Unique classrooms to help new Canadians
WINNIPEG, MB—Two local Christian schools are taking an innovative approach to educating students who are newcomers to Canada.
The King's School and Linden Christian School both offer what they call "transitional" programs—classrooms aimed at students who are new to the country who need help with language skills, basic academics and adjusting to life in Canada.
A third school, St. Aidan's Christian School, will start offering a transitional program in September.
"We want to make it a safe place for the students," King's vice principal Val Micklefield says of the downtown, off-campus program, which she helped start in 2007. "We want to really give them that intentional help with their math concepts, with their language … and help unpack some of their emotional baggage."
The multi-age class, located on Notre Dame Avenue, currently has 22 students who are originally from countries including Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Burundi. Most if not all have suffered loss and trauma, including living in refugee camps.
Micklefield says that the students are at a variety of different education levels when they arrive. Some speak little or no English, while others speak English but cannot read or write. Meeting the students' language and literacy needs, therefore, is crucial.
At the same time, students also learn math, social studies, art, music and gym. Whether they are in Kindergarten or Grade 6, the students all learn together, working in specific ability groups where the content is adjusted to their needs.
"Everything you do, everything you say and how you think as a teacher is all geared to the fact that these children are not native English speakers," Micklefield says. "They're still in the process of learning spoken English … and certainly good written English."
At Linden Christian School's transitional program, the goals are the same. Teacher Brenda Wiebe established the program in 2010 after she learned about the program at King's.
"It just seemed to suit exactly what we were trying to fulfill here by helping the newcomer students adjust and succeed in school, but also share the gospel with them and help them grow in their faith," Wiebe says.
The class currently consists of 17 students from Grade 1 to 4 who are from Myanmar. Wiebe says that in addition to the challenge of learning English, students face the challenge of adjusting to a new culture.
"It's a very materialistic culture," Wiebe says. "There are so many options and so many choices to make that they've never had before that it's almost overwhelming."
Another challenge is when students learn English before their parents do as a result of the learning they do in the classroom.
"That can make it awkward for the parents," Wiebe says. "Many parents feel vulnerable and it can create family dynamics that aren't positive."
Wiebe works to avoid those negative family dynamics establishing relationships with the parents when she can. She also teaches the students to respect and honour their parents.
"Then I say, whatever you've learned here, you can help your mom and dad learn those things," she says.
According to Government of Manitoba statistics, Manitoba welcomed more than 15,900 immigrants last year—the highest number of immigrants since the start of modern record keeping in 1946. Winnipeg received just over 13,300 of those newcomers, more than Quebec City, Regina, Saskatoon, Victoria, Halifax and Fredericton combined.
Lee Anne Block, a faculty member in the education department at the University of Winnipeg, says transitional programs like those at King's and Linden Christian are extremely valuable.
"They're really important for immigrant students to have some kind of transitional process," Block says. "It doesn't always have to be a separate classroom, but they do need some opportunity to transition from whatever situation they're coming from."
Ultimately, the purpose of the programs at each school is to transition students into mainstream classrooms.
"I think it's thrilling to see students arrive so very, very needy in language and academics, see them take ground and then be able to wave them off," Micklefield says.
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