Nabiha Atallah and Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia

Atallah: Last week, Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia received the results of those assessments, said Nabiha Atallah, the manager of communications and outreach. "Sixty per cent of our new Syrian adults are pre-benchmark — they don't have Level 1," she said. "They would be starting from scratch." The assessment also found 30 per cent of the Syrian adults do not read or write in their first language of Arabic. "Teaching English to people who don't read and write in their first language requires another approach altogether," Atallah said. "It is harder, according to CBC. It takes different strategies." However, she said ISANS has teachers capable of delivering those classes. All the newcomers were assessed against Canadian language benchmarks upon arrival. Nabiha Atallah is the communications and outreach manager for Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia. "It been very effective. Andrews Recreation Centre on Bayers Road. We've had a lot of people go through that training program here, and then transfer into regular language classes." ISANS offers English as a second language programs and has already added two classes for people of all backgrounds at St. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.