Integration of Immigrant Children in Schools

Preparation:

The course provider will send to the participants a list of materials related to the course topic that they can read in order to prepare for the course. The course provider keeps in touch with the participants and tailors the course according to their specific needs. The course provider offers support if the participants need any information related to accommodation, plane tickets or other details necessary in organising the course.

Course description

As a consequence of worldwide waves of immigration there is a permanent increase of ethnically mixed school classes in countries all over the world. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on interethnic relationships which differentiate immigrant children based on their countries of origin.

This course addresses to the major worldwide issue and aims to give assistance for teachers and other educational professionals who desire to understand their role in tackling it. You will produce classroom-based solutions for effective integration of immigrant children and learn skills to establish inclusive and safe multi-cultural environment inside your classroom.

 Methodology:

• Team – Building Sessions;
• Role – Play
• Mime exercises
• Ice – Breaking and Warm – Up Sessions;
• Energisers
• Group Discussions;
• Debates;
• Drama techniques
• Questioning;
• Goal – Setting sessions;
• Brainstorming;
• Questionnaires

Objectives

• Learning how to tackle the problem of refugee students
• Improving teaching skills and refreshing the teaching style
• Developing tools and techniques for dealing with students with emotional problems
• Increasing parental involvement in education
• Provoking responses to problems which are global rather than provincial in nature and which foster interests in the outside world
• Increasing students' tolerance towards multiculturality and diversity
• Learning how to cooperate with the community through various projects made in schools
• Exchanging experiences and cross cultural practices in dealing with new students in schools

• Be aware of reasons for immigration in global context, identify risk factors and barriers for successful integration of immigrant learner’ into education.
• Understand advantages and disadvantages of approaches such as inclusion, integration or mainstreaming, promote universal access to education with regards to non-discriminatory, democratic values.
• Implement and evaluate appropriate action strategies according to community needs in order to prevent bias, school dropouts and anti-social behaviour of learners.
• Gain techniques for working with heterogeneous classrooms and communities, deal with increased diversity of learners, especially with immigrant children.
• Apply student-centred, innovative teaching methods which are work-based or project based, reduce low achievement in basic competences and develop learners lifelong learning skills.
• Learn to motivate, guide and effectively assess students from different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds, know the tools to differentiate instructions and classroom tasks.
• Strengthen professional profile, gain motivation and confidence in responding adequately to current global issues, revise and develop key competences, re-ignite lifelong learning strategies.
• Gain understanding of strategies and systems dealing with Integration of immigrant children in different countries, embed common professional values.
• Meet colleagues of different nationalities within the EU, engage in cross-cultural learning experience, exchange ideas, build a network for future international cooperation.
• Improve communication skills, reinforce foreign language competencies, broaden professional vocabulary.

Follow-up

Trainees will be given soft and hard copies of all lesson materials, which they can present to their colleagues in their own organizations to generate interest in project writing. In addition, a mailing list of participants will be created in order to exchange ideas/experiences. At the end of the course the participants will fill in a questionnaire in order to get a detailed feedback for the effectiveness of the training event.

Programme of training activities day-by-day:

Day 1 – MONDAY 

• Welcome and registration
• Introduction to the problem of refugees; The background of the problem
• How Specific Problems and Strategies in Selected European Countries
• Learning the basic terms about Intercultural Education
• Effective strategies to increase the newcomer students' inclusion in the classroom

Day 2 – TUESDAY 

• Inclusive Approaches to Promote Tolerance and Diversity
• From homogenous to heterogeneous classroom: how to overcome the transition
• Overcoming Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination
• Teaching non-natives in a native environment: grading the language

Day 3 – WENDESDAY 

• Building a welcoming environment for new coming students
• Effective Integration into New Environment
• Adapting content of different subjects for newcomer students
• Scaffolding Strategies for Learners from Different Language Background
• Working with bilingual and multilingual students

Day 4 – THURSDAY 

• Scaffolding Strategies for Learners from Different Language Background
• Working with bilingual and multilingual students
• Practical exercises aimed at strengthening newcomer students' self-esteem
• Practical exercises for increasing tolerance for different cultures in your classroom

Day 5 – FRIDAY 

• Link between migration and early school leaving
• Strategies for conflict resolution in the classroom
• Various Teaching Methods for Students Active Involvement
• Adapting to multicultural society; Six hats method

Days 6/7 – SATURDAY and SUNDAY Workshops and Cultural Activities

Day 8 – Monday 

• Designing classroom activities that will enable newcomers to equally participate in the classroom
• Games for Multicultural Classes
• Assessment in Mixed Ability Classes

Day 9 – Tuesday 

• Approaching Immigrant Children’s Parents
• The importance of parental involvement in their children's process of adaptation
• Talking to your child about their condition
• Overprotecting your child: disempowering them while exhausting you

Day 10 – Wednesday

• Workshop
• My 6 months' plan for tackling the situation of receiving refugees
• Feedback, Course Evaluation and Dissemination Focus
• Awarding certificates of attendance