Tales From the Front Line: Teachers’ Responses to Somali Bantu Refugee Students

This qualitative study identifies the ways in which teachers in an urban school district responded to the specialized educational needs of Somali Bantu refugee students who have recently been relocated to the United States and who have had limited and interrupted access to education prior to their enrollment in public schools in the United States. The article identifies the institutional obstacles teachers in Central City 1 high schools faced in general during the 2007—2008 school year and then highlights the different types of responses employed by native U.S.-born teachers when working with their Somali Bantu students.