Being the new kid at school can be hard. Being the new kid thatB次元官网网址檚 recently moved to Canada can be especially hard.
ThatB次元官网网址檚 why Spencer middle school vice-principal Jennifer Nixon decided to start the Helping Hands Intercultural Homework Club.
B次元官网网址淚 was noticing a lot of our new Canadians, especially our Syrians B次元官网网址� were sitting by themselves,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚 thought it would be really good for them to have that social interaction.B次元官网网址�
Working with Kay Otani from the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, the group meets once a week for an hour. With almost 10 ambassadors B次元官网网址� students who take a leadership role in helping their peers B次元官网网址� and more than a dozen new Canadians, the club caters to a variety of needs.
B次元官网网址淪ome (students) are refugees, some are permanent residents, some are international; itB次元官网网址檚 a pretty diverse group,B次元官网网址� Otani noted.
Students spend the first half hour participating in an interactive exercise and then finish with a half hour in a computer lab, where they can work on any homework or participate in an academic group project. While students are given class time by teachers to work on their homework, Otani noted, B次元官网网址渁 lot of newcomers canB次元官网网址檛 finish their work in that time.B次元官网网址� This club gives them a little extra time, and help when needed, to get that work done. Students that have grown up in Canada also benefit from the club, he added, because they are exposed to new cultures and experiences.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 also a newcomer myself,B次元官网网址� Otani, one of the ICAB次元官网网址檚 settlement workers in schools, said proudly. His job is to help individuals and organizations connect across cultures. He assists with similar homework clubs at the ICAB次元官网网址檚 location in downtown Victoria and at Belmont secondary, where heB次元官网网址檚 helped out for the past two years. Expanding to Spencer just made sense, he said, as many of their students end up at Belmont.
B次元官网网址淪pencer was keen to have this,B次元官网网址� he said, nodding to NixonB次元官网网址檚 dedication and the team of teachers and volunteers that keep the group running. B次元官网网址淪chool District 62 is getting very diverse and has a very strong international program.B次元官网网址�
With that in mind, Otani hopes to expand the program to more schools in the district and across the region.
Last weekB次元官网网址檚 club meeting at Spencer started with a classic game that has many names and is played by children around the world.
B次元官网网址淒o you know how to play telephone?B次元官网网址� Otani asked the group of middle schoolers. Some nodded while others looked blankly until he explained the game, which sees a phrase whispered from person to person until it gets to the end of the line, where it has usually distorted into something completely different.
B次元官网网址淲ell, weB次元官网网址檙e going to make it multicultural B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 going to be in some form of a different language,B次元官网网址� Otani explained, as the students shuffled into two groups. He gave one person in each group a phrase to repeat to their peers. One translated into a way of saying hello in Arabic, while the other was a form of goodbye. By the time the phrases got to the end of the lines, they were both unrecognizable.
B次元官网网址淲e hear different languages in different ways and the same (goes) for newcomers,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 more difficult when you have to pass on the information.B次元官网网址�
The goal of the exercise was to encourage students to ask for information to be repeated or written down if they didnB次元官网网址檛 get it the first time.
Otani told them a story about his father learning English. He was speaking with a doctor who told him to take a Tylenol. OtaniB次元官网网址檚 father didnB次元官网网址檛 understand and didnB次元官网网址檛 ask the doctor to write down the instructions for him. Instead, he said, his father ended up in a bar ordering a drink, thinking that was what the doctor told him to do.
After the discussion, the students played another round of the game but this time both teams were successfully able to repeat the phrase at the end of the line.
