Before the Immigrant or Refugee Student Arrives: Creating a Welcoming School Climate:

• Teach staff and students how to say “hello” in the new students’ native languages.

 • Ask a member of the immigrant community to work with the school in preparation of the arrival of new students. Learn from their experiences as an immigrant or refugee.

• Teach mainstream students about refugees and why they are forced to migrate. Role-play how they would feel as refugees.

• Find resources, interpreters, and materials on cultural diversity and have a seminar for staff on in-coming students’ home countries, explaining the land, history and culture. Emphasize the importance of learning about the world, linking to existing learning material.

• Prepare school staff for arrival of new immigrant and refugee students, change cafeteria food menu for a day as a welcome.

• Clarify meaning of special clothes for girls (i.e. shador or head covering) for Physical Education and other classes.

• Display pictures, maps, and information about immigrant students’ home countries in a central location of the school in order to educate the student body about newcomers.

Immigrant and Refugee Students in the Classroom: Strengthening One-on-One Interaction:

• Teach lessons about the home countries of immigrant students. Even if the new student doesn’t understand everything, s/he should be comforted to see students learning about things that s/he recognizes. Parents could also be involved in the planning and presentation.

• Ask new students to draw maps of their home countries, adding pictures and cities. Have them show the class (or rotate partners if a large group is too intimidating), and ask them to bring in items that represent their cultures to explain and share with the class.

• Use visual aids.

• Use good nonverbal communication skills. Be patient with new students’ development and use of new language skills.

• Be genuine, sincere and friendly with immigrant and refugee students. Help them to feel secure in the school environment.

• Slowly introduce new students into the school mainstream.

• Develop a buddy system, matching new students with current students to show them around for the first week.

Involving Immigrant Families and Communities in School Life:

• Produce a short video in the native language of incoming students that showcases the school, sports, conferences, etc. The video can be viewed at school or home.

• Work with parents to help them learn how to “get involved” in the schools without being too intimidating (i.e. parent-teacher conferences, volunteer opportunities, etc.).

• Offer parents “coffee/tea time” as they drop off kids in the morning. Use this time to get immigrant and refugee parents involved in school life.

• Ask parents of immigrant students to volunteer in the classroom and become more familiar with what happens during the school day. Parents might use skills from their home countries (i.e. art classes).