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Radmilo Gvozdenovi is a 10-year-old is having a very hard time in his new school in his mother’s home town of Roma in Serbia. He has to attend a special language class, not because he has a learning disability, but because he speaks no Roma, or Serbian, but speaks in German. His family isn’t German, so he didn’t learn the language at home but learned German while living abroad.The young Gvozdenovi is one of many Serbian repatriates who, having grown up in a foreign land due to fleeing a worn-torn country, learned the language of their “adopted” land.
Now, with many returning home, children like Radmilo face some serious challenges. Education is a challenge since special efforts have to be applied toward teaching these repatriated children their native languages that really aren’t native at all.His short life has been marked by a great deal of upheaval and although born to refugee parents in Germany, his family moved around western Europe for years but finally returned home to a repatriation section in the town of Savci where most of the children his age prefer to speak German. But not at the local primary school where the language barrier presents daily challenges.“I had to learn German when we lived there in order to survive,” Radmilo said. “Now I have to learn Serbian to get along here, even though I am born to Serbian parents.”He has younger brothers and sisters who also do not know Serbian. Yet, they have not re-entered school yet, so focus is for Radmilo to learn the language as quickly as possible to gain a better advantage attending school. The Serbian government has addressed this repatriation issue by providing extracurricular help to children like Radmilo. However, this means that much of his free time out of class has to be devoted to learning his native language rather than at the playful pursuits a typical nine-year-old would enjoy.Radmilo said he really likes playing football (soccer) but he still needs to develop the language skills to participate with others playing his favorite sport. “I know I need to speak Serbian for school, but I still want to play football,” he said.His parents said they have to maintain a positive attitude explaining to the young boy that opportunities to learn, grow and play will become more available once he can speak their native language.“He’s a good boy and he is working hard to learn Serbian. Since he is young, this challenge is better met than when I had to learn German as an adult,” his father said.
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