Capacity-building through English language training to improve long-term resettlement success: A case study of the refugees along the Thailand-Burma border

Achieving long-term resettlement success is a challenge for many refugees seeking to restart their lives after displacement and being uprooted from their lives. Refugees must deal with finding employment, integrating into a society immensely different from what they have known their whole lives, and starting over from scratch. Learning a new language enables refugees to progress towards integration and long-term resettlement success, however, resettled refugees face a multitude of barriers in the U.S. to accessing language classes and attaining English proficiency. This study seeks to bridge this problem by exploring the possibilities of implementing a standardized language training program in the refugee camps to better prepare refugees for resettlement. A case study of the refugees along the Thai-Burma border demonstrated the significance of learning English in the camps on eventual English proficiency as well as the need for increased partnerships to overcome the barriers of lack of motivation and lack of funding. The author explores the possibilities of implementing a language training program in the camps by determining need, interest, barriers, and perceptions through the use of interviews, surveys, and focus groups of camp refugees, resettled refugees, and key organizational representatives. The significance of these results offers the possibility of leveraging and unlocking resettlement as a durable solution for more of the world's refugees in protracted situations.

Southern Vietnam, 1883 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: La Cochinchine française en 1883. It was published by Challamel ainé in 1884. Scale [ca. 1:1,000,000]. Covers Southern Vietnam and portions of Cambodia. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, roads, railroads, territorial and administrative boundaries, fortification, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Tonkin, Vietnam, 1886 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carte commerciale du Tonkin : partie explorée, dressée par F. Bianconi d'après les documents officiels. It was published by Chaix in 1886. Scale 1:700,000. Covers a portion of the Tonkin region, Northern Vietnam. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM Zone 48N, meters, WGS 1984) projected coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as cities and other human settlements, drainage, roads, railroads, mines, crop fields (rice, corn, tea, tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane, etc.), forests, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading. Includes also inset: Carte générale de l'Indochine.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Tonkin Region, Vietnam, 1883 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Carte du Tonkin, par Ch. Lassailly, géographe ; gravé par F. Dufour. It was published by Challamel ainé éditeur in 1883. Scale 1:2,500,000. Covers the Tonkin region, Northern Vietnam and a portion of China. Map in French.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes also insets: Rivière de Hué, Indo-Chine, Itinéraires de Marseilles a Saïgon.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.