The Case Study of a Multicultural Classroom Environment: Syrian and Iraqi Refugees

This study aims to determine the positive and/or negative situations and the reactions of the students and teachers to these situations emerged during the education process carried out in a multicultural class with Syrian and Iraqi refugee students. This study is a case study in which the data were collected from classroom observations and teacher interviews. The findings of the study show that the integration of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into Turkish education system is affected both positively and negatively by teachers’ multicultural classroom experiences, students' being in the first grade, learning Turkish as a second language, and the socio-cultural environment.

Educational gaps and their impact on Iraqi refugee students’ secondary schooling in the Greater Detroit, Michigan Area

In this piece we examine educational gaps among Iraqi refugee students while living in Iraq and while in transitional countries, challenges resulting from those educational gaps since they have arrived in the United States, and Iraqi students’ needs to overcome their challenges for school adjustment. Thirty Chaldean Iraqi refugees who attended various high schools in the greater Detroit area, their parents, and their teachers participated in interviews and focus groups. Educational gaps in Iraq are due to precarious conditions involved in access to schooling, and threats and dangers experienced as Chaldean religious minorities. Gaps in transitional countries are due to lack of access to schooling due to residency restrictions, discriminatory treatment, and financial difficulties. Iraqi students are highly anxious about academic failure and their ability to obtain a high school diploma. We recommend educational policies and practices that might best address the serious problem of educational gaps.

INTEGRATING REFUGEES INTO SOCIETY AND EDUCATION THROUGH LANGUAGE TRAINING: A CASE STUDY IN ORDU, TURKEY

This paper approaches addressing the linguistic needs of Iraqi refugee students living in Turkey. Having a command of Turkish and English will allow them to feel more self-confident, more easily establish communication with their peers, receive a better education, have broader employment opportunities, and eventually earn a better income. Language will also help remove the distance between them and society, enable healthy dialogue, and speed up their process of social integration. Turkey is trying to find solutions to this language and social barrier. The core of this research is comprised of eighty-three Iraqi refugee students receiving education at a middle as well as high school in the province of Ordu. The students’ educational progression was evaluated through classroom observation, interviews, e-mails, telephone conversations, face-to-face discussions, family visits, and casual talks with parents, children, youth, and teachers, and then defined as the sample group. The aim of this paper is to show what benefits that the foreign language training we provide has on institutions, communities, and individuals in order to accelerate guest students’ adaptation into the society within which they are living, as well as into education. This paper is also expected to serve as a reference guide for language training programs in especially multicultural environments as is based on the results obtained from our research and experience.