Turkish course for children in Esenyurt

Zeynep is 11 years old. She started school after coming to Turkey from Syria with her family. She loves math, but she feels she is falling behind because she cannot fully understand her teacher in class. She gets excited when she must stand up at the blackboard and cannot even explain what she knows correctly. Although she wants to play games with her friends, she struggles to find the words when she speaks. “Sometimes I don’t say anything because I am afraid of saying the wrong thing,” she says. Many children like Zeynep have difficulties in their educational life because they cannot use Turkish effectively. Inability to use Turkish effectively is one of the biggest obstacles children face in education. Children who cannot fully understand the lessons fall behind academically and have difficulty expressing themselves in social circles.

MaviKalem’s Women’s Counseling Center in Esenyurt collaborated with Esenyurt Public Education Center to open a Turkish course for children whose native language is not Turkish. The course, which aims to increase children’s participation in classes and continue their education by using Turkish better, aims to support their success at school and enable them to communicate more easily with their social circles.