturday in November, we had a Karen photojournalist, Law Eh Soe, come visit our classroom to take the pictures that you see here. The junta tried to arrest Law Eh Soe for taking pictures during the Saffron Revolution and fortunately he escaped. He praised our work and thanked us for helping his people.
