Nour arrived in the UK as a teenager, having been resettled with his family. Here he tells us about his hopes and fears when he found out he was moving to the UK, and what advice he would give to other teens being resettled.
I was 16.
I was resettled through the Community Sponsorship programme with my family. We are originally from Syria, but we had been living in Jordan for 6 years before we were resettled.
Learning the language and continuing my education.
I knew the language barrier would make life difficult at first, and it was very hard leaving behind my friends and family from Syria and Jordan.
When I see people out and about, I greet them and they greet me.
No, I didn’t have much specific knowledge about the country. My teacher taught us some very basic English – the numbers, the days of the week – that sort of thing. But that was all I knew, so when I came here I considered myself to be learning the language from scratch.
In my school in Jordan, the students stayed in one classroom and the teachers came to us, but here we move around. My school in Jordan was for boys only, but here the school is mixed.
I want to study engineering at university.
I feel like this scheme helps to give hope to refugees and makes life much easier for them when they arrive in the UK.
I’m part of the community. I know everyone now, and they know me. When I see people out and about, I greet them and they greet me. My language is better now, but I still need to practice!
Learn the language because this makes life generally much easier. Never give up. Patience is important because it is very hard at the start to come to a new country and learn a new language.
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