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Five-year-old Gebran Maatouq’s first lesson at school on Thursday was perhaps the perfect introduction to his new homeland. Sitting at a tot-sized table with his fellow senior kindergarten students at École élémentaire catholique Montfort, Gebran pieced together pictures that illustrated how to make a snow angel.
His family, who are refugees from Syria, only arrived in town a week ago. But Thursday’s snow squall didn’t faze this little guy, who explained through a translator, with a heart-melting grin, that he couldn’t wait for recess on his first day at school so he could play outside.
His sister Katia, 7, whose school uniform was set off smartly by sparkly gold sneakers, smiled shyly, bid goodbye to her parents, and skipped down the hallway to join her Grade 2 class.
Katia Maatouq was ready for her Grade 2 class at Montfort school.
Principal François Dumont said the arrival of the Maatouq kids set off a buzz of excitement at the school off Montreal Road. “We know they went through a lot. We just want to open our hearts to them and welcome them.”
Montfort principal Francois Dumont, left, shows the Maatouq family around the children’s new school: dad Fadi, mom Giana and kids Gebran, 5, and Katia, 7.
As Syrian refugees arrive in Ottawa, their children are enrolling in schools. Almost 40 students have started in Ottawa’s English-language schools this month. Numbers are in flux, but several hundred more are expected by the end of February.
The Maatouq family arrived in Ottawa a week ago, and they haven’t even been downtown yet. But they checked out schools, and chose a French-language Catholic one near their home because they are Christians, and their children attended a French-language school in Lebanon after the family fled Syria.
Refugee parents are always eager to get their children into school, says Robyne Warren, the co-ordinator of the Family Reception Centre run by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
“If the children are in school it can create a kind of normalcy in your daily living,” says Warren. “And you want your children to be happy. What parent doesn’t want a better life for their child? You see them come in, you see the excitement.”
Staff at the centre, which is inside the Adult High School on Rochester Street, test about 1,500 newcomers a year for English proficiency, oral comprehension and speaking skills, reading, writing, and math.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board has a similar welcome centre. At both, multicultural officers talk to parents about what to expect, from the complexities of Ottawa’s four school boards and various programs within them to the need for kids to bundle up in winter and pack healthy food in their lunches.
“We really try to create a caring, safe place,” says Nicki Dunlop, a teacher who assesses newcomers at the Catholic board. Some parents worry the testing will determine whether their children will be allowed into school, or assume there will be a charge. “The first thing we tell them is ‘you’re welcome here. You’re accepted. You can almost see, from their body language, them relaxing. People say ‘really? And there’s no tuition?’ ”
They explain myriad details of the school system that might be unfamiliar, from the use of lockers to how the semester system works and what it means when a bell rings.
Most of the Syrian children now in school are from families like the Maatouqs, who were privately sponsored by churches, family members and community groups.
Fadi Maatouq kisses his 5-year-old son, Gebran while his mom, Giana, and 7-year-old sister, Katia, look on during the children’s first day of school.
Children from refugee families sponsored by the Canadian government will be flooding into schools in the next few weeks, as their parents find places to live. Government-sponsored refugees spend about a month at a reception house or in overflow accommodation at two Ottawa hotels.
The first weeks in Canada are often a honeymoon period for refugees, say settlement workers. Families are excited to be here and busy getting settled. Sometimes it takes awhile before any underlying trauma emerges. Many of the Syrian children have seen war and lived in refugee camps, and some have missed chunks of schooling.
“There’s no exact science on how long it takes them to settle,” says Warren. “You may see children running and hopping and skipping for a whole year, then there’s a sudden decline.”
But children are resilient, and refugees are some of the most resilient people on earth, she says. And kids from Syria have the same concerns as any child starting a new school, she notes. “Who is going to be my friend? Who am I going to play with at recess?”
jmiller@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
His family, who are refugees from Syria, only arrived in town a week ago. But Thursday’s snow squall didn’t faze this little guy, who explained through a translator, with a heart-melting grin, that he couldn’t wait for recess on his first day at school so he could play outside.
His sister Katia, 7, whose school uniform was set off smartly by sparkly gold sneakers, smiled shyly, bid goodbye to her parents, and skipped down the hallway to join her Grade 2 class.
Katia Maatouq was ready for her Grade 2 class at Montfort school.
Principal François Dumont said the arrival of the Maatouq kids set off a buzz of excitement at the school off Montreal Road. “We know they went through a lot. We just want to open our hearts to them and welcome them.”
Montfort principal Francois Dumont, left, shows the Maatouq family around the children’s new school: dad Fadi, mom Giana and kids Gebran, 5, and Katia, 7.
As Syrian refugees arrive in Ottawa, their children are enrolling in schools. Almost 40 students have started in Ottawa’s English-language schools this month. Numbers are in flux, but several hundred more are expected by the end of February.
The Maatouq family arrived in Ottawa a week ago, and they haven’t even been downtown yet. But they checked out schools, and chose a French-language Catholic one near their home because they are Christians, and their children attended a French-language school in Lebanon after the family fled Syria.
Refugee parents are always eager to get their children into school, says Robyne Warren, the co-ordinator of the Family Reception Centre run by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
“If the children are in school it can create a kind of normalcy in your daily living,” says Warren. “And you want your children to be happy. What parent doesn’t want a better life for their child? You see them come in, you see the excitement.”
Staff at the centre, which is inside the Adult High School on Rochester Street, test about 1,500 newcomers a year for English proficiency, oral comprehension and speaking skills, reading, writing, and math.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board has a similar welcome centre. At both, multicultural officers talk to parents about what to expect, from the complexities of Ottawa’s four school boards and various programs within them to the need for kids to bundle up in winter and pack healthy food in their lunches.
“We really try to create a caring, safe place,” says Nicki Dunlop, a teacher who assesses newcomers at the Catholic board. Some parents worry the testing will determine whether their children will be allowed into school, or assume there will be a charge. “The first thing we tell them is ‘you’re welcome here. You’re accepted. You can almost see, from their body language, them relaxing. People say ‘really? And there’s no tuition?’ ”
They explain myriad details of the school system that might be unfamiliar, from the use of lockers to how the semester system works and what it means when a bell rings.
Most of the Syrian children now in school are from families like the Maatouqs, who were privately sponsored by churches, family members and community groups.
Fadi Maatouq kisses his 5-year-old son, Gebran while his mom, Giana, and 7-year-old sister, Katia, look on during the children’s first day of school.
Children from refugee families sponsored by the Canadian government will be flooding into schools in the next few weeks, as their parents find places to live. Government-sponsored refugees spend about a month at a reception house or in overflow accommodation at two Ottawa hotels.
The first weeks in Canada are often a honeymoon period for refugees, say settlement workers. Families are excited to be here and busy getting settled. Sometimes it takes awhile before any underlying trauma emerges. Many of the Syrian children have seen war and lived in refugee camps, and some have missed chunks of schooling.
“There’s no exact science on how long it takes them to settle,” says Warren. “You may see children running and hopping and skipping for a whole year, then there’s a sudden decline.”
But children are resilient, and refugees are some of the most resilient people on earth, she says. And kids from Syria have the same concerns as any child starting a new school, she notes. “Who is going to be my friend? Who am I going to play with at recess?”
jmiller@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
