The first thing a visitor to any WCDSB school notices when they walk through the door is the vast mosaic of races, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and languages represented by our students.
Indeed, our schools are home to students from almost 110 different countries, who speak more than 100 different languages.
So, it really is more than just a “saying” when we proudly state our schools truly do welcome the world!
In 2021-22, our Newcomer Reception Centre (NRC) welcomed 492 newcomer students to the WCDSB.
And between August and November 2022 alone we welcomed 294 newcomer students to our schools – including 24 students from Ukraine (who joined the 21 Ukrainian students who had already joined us between January and August, 2022).
Meanwhile, our St. Louis Adult Learning & Continuing Education campuses continue serving hundreds of students from dozens of families annually.
In 2021-22, St. Louis programs served the following:
- International Languages – Elementary – 1,695
- International Languages – Secondary – 117
- English as a Second Language (ESL) – 1,930 unique learners
- Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) – 960 unique learners
As the WCDSB moves toward more inclusive language, the school board is moving away from use of the terms English Literacy Development (ELD) learners and English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and is instead moving toward speaking in terms of Multilingual Learners (MLs) or Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs), which respects the linguistic backgrounds of our students without centering English as the only language in which one can learn.
We want to celebrate multilingualism as a gift — and celebrate as our students learn more than one and, often, multiple languages.
As we move toward the third decade of the 21st century, multilingualism becomes an ever more valuable asset for our students.
While celebrating multilingualism is a daily occurrence in our schools, there is a particular, community needs-based emphasis in certain individual schools – among them, St. John CES and Resurrection CSS in Kitchener.
In the 1930s and 1940s St. John’s was home to students from numerous newcomer families. Those families – mainly from Eastern Europe – were attracted to the neighbourhood by the giant Dominion Tire plant (it eventually became Uniroyal) a short distance from the school.
The plant closed in 1993, and in the three decades since then the neighbourhood has transitioned to become home to families from many different countries.
The school is now home to students from more than two dozen different countries who speak more than two dozen languages other than English.
As significant number of newcomer families from Eritrea live within the St. John’s boundary which has made Tigrinya the most predominant language other than English spoken in the school.
St. John is part of the Resurrection CSS family of schools, which is a tremendous support for the MLs and MLLs attending St. John, since Resurrection CSS (along with St. Mary’s High School) both include fully-resourced ML/MLL Departments.
The department at Resurrection includes a department head and 11 teachers – along with a further 14 teachers who teach the school’s subject-adapted courses. They serve approximately 300 students, whose skills range from early English proficiency to those who are more proficient in English and simply require additional support and coaching to maintain their academic progress.
A small number of new students arrive to Canada lacking literacy skill in their own home language, with makes intensive support imperative.
In addition to the ML/MLL supports provided by the WCDSB, Resurrection also has an on-site Settlement Worker from the YMCA to assist newcomer families in navigating Canada’s complex immigration, health care and education sectors.
Like St. John’s, the most prominent language other than English spoken at Resurrection is Tigrinya. There are also a significant number of Spanish-speaking students. Other languages commonly heard in the hallways include Korean, Arabic, Chinese and Blin (a language spoken in Eritrea).
The ML/MLL program at Resurrection has been so successful that several students have volunteered to be language mentors for younger elementary school students. Part of this includes recording tutorial videos to assist students in leaning common English words.
In this video clip, students Azamit, Iledona and Selam translate the names of the days of the week from English to Tigrinya.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DVId8o_nYVXx8ew8GCpl4ReQUKKDPCcO/view
Waterloo Region’s Catholic schools are a true reflection of 21st century Waterloo Region – which for a number of years has been among the top destinations for newcomers to Canada.
As our community has grown and become ever more diverse, so have we.
After 185 years of providing Quality, Inclusive, Faith-Based education, we remain as proud as ever to remain Heart of the Community: offering Success for Each and A Place for all.
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