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March 08, 2005
Somali, Hmong experiences focus for Hamline authors
Hamline alumni and Graduate School of Education professors Mohamed Farid and Don McMahan have co-authored what they call a first-of-its-kind book entitled Accommodating and Educating Somali Students in Minnesota Schools: A Handbook for Teachers and Administrators.
Farid said that his intent in writing the book was “to write something that is meaningful that can help the
students.” A Somali immigrant himself, Farid has faced many of the issues about which he wrote.
Language, he said, is the most challenging obstacle that Somali students face. Farid saw an increase in bilingual support in Minneapolis schools last year, and he said that this kind of support is “crucial to integration,” as well as one of the reasons Somali immigrants have been attracted to the Minneapolis community.
Farid’s co-author McMahan is currently in China and unavailable for comment, but Farid said the book was very much a joint effort.
According to a university press release, the book was written with the intent of giving educators a picture of the social, religious, and cultural issues Somali refugees face upon entrance into American schools, as well as to offer insights into the difficult task of accommodating the students and integrating them into a typical classroom setting.
Also currently in China is Hamline graduate school of education alum Leah Rempel, the author of Hey, Hmong Girl, Whassup?: The Journal of Choua Vang. Rempel’s book is a journal-style work of fiction relating the experiences of a young Hmong girl coping with everyday life. The book is meant to address the cultural duality that young immigrants and children of immigrants experience as they try to balance the traditions of their old and new countries. Rempel said that her book may be one of the first to address this concept as it pertains specifically to the Hmong community.
Mohamed Farid will hold an on-campus book signing March 2 in the Klas Center, from 4ą6 p.m.
Paperback copies of either book can be ordered for $10 by contacting Graduate School of Education programmer Ann Scanlan at x2964 or at ascanlan01@hamline.edu. The books are also available online at http://www.hamline.edu/gse/gse/products.htm.
Posted by msveum at March 8, 2005 04:08 PM
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