Somalia

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Somalia

• By Stephanie Kroger, Marybeth Liebsch, Jennifer
  Vincent, Pang Yang and Catherine Young

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Somalia Democratic Republic Area 246,201 square
miles Neighbors Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden Population
7,753,310 Language Somali, English, Arabic,
Italian Ethnic groups 85 Somali, 1.2 Arab,
.4 Bantu, 13.4 others
Present Day Governement
- In 2004, warlords and politicians agreed to
establish a new transitional parliament
- Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed became president
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Political History

• January 1991, Siad Barre was forced out of power
• -Civil War broke out because of warlords (mostly
  former army officers)
• -Warlords killed, beat and raped other group
  members and clans

Refugee/ Immigration to Minnesota

• Many people died from disease, violence and
  famine
• Seek refugee in Kenya and Ethiopia

• According to Minneapolis Foundation Org. Somalis
  immigrated to Minnesota for two reasons
• The existence of an established Somali community
• Availability of unskilled jobs that do not
  require English fluency or literacy

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Social History
Customs Men and Women are separated in most
aspect of life Daily task is performed using the
RIGHT hand Men and Women do not shake hand (Not
allowed to touch one another unless married

• Clothing
• Men wear the Futa, several lengths of white
  cotton wrapped around waist to the knee and
  draped over the shoulder
• Women wear the Hijab, full length dress that
  covers the entire body except for hands and feet.
  (MARRIED women are expected to cover their body
  from head to toe)

• Marriage
• Most marriages are arranged
• Average bride age is 14 or 15
• Men can marry up to 4 wives at one time

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Basically, Somalia has had no formal public
education throughout history
1960 - became independent republic. Mass
education was promoted (never caught on).
1972 - Latin script for writing the Somali
language was adopted
1990 - Literacy rate was up to 24. 36 for
males, and 14 for females.
1991 - Collapse of the Somali State lead to the
destruction of schools.
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Today

• There is no formal public education system in
  place. There is a small private education
  sector.
• Literacy rate is 37.8. Males 49.9 Females
  25.8 (definition age 15 and over that can read
  and write)

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT INSTRUCTION?
Somalis youth are adopting lives of survival in
a disintegrating society rather then how to learn
and act at a school. Students immigrating from
Somalia will need to learn how to act at a school
before you begin instruction. Even then, many
will be learning how to read and write for the
first time.

• Abdi, Ali A. Education in Somalia history,
  destruction, and calls for reconstruction.
  Comparative Education. Volume 34 No. 3 1998. Pp.
  327-340
• www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/so/htm
  l

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LanguageSomali vs. English

• Somali uses all but three letters (p, v, and z)
  of the English alphabet.
• The Somali language has 33 sounds, 15 are very
  similar to their English counterparts.
  (b,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,s,sh,t,w,y)
• Somali has seven consonants that do not match
  anything in English (c, dh, kh, q, r, x, and
  glottal stop)
• Vowels have only one sound in Somali, unlike
  English
• Somali is a tonal language with four tones
• The Somali alphabet is written from left to right
  in horizontal rows.

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How does this affect instruction?

• English sounds that may present difficulties for
  Somali students include c, q, r, and x. (This is
  because of pronunciation differences.)
• Vowels may be difficult for Somali students
  because English does not have a one-to-one
  correspondence between vowel letters and sounds.
• Somalis may draw out English double vowels, like
  noon or been, giving them the long sound like
  they would have in Somali. Much time will need to
  be spent introducing the concept that vowels have
  multiple sounds connected with them.
• Somali has no equivalent for a/an. Indefinites
  are expressed by the noun alone in Somali. This
  will be very confusing to students.
• Verbs usually come last in Somali. Students will
  need to change the way they construct sentences.
• In Somali, differences in gender, number, or case
  are marked by grammatical tone.

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Culture

• They often use sweeping hand and arm gestures to
  emphasize speech.
• The thumbs up is not polite!
• Do not use your index finger to call on a student!

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Many Somali people are Muslim so

• They pray 5 times a day ( 6am, noon,
  mid-afternoon, sunset, early evening).
• Fast each day during the month of Ramadan.
• Pork is prohibited

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Resources for Teachers

• Bilingual Somali Books
• www.multiculturalbooksandvideos.com
• www.cultureforkids.com
• Somali Family Reader at www.thirdweekbooks.com
• Informational Brochure at http//education.umn.edu
  /CEED/publications
• Reading Rockets (Family Guide for tips and ideas
  on reading and literacy)
• Tips for Reading in Somali
• www.minnesotahumanities.org/Literacy/tips.htm
• These tips sheets are available in multiple
  languages.

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More Resources for Teachers

• Lessons on learning about Somalia
• www.pbs.org/newshour/
• Online Folktales in English and Somali
• www3.mpls.k12.mn.us/schools/elementary/lyndale/som
  ali/index.html
• General Information on Somalia
  http//www.theodora.com/wfb/somalia_government.htm
  l
• St.Paul Public Library (awesome!)
• http//www.stpaul.lib.mn.us/weblinks/somali-resour
  ces.html
• Bilingual website, specifically for Somalis in
  the Twin Cities http//www.somaliresource.net/

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The End