Conference Day

Session 1: Human Rights & Disabilities

When I think about inclusion of our students with disabilities or mental health concerns, I often find myself thinking about the negative things. The first session this morning was really eye opening and reminded me of all the good things we do in Canada when it comes to human rights and inclusive education. It is very hard to imagine that we still have countries that completely seclude people with disabilities.

Session 2: Anti-Bullying

I agree with Joanne Syms about “naming things for what they are”. The word bullying is used in our school as a catch-all phrase when often it is rooted in homophobia, racism, sexism etc.

One thing that really stood out to me during this presentation was when she mentioned that we should reconnect with our behaviour kids rather than pushing them away. Use discipline rather than punishment meaning we should educate and not just punish them. Once we have had an incident in our classroom, we (teachers) should try to pull them back into our community not push them even further away.

Session 3: Newcombers to NS

The last session was about Newcombers to Nova Scotia. This past March a little boy from Eritrea who had been living in a refugee camp with his two younger brothers and his mother for years joined my grade 6 class in New Minas. The language he speaks is only spoken by 0.0006% of the population and the nearest translator lives in Ontario. (Seriously, other than his family, there is not a single person in NS that speaks Afar!) We literally taught him how to turn door knobs, use the washroom, get a drink from the fountain etc. using pictures, videos, modeling and so on. The past 3 months have not only been a learning experience for him and his family but also for myself and the rest of my grade 6 class. I was so proud of them for stepping up and showing off some wonderful leadership skills and really tried to include Idris in all activities. It was amazing to watch them interact with Idris, and I got teary eyed more than once.

When Rola presented today, she also mentioned that the “newcomber experience” is not the same for everyone, and I completely agree. My family moved from Germany to Canada in 2001 when I was 15. My parents were well educated and both my sister and I knew some English before we moved. All of us had visited Canada before moving and although there certainly were some things that were drastically different, it doesn’t even compare to Idris’ experience. I don’t dug and cover myself every time a helicopter flies by, I don’t have giant scars on my belly, I am used to processed foods, I have a pretty good immune system and I have a pretty good understanding of cultural norms and school structures….completely different to Idris’ experience.

My hope is that 5 to 10 years from now, I can meet up with him again and just get his version of what his first few months in Canada were like…and also to find out what he keeps calling me in Afar when I ask him to sit down in class…I highly doubt he says “You are beautiful!” or “You are so smart!” J

Finally, we need to remember that there is not “one size fits all” program for our newcombers even when they are from the same part of the world. And as Rola mentioned, we should not think of the child in isolation but need to think of the whole family.