The team of the Reachout Foundation, whose main goal is the systematic and long-term support of refugee and migrant children and their families, has presented new educational materials that will help this group of people cope with the challenges of life in a foreign country, the most serious of which is the study of the Bulgarian language.

In 2022, the foundation published the first textbook in Bulgaria, created especially for children from Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Syria and other places troubled by military conflicts - "ABC - First Steps". The picture dictionary "Words in Pictures" is now also a fact and can also be used as an additional educational tool.

"It is an extension of the textbook, because we saw that children need to see pictures and have various learning aid materials. We think that when learning a language it is very important to use a dictionary and we think that this is a good way to support their training in the Bulgarian language," Kristina Gologanova from the foundation says in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.

The dictionary contains nearly 1,000 words with pictures, divided into 35 sections, as the words are arranged alphabetically and are color coded. The drawings were colored by refugee children during a series of workshops, so the children are also co-authors of the picture dictionary. The title page of each section is in black and white so that children can color it themselves.

Kevin from Cuba has colored many of the pictures in the dictionary:

"Out of the pictures, I probably liked the steak the most. I also colored the biscuits, the candies, the salad, the salami,” Kevin says in Bulgarian. With a great sense of humor he admits that what he likes most in the Bulgarian lessons is to laugh. "I've been studying Bulgarian for a year and I even got a B on one of the tests," the boy proudly says.

Multilingual discussion cards for family work were also designed to help children and parents communicate on sensitive topics in a new cultural environment. The cards contain relevant questions for every immigrant family in five thematic areas: Education, Leisure, Family, Health and Emotions. There are questions such as: "Did you encounter bullying and racism at school and did you receive help from a teacher?", "What do you like in the Bulgarian school?" and others.

"There are 130 cards and the most important thing is that these questions facilitate the dialogue between parents and children, since a large part of the topics are sometimes very difficult to discuss, while in this way, in the form of a game, some fears are overcome. The cards can also be used by social workers, pedagogical advisors, teachers and other specialists who provide support to refugee families," Kristina Gologanova from the Reachout Foundation team says.

The cards were developed by a Finnish organization with many years of experience in working with migrants and refugees and have been adapted for Bulgaria in five languages - Bulgarian, English, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. The Bulgarian team has included an additional entertainment element – a maze on the back of each of the cards.

English publication: Al. Markov

Photos: Reachout Foundation and Desislava Semkovska