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II - PROJECT PROPOSAL: LANGUAGE TRAINING AND ORIENTATION PROGRAMME FOR VIETNAMESE
REFUGEES IN THE CLOSED CAMPS OF HONG KONG
Such a programme has been implemented in Pulau Bidong and Sungai Besi (Malaysia) refugee camps since 1983.
It consists of a language training course in "survival" French and a social-cultural information and orientation programme aiming at preparing the refugees with a view to insertion in France.
1. Who will benefit from this programme ?
The programme is intended for the Vietnamese people from Chi Ma Wan and Hei Ling Chau refugee camps meeting the requirements for acceptance, i.e. those with relatives in France, former soldiers enrolled in the French Army and/or their children, good French speakers, and a number of "humanitarian cases". We believe that 400 to 450 people actually meet these criteria.
With a departure rate of 20 persons a month (in order to avoid overflowing the post-arrival centres in France) and taking into account the fact that air companies are too busy at times - December, August to carry refugees), it is planned that all the refugees will leave Hong Kong in less than two years.
Those with a good knowledge in French could leave first, since they would only have to attend the social-cultural and orientation classes as well as a crash-course in French.
After being accepted, the refugees will be transfered to Argyle transit camp, in Kowloon peninsula. It's a transit camp for the boat-people who still land in Hong Kong, and for the small number of those departing for third countries. It is recommended that the refugees spend the shortest time possible in this camp, where French classes would not be conducted.
2. Description of the programme
2.1. "Survival French"
The "survival French" programme was written by our teacher trainers in order to answer the immediate needs of the refugees in a "survival situation", which is the one they will have to tackle with upon arrival in France. 7 main topics have been identified:
* identity
* food
* transports
* health
* the telephone and the post-office
* jobs
* housing
For each topic, several dialogues are taught to the students (for instance, for "Food" : at the bakers's, at the butcher's, at the market, at the coffee-house). The visual aid here is a felt-board on which different pictures will be applied, easily removed, and replaced by others. Since all the dialogues deal with daily life, the language taught will be "everyday French", with as little grammar as possible.
A booklet named "DANS LES CAMPS, UN FRANCAIS DE SURVIE" (Survival French in refugee camps) was published to be used as a guide for retugee teachers. As a matter of fact, the volunteer is mainly a teacher trainer. The teachers are refugees with a very good knowledge of French, who are trained by the volunteers. In-service training sessions are regularly held, as well as monitoring and evaluation
ones.