Refugee Program in Ireland Paves the Way for English-Arabic Literacy

In Ireland, a unique pilot program for students from Syria provided intensive English and Arabic language lessons to help improve literacy over the summer of 2023. Many of these students had missed years of education and had poor language skills in both English and Arabic. This pilot, implemented based on findings from the SALaM Ireland research project, pioneers a path forward for boosting both mother tongue literacy and English language acquisition for refugee learners. 

Guests Yvonne Leckey, Project Manager of SALaM Ireland and Trudy Rossiter, Deputy Principal at a participating school, share about the research behind the project and its impact. 

References: 

• SALaMA: The Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America is a mixed-methods research study which examines the mental health of adolescents after migrating to the United States. It is led by Washington University, St Louis (Principal Investigator, Professor Lindsay Stark) in partnership with QFI. https://sites.wustl.edu/salama/ 
• SALaM Ireland: The Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to Ireland is a collaborative, school-based project conducted in Ireland as part of the larger SALaMA research initiative. https://cmhcr.eu/salam/  
• LEARNS: Language Enrichment for ARabic-speaking adolesceNts in Schools is the pilot program implemented based on findings from the SALaM Ireland Study. 

Glossary: 

• SALaMA: the Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America 
• SALaM Ireland: the Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to Ireland 
• IRPP: Irish Refugee Protection Program  
• EAL: English as an Additional Language 
• LEARNS: Language Enrichment for ARabic-speaking adolesceNts in Schools 
• ESL: English as a Second Language; 
• CBA: Classroom-Based Assessments 

Contact information

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QFI is an organization committed to advancing the value of teaching and learning Arabic as a global language. Visit our website to learn more, qfi.org.

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