By Angie Wiggins
Migros Academy Director, May 2024
What memories do you have from your own Kindergarten experience? I remember sitting on the classroom rug while Miss Robertson read Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. I remember diligently completing each phonics worksheet because I was so eager to read independently. I remember having countless picture books in my own home to pour over in the evenings. I am confident that a good start in Kindergarten played a role in making me a voracious lifelong reader.
But what if my Kindergarten experience had been different? What if, instead, I had moved to America 9 months before I began Kindergarten with no knowledge of English? And then 3 months later, a global pandemic struck so my Kindergarten year was mostly online learning? And I was online learning in a crowded apartment where no one understood English? And that when I returned to school, still not knowing much English, the teacher wore a mask so that I could not read her lips or see how to form English words? This is the lived experience of a 3rd-grade boy who faithfully attends Migros Aid Academy and brings his homework every week.
Most refugee parents value education and recognize it as the path to success for their children. Most, however, aren’t able to buy picture books for their children. Many had their education interrupted, so they do not feel confident to help their students with school work. They cannot read communications from the schools that come home written in English.
It is safe to assume that my becoming a voracious reader would not be a given if I had lived this reality instead of my own.
Today’s elementary school students worldwide have a unique early education with interruptions due to COVID. For students in the refugee community, these challenges were multiplied, leaving most of the students at least 1-2 grade levels behind in reading.
This year, many students at our weekly Migros Aid Academy have asked for extra reading help because they want to improve their literacy skills. Consequently, we have decided that the Migros Aid Academy focus for the summer will be literacy. Our goal is to put the written word in front of our students multiple times a week – through lessons at weekly Migros Aid Academy, story hours at the park, a summer reading program, individual phonics coaching, and more.
If you can read English, you can help us this summer! Here are some possibilities:
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We can connect you with a family, and you can go to their home and read to the kids for 30 minutes a week.
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You can attend Migros Aid Academy on Tuesday evenings to help with reading games and phonics skills.
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You could meet with a student weekly to help them improve their reading skills.
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You could donate books from your own children’s collection. We can use any book – picture books, sports encyclopedias, teen chapter books, board books, anything at all.
Learning to read well is a pathway toward a flourishing life in the United States. We are trying to move students closer toward that benchmark so that there is one less obstacle in their way.
MIGROS AID ACADEMY IS OUR WEEKLY TUTORING FOR REFUGEE STUDENTS.
