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BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-Imagine… having to flee your home country for your safety and when you finally arrive to a safe place… you can’t speak the language.
“Our country is not good and not safe, so that’s why we came here,” said Sian Thang, a refugee from Myanmar.
That is the experience of many refugees who now live in Bowling Green.
To help with a successful transition into their new life… Refugee Hope is offering English learning classes twice a week.
“We know that when refugees, migrants, come in to our state and to our country there’s a lot of variety of physical needs and one of the biggest physical needs we hear is English education,” said education director Derek Logsdon.
Learning English provides a variety of benefits for refugees, like getting a job or understanding necessary processes like taxes.
One student arrived here in February from Afghanistan. A doctor in her home country, she says she knows some English but wants to become fluent to continue her career.
“First of all you get a job, you want to stand and support your family. And then the other part is to know and to communicate and to talk and learn about the culture and customs of American peoples and to find our way,” said Atifa Kabuli, the refugee from Afghanistan.
Thang doesn’t know much English yet, but is hoping to catch on quickly.
“I would like to talk and improve my English skills because I live here, need job and to communicate,” said Thang.
The staff hopes the classes improve every aspect of refugees’ lives.
“I think the root of it is confidence so they’re able to go into a grocery store or their children’s school and talk with their teacher because they have the confidence to do so and an English education background,” said Logsdon.
Morning classes are from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 601 Graham Drive and evening classes are from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Bowling Green Learning Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For more information click here. To register click here.
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