Cultural understanding: How can educators ease the cultural adjustment for newcomer families and students? “nothing makes sense! At that time, when we first arrived…because there is such a difference with our religion, and where we’re from, between Pakistan and Canada, the way of life and culture, there is a big difference, and this makes it difficult. One can’t understand anything! We’re thinking, where have we arrived?” Urdu-speaking parent

Relationship Building: How can educators and parents establish effective and equitable relationship? “I think it’s also important to have an open door policy. Because if you have admin where you have the door shut all the time, and you have to make an appointment to come in and it may not be for a week or so…It doesn’t work. If you have a parent come in when they have a problem, you can get it right in the first place …I’ve seen parents just walk in and say hello to you. And I think that is really important.” Teacher of Somali-speaking students Roles: What is the role of the teacher in the Canadian context, and how does this differ from immigrant families’ expectations?

Communication: What communication barriers exist between newcomer families and the schools that their children attend? “There were no such meetings at the school to say that we are going to meet tonight to help the newcomer families communicate with the school and discuss how to educate the children and how to adapt to Canada. This is a multicultural country. How can we help the immigrant parents adapt to the life here? I don’t think there have been any meetings about this topic at the school.” Mandarin-speaking parent

“The teacher’s role here is not the same as the teachers’ roles in Somalia. I believe that the teacher in Somalia used to play the parent and the teacher role at the same time. But the teachers in Canada play only the role of the teacher and that is not the same as the roles we used to expect from back home teachers. It is very difficult situation and getting used to it is also difficult…” Somali-speaking parent Information for parents and caregivers: What information about the school and the Canadian education system do parents and caregivers need to have in order to make informed decisions about their children’s education? “It’s just that since we’ve gone through two different school systems, we expected to find the same system here. Honestly, we couldn’t even imagine that the system would be so different. So drastically different, that it was already too late when we realized the mistakes that we had made…” Russian-speaking parent

Growing New Roots: Voices of Immigrant Families and the Teachers of their Children

Background: A team of Toronto-based educators and researchers conducted a series of focus group interviews to examine the relationships between immigrant and refugee parents and the teachers, principals and settlement workers who work with these communities. The DVD and handbook were created with the hope that they will promote cross-cultural understanding between immigrant and refugee families and educators, encourage greater interaction between families and educators and influence the development of programs, policies and practices based on the information learned form parents and school educators.

This DVD and handbook are divided into eight sections: 1. introduction 2. language 3. cultural understanding 4. communication 5. relationship building 6. roles of schools and families 7. information for parents and caregivers 8. conclusion Each chapter • provides insight into the experiences, views and issues that are unique to the various lowvoice immigrant and refugee communities featured in this DVD • provides information as to how schools and communities can work together to remove the barriers that hinder communication and

Participants: The participants in this DVD include parents from selected immigrant and refugee communities and the school teachers, principals and settlement workers who work with these communities. The selected immigrant and refugee communities include: • the Mandarin-speaking community • the Russian-speaking community • the Somali-speaking community • the Urdu-speaking community • the Arabic-speaking community • the Caribbean community These groups were chosen because they have been identified as low-voice immigrant communities. Low-voice immigrant communities - have fewer institutional structures - have a greater need and are made up of more recent arrivals

• promotes inclusive practices that encourage and promote parents to become involved in their children’s education. Language: What can you do when educators and immigrant families do not speak the same language? “I think that the biggest barrier is language, and if you don’t have somebody in the school…who can speak the same language as the parent it must be awful for them, you know, even to ask a basic question.” Teacher of Mandarinspeaking students

Sharing Your Experiences in Family-School Partnerships: We would love to hear your stories and experiences in developing and maintaining familyschool partnerships. In order to learn more about what schools and families have been doing, we invite you to post a short write up of your own experiences with family-school partnerships. Understanding and learning more about what other schools and families have done will help educators and families to build better relationships with one another. Send your stories and experiences via mail to: Dr. Antoinette Gagné, Associate Professor Dept. of Curriculum Teaching and Learning OISE/UT 252 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6 [email protected] Or post them on the ESL Insfusion Website at http://eslinfusion.oise.utoronto.ca/stories.asp The DVD footage and handbook will be available free of charge on the following website: http://eslinfusion.oise.utoronto.ca Obtain a copy of the DVD and handbook by contacting Dr. Antoinette Gagné