| Somali Family School debuts |
By: Pauline Schreiber
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Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 11:51 pm
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Sharon Hull, left, a volunteer with the new Somali Family School, gives Hamdi, left, and Siham, right, two 3-year-old Somali preschoolers, a lesson in counting Wednesday.
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FARIBAULT — Three-year-olds Siham and Hamdi watched as Sharon Hull used her fingers to count to three.
“Can you do that?” Hull asked the Somali preschoolers.
They followed along, putting up, one, then two, and then three fingers, and saying the words for the numbers. Then, they watched as Hull wrote “1, 2, 3” on a paper sheet attached to an easel.
The Somali Family School just got under way last week, sponsored and organized by Faribault’s United for Kids Committee. It was the third session of the twice-a-week school for Somali women and preschool children.
Hull, retired educator and former Jefferson Elementary School principal, is volunteering her time to help with the Somali Family School.
The Somali women learn English during school sessions by discussing weekly parenting themes, introduced by Hull and other volunteer staff — and also, Fartun Husein, an AmeriCorps Fellow, said Ellen Haefner, coordinator of United For Kids.
Husein is Somali and helps with language translation between volunteers and Somali women.
As their mothers or grandmothers learn English, the preschool Somali youngsters are taken into a playroom in Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. The church is donating space for the program.
In the playroom, volunteer helpers and Ting Ting Yang, an AmeriCorps LEAP member, engage the preschoolers in games and activities that use English language, and at the same time, teach early-learning concepts such as colors, shapes and counting.
Parents are teachers
“Parents are the first teachers of kids,” said Corinne Smith, a family educator with the Faribault School District and member of United For Kids. “That is what we hope mothers who come here take away, as well as learning ways they can help their children get ready to go to kindergarten.”
The twice-weekly sessions are from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. But volunteers to help with the program are only needed 1 to 2 p.m., Haefner said.
“It’s not an all or nothing situation for volunteers, either,” Haefner said. “They can come just for one day or commit whatever time they want to give.”
Siham’s and Hamdi’s grandmother brought the little girls to Wednesday’s sessions and participated in the English lesson and parenting discussion.
The program is funded through a two-year grant the United For Kids Committee received from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Before it could spend the grant dollars, however, the foundation required the committee to conduct a study, with the help of many segments of the Faribault community, to find out where gaps in preschool education existed within the community.
The study, conducted during the last school year, uncovered a need to help Somali preschoolers in the community be better prepared for kindergarten, Haefner said.
And, the United for Kids Committee determined the best way of doing that is helping Somali mothers both learn English and learn ways to help their preschoolers learn, she said.
Preparing for kindergarten
“Language development, whether in English or Somali, is important for these preschoolers so they are prepared for kindergarten,” said Carolyn Treadway, active member of Faribault’s So, How Are The Children?, an organization with the mission of helping youth in the community.
SHAC, in fact, secured the services of Fartun Husein, the AmeriCorps Fellow, to help with the Somali Family School, and with an after-school middle school program that is planned by SHAC to start soon.
While the after school program will be open to all youth, a special emphasis will be placed on Faribault’s immigrant and refugee youth, Treadway said.
And, the McKinley Center Early Childhood Family Education Center, applied for and was awarded a grant for the services of Ting Ting Yang, an member of AmeriCorps’ LEAP program, focused on service to communities. Yang will be helping with a variety of early childhood programs in the community besides the Somali Family School.
The United For Kids Committee is an effort of many different groups, Haefner said. “But we need volunteers to help with the Somali Family School.”
And, Treadway said, the middle school after school program being organized will also need volunteers.
People interested in volunteering their time with the Somali Family School can contact Haefner at 334-5865, or by e-mail at ellen.haefner@gmail.com. Those interested in helping with the middle school program can contact SHAC at 334-3817.
— Staff writer Pauline Schreiber may be reached at 333-3127.
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