Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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    January 20, 2012

Immigrants Learn English With Their Children

   Maryland school, business team up to teach Burmese refugee parents

   June Soh | Howard County, Maryland

   Tha Neih Ciang is learning vocabulary words with other immigrant
   students. She's among four dozen Burmese youngsters at Bollman Bridge
   Elementary School, which is less than an hour's drive from Washington.
   Their teacher, Laurel Conran, specializes in teaching English to
   speakers of other languages.

   'Today we were doing text structures," she says. "I wanted them to know
   the vocabulary, the language of text structures, so when they go back
   into the classroom and work with their peers, they can do this
   successfully in the classroom.'

   Lunch-time learning

   Tha Neih's mother, Tin Iang, also practices English with Conran, only
   their session takes place in the cafeteria of Coastal Sunbelt Produce.
   Many Burmese refugees work on assembly lines at the fruit and vegetable
   distributor. Conran started classes here to help them learn English.
   'The program is a six-week session," she says. "It is once a week, on
   every Wednesday from 12 to one o'clock. So every Wednesday I go to
   Coastal Sunbelt.'

   About 18,000 Burmese refugees have come to the United States each year
   since 2007.
   Once a week, Burmese refugee workers at Coastal Sunbelt Produce, in
   Maryland, take English lessons during their lunch hour.

VOA - J. Soh

   Once a week, Burmese refugee workers at Coastal Sunbelt Produce, in
   Maryland, take English lessons during their lunch hour.

   Four years ago, when a large number of Burmese refugees first arrived
   in Howard County, Bollman Bridge Elementary introduced intensive
   English programs for the children.

   While the youngsters learned English, Conran noticed it was hard to
   connect with their parents.
   'Some of them do not know the name of the school that their children
   attend,' she says.
   With help from Lisa Chertok - a school parent and manager at Coastal
   Sunbelt - Conran developed English lessons to teach at the parents'
   workplace. Each Wednesday, during their lunch break, Burmese workers
   sit in small groups with an English-speaking volunteer to practice
   their new language skills.

   Making a difference
   The program has the support of Bollman Bridge's principal.
   'I really see it as the beginning of a great partnership between a
   business and a school and we have just begun to scratch the surface
   with how that could benefit, really, the greater community,' says
   Jonathan Davis, who hopes the lessons help Burmese parents become more
   comfortable communicating with the school. 'Even as simply as making a
   phone call to say that their son or daughter is sick, even if that is
   the amount of English that they have gotten from the program, that
   truly will help us.'
   Chertok believes it's already made a difference in the workplace.
   'When the Burmese employees got here, they were very, very shy," she
   says. "Now I find that they are more responsive as employees. They are
   more communicative. They are also, as parents, more involved in their
   children's school.'
   For their efforts, Chertok and Conran received a 2011 Community
   Builders Award from Howard County.
   'I love this program," Conran says. "As a community we want to work
   together, collaboratively, because when everybody works together it is
   a win-win situation.'