Teaching Sustainability to Newly-arrived Refugees and Immigrants
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Gina Petrie
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
May 2025
End Date
May 2025
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Education
Abstract
My presentation will introduce the English as a Second Language (ESL) learning activities for sustainability that I am developing for refugee and immigrant students in order to create a new pathway of learning about sustainability early in a newcomer’s time in the U.S. Volunteering to teach in an after-school program with Refugee & Immigrant Connections Spokane (RICS) has inspired me to create these activities for children from refugee and immigrant backgrounds.
Imagine you had to flee your country with nothing: no money, no clothes, no food. To add to the stress, you are entering a new country that you know hardly anything about-including what environmentally sustainable methods look like in the new country. That is what immigrants and refugees face every day. Instead of waiting until they know a “sufficient” amount of English, we need to teach them about our systems from the beginning. This will not only benefit them, but the overall well-being of our society as well. We can accomplish this with the help of ESL methods and a few learning activities. More specifically, these activities will teach them about our recycling systems, how to consciously consume water/food, our littering policies, and the prevalence of second-hand stores and food pantries. Using ESL methods will make learning about these topics accessible early in someone’s time in the U.S. Students are likely to share these ideas with their families and their communities which would benefit our general society as well.
Recommended Citation
Kelsey, Tara Danielle, "Teaching Sustainability to Newly-arrived Refugees and Immigrants" (2025). 2025 Symposium. 5.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2025/ps_2025/p1_2025/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Teaching Sustainability to Newly-arrived Refugees and Immigrants
PUB NCR
My presentation will introduce the English as a Second Language (ESL) learning activities for sustainability that I am developing for refugee and immigrant students in order to create a new pathway of learning about sustainability early in a newcomer’s time in the U.S. Volunteering to teach in an after-school program with Refugee & Immigrant Connections Spokane (RICS) has inspired me to create these activities for children from refugee and immigrant backgrounds.
Imagine you had to flee your country with nothing: no money, no clothes, no food. To add to the stress, you are entering a new country that you know hardly anything about-including what environmentally sustainable methods look like in the new country. That is what immigrants and refugees face every day. Instead of waiting until they know a “sufficient” amount of English, we need to teach them about our systems from the beginning. This will not only benefit them, but the overall well-being of our society as well. We can accomplish this with the help of ESL methods and a few learning activities. More specifically, these activities will teach them about our recycling systems, how to consciously consume water/food, our littering policies, and the prevalence of second-hand stores and food pantries. Using ESL methods will make learning about these topics accessible early in someone’s time in the U.S. Students are likely to share these ideas with their families and their communities which would benefit our general society as well.
