Syrian students at Saskatoon's W.P. Bates School develop their English skills

Six months ago, when Dema Shhadeh first walked the halls of W.P. Bate Community School, the grade six student could barely speak a word of English.

Today, on the last day of class, she doesn't want to leave school for summer holidays. She's having too much fun.

"I am sad it is the last day of school because I love to learn," said Shhadeh.

She is one of 63 Syrian students who enrolled in W.P. Bate this past January. When they arrived from fleeing the Syrian conflict, most had very little knowledge of the English language.

That's the progress I see is when they are walking along the hallway with a kid that speaks another language.- Alison Uitti, EAL teacher at W.P. Bate Community School.

That presented a challenge for Alison Uitti, who is one of four English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers in the school. She smiles when thinking back to meeting the students for the first time.

"I had all the kids at one table and we were just kind of getting to know eachother while the parents were filling out their forms. It was pretty hectic. One of them knew a little bit of English. The rest of them didn't know any."

Soccer a motivating factor

Uitti was impressed with how eager the Syrian students were to learn the language, but realized it wasn't entirely for academic reasons.

"I'm sure they want to learn in school but their main reason for learning English is so that they can play soccer on the playground. Have a friend and talk to somebody. That's the progress I see is when they are walking along the hallway with a kid that speaks another language."

Abdullah Mohamad has become somewhat of a leader when it comes to playground activities. Mohamad is in grade 3 and is using English to take charge of recess soccer matches.

He uses his fingers to explain what he tells friends to do with the ball.

"When I play soccer, I tell my friends to go there and to go overthere. Then to kick the ball and go to the net."

Mohamad, like Shhadeh, thinks a summer off from school is a bad idea.

"I'm not excited to be done school. I love all the teachers and the people of this school."

Sing, sing, sing

Receiving such a large influx of Arabic-speaking students presented some challenges to Uitti and her EAL colleagues.

Uitti is quick to point out how much work the classroom teachers have put in to make the Syrian students feel comfortable and build up their language skills on a daily basis.

When she pulls the students out of their classroom to do some specific language work, Uitti often sings to them as a way to introduce new words.

"Rhythmic activities and activities that are involving relationships are really the best way to help kids who have been through trauma because it's predictable and the brain really likes those rhythmic things," said Uitti.