At a Chicago tutoring center, multilingual refugees given safe space to learn with help from college students
Ten-year-old Lana Azizieh, a fifth grader at Clinton Elementary School, said that before she came to the United States two years ago, she didn’t know English. “Now I’m really good at English,” she said, noting that she loves math, but not so much reading. “I like to read graphic novels, but mostly I’m not reading graphic novels (in school) so there are just words, words, words. I get tired of ...
Ten-year-old Lana Azizieh, a fifth grader at Clinton Elementary School, said that before she came to the United States two years ago, she didn’t know English.
“Now I’m really good at English,” she said, noting that she loves math, but not so much reading. “I like to read graphic novels, but mostly I’m not reading graphic novels (in school) so there are just words, words, words. I get tired of reading.”
Azizieh, a refugee from Syria, is one of 103 students receiving tutoring from Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA), the West Ridge education center dedicated to helping refugee children arriving in Chicago.
Azizieh came to the U.S. in 2021 and enrolled at FORA almost immediately, joining students mostly
