As a diverse learning community with students from over 40 countries, it is essential for us to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for everybody. At Canadian Academy, our class teachers, subject teachers, EAL teachers, and Learning Support teachers and assistants collaborate so learning happens at the students’ full potential.
Canadian Academy embraces the linguistic and cultural diversity that each student brings to the community. We have students for whom English may not be their mother tongue, and for these students, we offer the EAL (English as an Additional Language) program to promote an inclusive environment in the classrooms.
Our EAL team holds an EAL parent workshop every year, and introduces some classroom strategies that teachers use to support EAL students. ‘’We do a lot of differentiation on the teaching materials to make sure that the students can access the content, and often work in small groups. We also create a number of support materials, such as vocabulary sheets and visual aids. We break down instructions and make sure the students can work on tasks step-by-step,” explains Ms. Mayhew, our EAL Coordinator.
She also mentioned that each grade level has a dedicated EAL teacher in our elementary school, who are fully integrated in the grade group. They plan, teach, and reflect on lessons with the class teachers. This allows the EAL teachers to understand the learning context and know the students well. It helps them provide language support even more effectively.
Our Learning Support program also supports various learners. Each of our Learning Support teachers and assistants is involved in specific grade levels and mostly provides in-class support. “It is extremely important for us to form relationships with the students. This way, we can help not only their academic skills but also their social and emotional skills. We focus on students’ social and emotional development because academic skills come after that.” As Mr. Hylden, one of our Learning Support teachers, says, our Learning Support program aims to develop students’ social skills, including relationship building, emotion regulation, and self-advocacy, as well as their academic skills.
“Every learner learns in different ways, and being flexible about learning is a key to helping them.” Mr. Hylden mentions different types of flexibility that we can see in the classroom. The newly renovated classrooms offer flexible seating options and flexible learning spaces so that the students can find the best way to focus. In addition, students are provided with options for ways of presenting their learning: for example, some students prefer to present their learning visually with a poster, and others enjoy presenting their learning by creating a video.
Canadian Academy is one community in which we encourage our students to be lifelong learners. To nurture a love for learning means finding out the strategies, devices, environments and languages in which they learn best. Our EAL and Learning Support teachers directly help our students to fully access the curriculum, but more importantly, they play a vital role in promoting learning that best fits each student. We support our diverse learners through various strategies and ensure an inclusive learning environment for everybody. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding our student support programs.