In case you are receiving new students who are refugees and you lack resources to understand their linguistic, cultural and experiential backgrounds . . .
CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics) offers background information for those working with immigrants from these linguistic/cultural groups:
Refugees from Iraq (publication coming soon), Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal, The Kunama, The 1972 Burundians, The Banyamulenge Tutsi
www.cal.org/topics/ri/backgrounders.html#1
Additional resources and phrase books for a variety of languages are available through CAL through their Cultural Orientation Resource Center