While researching what to include in WINK, we developed a survey that we distributed in two high schools, Ferdericton and Rothesay, and asked EAL/ESL students to fill them out! We were able to glean a lot of important aspects of student life from the perspective of these students, and would like to extend our warmest regards to them, and their teachers who allowed us to do this! Thanks!
One idea we would like to emphasize is that existing students from the school should be involved in welcoming newcomers to the school, befriend them and help them adapt and transition into the school community. Some suggestions for doing this would be to form a student welcoming commity, where new students can be paired with a "buddy" who they can depend on and learn from, ask questions, and turn to when experiencing difficulties.
We asked students the following questions:
1. When you first arrived what did you want to know about this school and your community?
2. On your first day of school what information would have been helpful? What would have made this transition easier?
3. What did your teacher do that made you feel welcomed and made this experience easier for you?
4. What subject do you have the most difficulty with? Do you think that being paired with someone in this particular class would be helpful?
5. Would you have found that a vocabulary list of school terms would have been helpful upon your arrival?
6. What other vocabulary words would have helped you during the school day?
7. How informed were you about the weather in your area? Did you know what to expect?
8. How familiar were you made with school policies and procedures?
9. Did you ever have a bad experience with the policies?
10. Did you know what to do in case of an emergency?
11. Did you experience an emergency situation? What happened?
12. Is there anything else you would like to share about your experiences in coming to a new school? Suggestions or tips for us?
