English class in high demand at Winnipeg high school

Students from five different countries who could barely speak English 10 months ago have now been able to form friendships at theirWinnipeg high school.

Most of the Grade 7 and 8 students are refugees from Somalia, Syria, Tanzania and Zambia who are part of a new English as an additionallanguageclass being offered at St. John's High School.

"It's one of the most rewarding things," saidEAL teacher Mark Gallant."To see a boy from the Philippinesand a girl from Syria and a girl from Tanzania all enjoying their friendship together playing cards and the one way they interact is using English."

Gallant said the kids have all formed bonds and friendships, as they learn to read and write in English together.

"To know I was a part of that, it's very valuable, I love seeing it every day," he said.

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"I've been seeing them every day for a year, you don't see those small improvements every day but when you step out and see it from a different perspective, you see justhow far they've come."

The program is one of two EAL classes being offered at St. John's. The new program was added last April after an influx of new students arrived last year.

"The numbers were getting to be really large, we had upwards of 30 plus students for one teacher in oneEAL program from Grade 7 to Grade 12," saidprincipal Doug Taylor, who said he expects to see morerefugee students arrive before the end of the year.

"There was a real need to focus on some Grade 7 to 8 students who had particular needs, and we needed a specialist and Mark [Gallant] really filled that void."

Jacob Mpoyo, 13,is from Zambia, and he recalls the first time he saw snow when he arrived in Winnipeg in 2013.

"When I came here I saw the snow and I thought it was like a decoration," said Mpoyo, who now lovesskiing and sledding.

Mpoyosaid he loves Canada and the many friends he has made at school, but he also misses his family and friends from home in Africa.

"I miss climbing the trees, getting in the meadows and having my own garden," he said with a smile.

"I miss my friends."

TuliziaShabani came from Tanzania a year ago. Shesaid her English has improved over the last few months but it's not her favourite class.

"I like math," she said.

'We're ready'

Gallant said he expects to see more new students in his class this yearbecause of the ongoing refugee crisis.

"They're always coming, you never know when anyone could show up, it could be tomorrow it could be next week, but we're ready," said Gallant.

The province said there are 130 new refugee claimants this year and school boards acrossWinnipeg arealso dealing with a huge spike in the number of EAL students.

Earlier this week trustees with the Winnipeg School Division say schools have had to stretch resources to accommodate the large number of newcomers.

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In the Winnipeg School Division, the number of refugee students enrolled has increased this year to 184 from 170 last year.

The division said the number of EAL students has also grown from6,296 in 2013 to7,052in 2016.

In southeast Winnipeg, the Louis Riel School Divisionsays the number of EALstudents has jumped from about 400 in 2013 to 1,200 this year.

'It's an ongoing challenge'

Provincial Education Minister Ian Wishartwould not commit to more funding on Thursday but he says it's an issue his government is watching closely.

"We're certainly evaluating where we're headed withthat because it's not a problem that is being resolved in one year, it's an ongoing challenge," Wishart said.

He said the federal governmenthas alreadyprovided additional funding of about a million dollarsfor EAL programs last year.

NDP education critic Wab Kinewsaid the Pallistergovernment needs to do more to specifically address the challenges facing school divisions when it comes to refugees entering the public school system and target funding.

"We have situations where school divisions in our province may have declining enrolment and so under the Pallisterformula they're going to get less money and yet they could have huge numbers of EAL students," said Kinew. "Kids need to be able to get an education, that's going to be their path to success in our province."

English classes in high demand

8 years ago

Duration 2:15

Students from five different countries who could barely speak English 10 months ago have now been able to form friendships at their Winnipeg high school.