Newcomer Academy is in session

Two boys work together on a laptop computer

On Wednesday, newly arrived refugee and immigrant students were getting lessons on improving their literacy skills and navigating life in their new country.

Their work is all part of the Newcomer Academy, a summer program serving about 160 students in kindergarten-grade 12 who are in the beginning stages of learning English. The youngest learners were reading, third and fourth graders were drawing and discussing shapes, middle schoolers were talking about feelings and high school students were conversing about books.

Check out a Facebook photo collection of the students at work. (You don't need a Facebook account to see the pictures linked in the highlighted text. A window may appear that says, “To see more from Albany City Schools on Facebook, log on or create an account,” but you can dismiss it by clicking “not now.”)

The program works out of Edmund O’Neal School of Excellence, home to Albany International Center – where many of the students will attend this fall.