Refugee kids coming to P.E.I. will need help adjusting, teachers learn

As Island schools expect to addas many as 50 refugee students in the coming months, 300 teachers and administratorsare getting specialized training to help them adapt.

• P.E.I. refugee family working to build new life

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The first group of teachers spent Mondaywith University of Winnipeg professor Jan Stewart, whose research has taken her aroundthe world, including Zimbabwe and South Sudan, to study how to best integrate refugee students.

"This isn't just about Syria," Stewart told the teachers Monday. "Your schools have refugee students from many different countries."

P.E.I. schools already have 130 refugee children from countriesincluding Afghanistan, Columbia,Nepal and Sudan.

You have children coming into your classroom that come from such different culturesand such horrificexperiences.Janet Perry-Payne, P.E.I. EAL administrator

Stewart said it's easy to assume young people are doing well when they get to Canada after escaping horrible conditions in refugee camps or war-torn countries. But adapting to a new life isn't always that easy.

Stewart said some are still only a phone call away from the conflict back home.

"The situation is still happening for them," she said.

"I believe that, no matter how hard you try, you can't teach away trauma, and if that childis feeling threatened in your classroom no matter what you're trying to implement,whether it's math, or numeracy skills, literacy skills you're really not going to be gettingthrough."

'There's grief involved'

The workshop will help teachers develop strategies for conflict-sensitive teaching and learning, and offer ways to foster students'mental well-being.

"When you have children coming into your classroom that come from such different culturesand such horrific
experiences, the teachers really are taking a step back and trying to learn how to do this," saidJanet Perry-Payne,the English as an Additional Language administratorfor the province.

She added that educatorsneed to prepare to welcome the refugees by becoming as informed as possible, which includes the possibility that they could face racism and discrimination.

"We have a promise that we make that this is a better future. Many of our refugees don't see it that waybecause they're very sad," said Perry-Payne.

"There's grief involved in this process, and settling in to a new culture isdifficult, leaving behind. And we need to work hard in education to accept, to learn new culture, whilewe welcome into our culture."