SASKATOON – Saskatoon’s school systems must work to integrate not only children who are new to Canada, but their families as well, according to a local education expert.
“Schools are the, I think the gateway, to education, not only for the child but for the family,” said Michelle Prytula, the University of Saskatchewan College of Education dean.
Saskatoon could see an influx of immigrants if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes good on a promise to bring 25,000 Syrian Refugees to Canada by the end of the year. Prytula says the arrival of numerous new students would place stress on school systems if additional support is not provided.
The Saskatoon public school system has seen increasing numbers of students receiving English as an additional language (EAL) instruction across all grades. In 2010, there were 814 students in the program, while in 2015 there were 2,550.
“The number of different cultures and languages represented in our classrooms has changed,” said Shauna Tilbury, the school system’s EAL coordinator.
“The diversity that brings and the value that that brings to learning is great.”
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In 2015, Saskatoon public schools took in 917 children at its newcomer student centre. Tilbury agreed that the school board’s role extends beyond teaching students in a classroom.
“A really big target for our newcomer student center is to welcome the family and engage the family and answer any questions that they have,” she said.
Increased efforts are important because high school can be hard enough for teenagers, let alone when they’re new to the country, according to Sam Geti. She came to Canada in 2002 from East Africa and attended E.D. Feehan High School, where she says it wasn’t an easy adjustment.
“I had no friends outside of the immigrant kids,” said Geti, who now works for the Open Door Society, which assists refugees and immigrants moving to Saskatoon.
“My first experience, I remember like Halloween walking into school and everybody’s dressed like all crazy and I had no idea what was going on.”
Kids are more accepting of newcomers now than in the past, according to Geti, but she said she still hears numerous stories of children who have a hard time fitting in.
“I think they have to like create like safe spaces for immigrant and non-immigrants to come together,” said Geti.
“You’re in the same school, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to like interact with each other, right?”
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