Abstract
AN EVALUATION ON TEACHING TURKISH TO SYRIAN REFUGEES PROJECT
Events came out after breaking the peace and tranquility in Syria on March 15, 2011 and continued up to now. Thus, many Syrian had to leave their home and move to other countries. Not indifferent to the war next to it, Turkey opened its borders to millions of Syrian refugees. Many of the guests accepted to the country were placed into the refugee camps, and some of them moved to the relatives living in different regions of Turkey. According to the AFAD (2016), the number of recorded Syrian refugees in Turkey was around 3 million. Approximately 260.000 Syrian guests are living in 26 shelters which are established and managed by AFAD in ten cities.
The refugees should learn the language so as to overcome the cultural differences that make social adaptation difficult. For this reason, Turkish Language teaching courses entitled “Teaching Turkish to Syrian Guest Students Project” started in cooperation with Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and Gaziantep University Turkish Language Learning Research and Application Center (TÖMER); high school graduate Syrians who fulfilled the criteria set by YTB had the opportunity to learn Turkish in these courses organized in 10 cities. This study aims to give information about four projects started on March 25, 2013 and completed on June 3, 2016.
Keywords
Teaching Turkish to foreigners, teaching Turkish to Syrian refugees, YTB, UNICEF, AFAD