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Learning the ropes SOME 156 SYRIANS REFUGEES WHO RECENTLY ARRIVED IN RED DEER ARE SLOWLY ADJUSTING TO THEIR NEW LIFE IN CANADA
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
ABOVE: Jalal Al Madani, his wife, Nawal, and their one-year-old son, Fayze, have just recently settled in Red Deer. LEFT: Central Middle School art teacher Mike Coghlin works with Furad, a Syrian refugee student in Grade 8, at the school this week. BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF Learning the language of the land will be essential for the new Syrian families who are now calling Red Deer home. It will be a long road ahead as many have limited education and in some cases some have never stepped inside a school, let alone one that does not teach in Arabic. Others have lived in refugee camps for an extended period of time where schooling took a backseat to survival. The Central Alberta Refugee Effort (CARE)
is currently squeezing in Syrian adults into their 13 daytime and five part-time ESL classes. Staff will have conducted 50 English language assessments by the end of March. Two additional English As A Second Language (ESL) daytime classes are expected to be added by April 1. “Overall what we are finding is their education level is quite low,” said Frank Bauer, CARE executive director. “Some of them have not completed the equivalent of high school in their own language and have very low English. They are able to say, ‘Hello, how are you?’” See ESL on Page A8
Nawal Habbal is having a tough time adjusting to life as a new mother. The 18-year-old is learning to cook, clean and to understand the needs of Fayez Almadani, her oneyear-old son. In most situations, a new mother could depend on her own mother or closest female relative for support and advice on child rearing. But Habbal’s mother and sister are living in a city outside of Cairo called Sixth of October City, where they fled from war torn Syria three years ago. Habbal and her husband Jalal Almadani, 22, are one of the 29 families under the government sponsored refugee program who have resettled in Red Deer. See REFUGEES on Page A8
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