1. H U R I Y O M U H U D I N , M A D I N A H U S S E I N , A N D
F A D U M O I B R A H I M
Culture Exchange
Somalia

2. Objectives
 Learn about the school and home culture of Somalia
 Discuss the experience of families living in the US as
immigrants
 Learn about the experience of an EL Student
 Discuss what we can do to better serve our EL and
NELB Families.

3. Basic Information
 Northern Somalia British is largely desert, more
business oriented
 Southern Somalia Italian colonies, more farm
oriented
 Very little infrastructure since 1988, when Civil War
in Somalia began.
 Right now, there is no highway system, no public
schools, new Government is trying to make things
better

4. Geography and Population

5.  Bantu tribe is from the South, and has a history of
being mistreated

6. Family Structure
 Family is very important, and extended families stick
together. They live very close to each other, and
often in the same home.
 Once women are married, they usually move out to
start their own home, but men stay in the family
home even after marriage.
 In most situations, the men work and the women
raise the children and take care of the home. In
wealthier families, the women may work and the
family will hire a nanny/maid, or rely on family
members to help with the children.

7. General School Information
 Attendance is not mandatory
 Only big cities had public schools (now there are no
public schools)
 Six hours a day (7 AM – 1 PM)
 No Kindergarten
 Students sometimes start at different ages, but they
always start as 1st graders
 40 students in one class
 Structured as Elementary, Middle, and High School
(4 years each)

8. General School Information
 No transportation
 No school lunch, but you can buy snacks
 No libraries in schools, but the cities have public
libraries
 They give you textbooks, but they stay at school.
 Very teacher centered. Students sit and teachers
talk.
 Students stay in their own class, and the teacher
rotates to the different classes

9. School Information
 Responsibility of the school to discipline the child.
 No homework is ever given in Somalia.
 Only involved in school when situations are very
serious.

10. Special Education/Student Services
 Any student with any type of special need or learning
delay does not attend school
 Report cards issued twice a year
 Students are retained if they fail a class—it doesn’t
matter how old they are.

11. Cultural Differences
 Communication—people sometimes communicate
very loudly because in Somalia people just yell at
their neighbors for different things
 People from the North are scared of water and
thunderstorms