'We can welcome all of them': Montreal school board says it's ready for asylum seekers

Tuesday morning,Rahouadja Zarzistood in the schoolyard ofcole Jacques-Bizardonle Bizard,holding the colourful poster she made with a list of names on itto welcome her new students.

They came from around the world.

"It's new faces, new kids and a new adventure,"Zarzisaid in her classroom Monday, a smile spreading across her face. "It's always fun I really love my job.

Tuesday isthe first day of school for the 2,600 new students enrolled with Montreal'sMarguerite-Bourgeoysschool board, the highest number of new arrivals the boardhas ever had.

Many of the new pupils are children of immigrants,according to board presidentDiane Lamarche-Venne.

• Montreal schools brace for influx of asylum seekers

The wave of asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States, many of them children,hasn't really affected those numbers yet, says Lamarche-Venne, but she said the board will be ready when the influx begins.

'They're going to be OK'

The first familyof asylum seekers to sign up withMarguerite-Bourgeoys, theLezinscars, handed in their application Monday.

HandsonLezinscar, his wife Edith and their three children two of which are old enough to go to school are Haitian, and came to Montreal from Boston because they feared deportationfollowing U.S. President Donald Trump's threat toend the temporary protected status of almost 60,000 Haitians in the country by January.

"I know it's going to be a little hard for them becausethey already started at an English school,"said Lezinscarof his kids. "But I think they're going to be OK."

Lezinscar's 10-year-old daughter Handsonique said she was excited tolearn French and make new friends. Plus, her favourite subject is math, a transcendentlanguage.

• Why are thousands of Haitians streaming into Canada from the U.S.?

The family is among thousands that see Canada as their only hope to avoid returning to their country, wherethey say it is not safe. They are seeking asylum and"a better life" here.

School board ready

Lamarche-Venne says the school board is ready to accept any other young asylum seekersthat sign up and need to go to school, adding it would accommodate whatever influx of students there may be.

She said the influx wouldn't affect the quality of education in the schools, even if it increased.

"If they come, we can welcome all of them," she said, explaining that the board had started a bank ofteachers trained for the special welcoming classes like the onesZarzioversees.

Zarziis one of the at least 180 teachers within theschool board who willwelcome children from familieswho just arrived to Canada.

Those kids are first placed in classes designed to help integrate them into the school system by teaching them French.

Learning a new language in a foreign place

Zarzisays she triesto make her students feel at home.

"It's very important in the class for them to feel as if they are a family and even if they don't speak the language of the others, they can speak with their hands."

Zarzisays she uses body language a lot, too, at first, to communicate with the allophone students. But when they become uneasy, cry or need to be reassured, she'll switch to English, a language they usually know a bit of already.

"I don't want them to be completely lost," she said.

To make it all easier, Zarzi has a tip for parents who want to support their children: learn French too. She encourages her students to be "little teachers" to their moms and dads.

But she also worries a number of the asylum seekers, some of whom could be future students, may have their claims rejected, a fate that has befallen some of her past students.

• Surge in asylum seekers coming to Canada nothing new, community groups say

As for the Lezinscars, they are in the process of filing their asylum claim and are crossing their fingers they'll be able to stay.

"Haitian people, we are hard workers, we came to Canada to put our heads together with the Canadian people," said Handson Lezinscar.

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