Tools for Trainers

The Cultural Orientation Resource Center has developed a variety of tools that trainers can use throughout the process of designing and delivering refugee orientation.

Refugee Training and Orientation: A Guide for Service Providers: a guide to help service providers who work with refugees overseas or domestically to enhance their own understanding, design, and delivery of training and orientation. This guide addresses the foundations of refugee orientation and training, how to plan a training program, strategies and tools for training delivery and assessment, and information on developing trainers and partnerships. The guide also includes appendices on training strategies, handouts and worksheets to complement information provided in the guide, and selected resources related to topics discussed in the various chapters.

ToT Workbook cover

Refugee Training and Orientation: A Workbook for Trainers: This workbook was produced to accompany Refugee Training and Orientation: A Guide for Service Providers. Each chapter corresponds to a chapter in the guide and contains handouts, worksheets, and checklists for use in training trainers and in self-guided trainer development.  

Cultural Orientation Training: An Introduction for Trainers: a video featuring overseas and US-based CO practices, interviews with trainers, and highlights of tips and tools that are addressed in depth in Refugee Training and Orientation: A Guide for Service Providers. The 38-minute video is designed as an introduction to CO for trainers and others who deliver orientation directly, and can also provide a brief overview of the overseas through domestic CO continuum for other service providers and community members.

CO Realia Kit: various pictures and images that may be useful in CO sessions, categorized as follows: Community Resources, Educational Resources, Financial Resources, Health- and Food-Related Resources, Housing Resources, Immigration and Legal Resources, and Transportation Resources

Icebreakers: exercises or handouts for use within a classroom or group activity

Training for the Non-Trainer digest (below): foundational information on adult learning and retention, conducting a needs assessment, delivering orientation through a variety of methods, setting up an environment conducive to learning, and soothing tensions within a group of participants