Welcome!

The Refugee Educators' Network, Inc. began as the Education Subcommittee
of the Sacramento Area Refugee Forum
in the early 1980s. Since then, REN members have developed a collection of books, videos, magazines, and artifacts, have sponsored 14 conferences, and
have published handbooks and 22 volumes of Context: Newcomers in California’s Classrooms.

"Best of Context" contains articles from volumes 8-22 of interest to teachers of English learners.

Bookshelf

We have a section called Bookshelf. This is a place to view scanned books from
the SEACRC collection. Take a look.
You might find something you can't find on any other bookshelf. New volumes will be uploaded frequently from members of the Refugee Educators' Network. If you have a scanned book that you would like to share, send it to us as a PDF so we can upload for all to see.

Collection goes to CSUS!

In the fall of 2006, the collection of books, articles, and artifacts became part of the library at California State University Sacramento.

Search our Research Library then go
to CSUS Library and use their search engine to locate the item there.

Vocabulary

Download resources for focusing on the most essential English words in written English (General Services List) and the most frequent words in college texts (Academic Word List). There's also a powerpoint that explains the rationale
for ensuring knowledge of the highest frequency words.

Saturday Schools

REN has moved its attention to support
of community efforts to provide mother-tongue literacy instruction. The Community Heritage Languages Program comprises high-quality Saturday School programs for Ukrainian, Russian, Armenian, and Spanish.

The programs began with a Ukrainian class in a church soon after the religious refugees began arriving in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The volunteer community program moved to a school
on Saturdays, and the Community Heritage Languages Program was born. Receipt of two three-year grants helped develop the program curriculum and establish its value. Since the end
of funding, parent donations and school district support have maintained a program. Another refugee grant has allowed development of two high school classes that focus on threshold and academic word (taught in English and Russian) that are co-located with one of the Saturday Schools.