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協助新移民家長們與學校保持聯繫

Helping New Canadian Parents Stay Connected

新移民初來乍到一個新的國度，父母們面對文化、語言的隔閡，與東西方就學模式的不同，在無法掌握孩子的就學狀況下，許多父母因而產生挫折與焦慮，我個人對此非常能理解。

I understand the frustration and fear felt by parents who can’t understand what’s happening to their children at school or who are unfamiliar with basic school routines because of cultural differences and language barriers.

Winston Churchill 公立學校共有200名學生，其中一半以上參加了ESL課程。

Winston Churchill Public School has a population of 200 students with over half enrolled in the ESL program. There are 20 different languages represented.

我們的ESL老師協助我們找到了許多能說雙語的家長們，這些家長同意擔任學校與不諳英語的父母們之間的橋樑，讓家長們能夠掌握到孩子們在學校的狀況。

With help from the ESL teacher, we identified bilingual parents who agreed to act as a link between the school and non-English speaking parents, to help them stay connected and feel part of their children’s life at school.

除此之外，為了鼓勵來自不同文化背景的家長們參與Winston Churchill公立學校的運作，我們希望父母們能夠跟孩子共同完成一些雙語書或繪本。這些書或繪本以英語與中文書寫，故事可以選一些與自己本國文化有關的內容。父母們藉由這個雙語書的創作過程，不但能夠與教職人員多些接觸，更因為這個介紹自己本國文化的機會，許多因為語言與文化產生的隔閡得以消除。

In addition, to engage parents from different cultural backgrounds at Winston Churchill Public School, parents are invited to help their children to create fully illustrated Dual-language books. The books written in English and the first language, often depict stories from distant countries. By engaging the parents in the process of creating the Dual-Language books, they begin to make important connections with school staff and understand how the school system works. Because of the nature of the Dual-Language book project, language barriers begin to disappear along with apprehension.

這些雙語圖書在Winston Churchill 公立學校非常受到學生的歡迎，並讓不同文化背景的學生了解了彼此之間的差異，在Waterloo公立圖書館中目前已經有不少館藏•。
These books are very popular with all students at Winston Churchill and help them to gain a better appreciation for other cultures. These wonderful books can now be found in the Waterloo Public Library.