Making Your Way: A Reception and Placement Orientation Curriculum

Making Your Way is for resettlement agency trainers who provide Cultural Orientation domestically. Each of the eleven content chapters starts with a short lesson called The Basics that addresses particularly pressing information for that topic. The chapters contain two to six additional lesson plans, along with supplemental images, posters, and handouts.

While the complete curriculum is 761 pages, we offer The Complete Basics, individual chapters, and supplemental materials as separate downloads. Before using any of these materials, read the two-page Getting Started Guide.

Featured Resource

Making Your Way: Getting Started Guide

Featured Resource

Making Your Way: Getting Started Guide

This brief guide provides information on how to use Making Your Way to enhance orientation provision to refugees.

Complete Curriculum

Complete Making Your Way: R&P Orientation Curriculum

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This curriculum includes the following topics:

Role of the Local Resettlement Agency
Community Services and Public Assistance
Housing
Transportation
Employment
Education
Health and Hygiene
Budgeting and Personal Finance
Cultural Adjustment
U.S. Laws & Refugee Status
Orientation Wrap-Up

Individual Chapters

Role of the Local Resettlement Agency Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

The local resettlement agency ensures that refugees are provided with assistance and basic services after they first arrive in the United States.
The resettlement agency is the new arrival’s first point of contact for accessing services and getting information on topics that refugees need to know.
For resettlement to succeed, refugees need to work together with resettlement agency staff.

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The Basics

Community Services and Public Assistance Chapter

This unit provides participants with an overview of the services and assistance available to refugees in their new communities. By community services, we mean the services, assistance, goods, and resources available to people in their communities.

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The Basics

Housing Chapter

This unit provides focuses on the following key points:

In the United States, tenants (people who rent an apartment or a house) have both rights and responsibilities. The responsibilities include paying rent and utilities on time, keeping the place clean and in good condition, and being a good neighbor.
It is important to understand how to use basic household products and appliances properly and safely.

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The Basics

Transportation Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

Most communities have one or more forms of public transportation. Refugees will need to know how to use each type and how to do so safely.
Owning and driving a car in the United States can be expensive. There are also laws regarding car insurance, driver’s licenses, and safety that car owners need to understand and obey.

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The Basics

Employment Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

Getting and keeping a job is important for all adult refugees who are able to work. Employment is the fastest way to self-sufficiency and is necessary for success in the United States.
Refugees play a central role in finding and keeping a job. An employment specialist will assist them in their search.
Workers (or employees) in the United States have rights, such as the right to be paid for their work and to work in a safe environment. They also have responsibilities.

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The Basics

Learning English Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

Learning English is important for a refugee’s successful adjustment in the United States.
Refugees who are able to work must find a job as soon as possible after they arrive in the United States.
Studying English in a classroom with an experienced teacher is a good way to learn English, but there are many other ways that refugees can learn English.

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The Basics

Education Chapter

This unit provides participants with an overview of education for both children and adults. It focuses on the following key points:

There are laws and customs regarding public schooling in the United States.
In the United States, there are also educational opportunities for adults.
For many refugees, the best option is to work full time while going to school part-time.

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The Basics

Health and Hygiene Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

There are different health care services in the United States, and refugees should know where to go for which services.
Urgent and routine health care services are different from one another and are found in different places.
The local resettlement agency will schedule initial health screenings and immunizations and assist with obtaining other health care services as needed.
There are customs and laws in the United States regarding personal and public hygiene.

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The Basics

Budgeting and Personal Finance Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

It is important for refugees to identify sources of income and support they can depend on after initial assistance ends.
A bank is the safest place to keep money.
Refugees are responsible for managing their own personal finances. Learning how to budget is an important skill for refugees to learn.

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The Basics

Cultural Adjustment Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

Cultural adjustment is a process that happens over a long period of time. The process is different for different people, but there are certain stages to the process that most people go through as they adjust to a new culture.
It is important for refugees to develop healthy ways to cope with the stresses and changes (such as changes in family roles) that occur as they adjust to life in the United States.
Although Americans are open to other cultures and ways of doing things, there are certain basic values, beliefs, and practices that they expect residents of the United States to follow.

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The Basics

U.S. Laws & Refugee Status Chapter

This unit focuses on the following key points:

The United States has laws regarding alcohol, tobacco, drugs, firearms, domestic violence, and child supervision and neglect, among many others. Refugees are responsible for knowing the laws and understanding what will happen to them if they break them.
In the United States, refugees have rights and responsibilities. After refugees have lived in the United States for 1 year, they must apply to change their status from refugee to Lawful Permanent Resident.
Refugees are responsible for their own safety and should know common safety procedures.

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The Basics

Orientation Wrap-Up- Nepali

This unit reviews all the information participants have learned during the entire orientation course.

The unit includes two wrap-up activity plans: “Answer Cards” and “Choose-Your-Topic Game.” Trainers need only conduct one of the two, choosing the activity they prefer.

Making Your Way: A Reception and Placement Orientation Curriculum

Making Your Way: A Reception and Placement Orientation Curriculum

Featured Resource

Making Your Way: Getting Started Guide

Featured Resource

Making Your Way: Getting Started Guide

Complete Curriculum

Complete Making Your Way: R&P Orientation Curriculum

Individual Chapters

Role of the Local Resettlement Agency Chapter

Community Services and Public Assistance Chapter

Housing Chapter

Transportation Chapter

Employment Chapter

Learning English Chapter

Education Chapter

Health and Hygiene Chapter

Budgeting and Personal Finance Chapter

Cultural Adjustment Chapter

U.S. Laws & Refugee Status Chapter

Orientation Wrap-Up- Nepali

Orientation Wrap-Up- Arabic

Orientation Wrap-Up- English

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