This summer I interned at theInternational Institute of Erie where refugees from foreign countries are resettled into the Erie area. The institute is branch of the United States Committee for Refugees (USCRI) which is located in Washington D.C. The institute resettles refugees largely from Nepal, Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Iraq, and Somalia. I had an array of duties as an intern ranging from office and resettlement work to teaching an employment class.
When I arrived at the institute, they were in desperate need for someone to teach a class on employment and job readiness. I was given the responsibility to teach this class every Thursday for two hours. My project was to design a curriculum so that future teachers would be able to easily run the class for themselves. My main goal was to develop something that any untrained volunteer could pick up and easily use while still effectively teaching valuable lessons to students with little to no English speaking, reading, or writing skills. The curriculum consists of eleven lesson plans, and one rotation of the course runs for six weeks before the material is repeated. Other work I did consisted of putting together back to school supply kits, organizing a room to house donations, and setting up a computer lab that will be used to further foster English literacy and speaking skills. My curriculum will be an essential addition to the Institute’s English programs and I believe it will be integral in each refugee’s integration into American society.
