General Questions, Language Acquisition (Parent Questions), Registration, Bussing, Uniform.
General Questions
- Develop meeting procedures and define its role.
- Follow regulations related to fundraising.
The Alberta Association of Public Charter Schools (TAAPCS) is an association comprised of Alberta Education approved charter schools that choose to be members and support TAAPCS objectives.
Registration
The documents can be sent to the following email addresses:
- Grades Kindergarten to Grade 3 – waitlistmv@esl-almadina.com
- Grades 4 to Grades 9 – waitlistog@esl-almadina.com
New siblings will register next.
After the current students and siblings have registered then the new families can register (about 4 to 6 weeks after current students). Please refer to the website for information on registration early in the year.
Language Acquisition (Parent Questions)
- Level of first language proficiency,
- Age on arrival in Canada,
- Educational background,
- Personality and learning style factors.
Children generally acquire conversational fluency, or Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) in about 2 years. It takes 5 to 7 years for children to develop the Cognitive level of Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) to succeed with learning tasks associated with academic work. Many specialized academic words have Greek and Roman roots. These academic words are also challenging for native Canadian students.
- continue to speak your native language at home. Continuously challenge your child to think about and talk about more complex ideas and issues. Move beyond the simple conversations of the “here and now”.
- consider registering your child in Saturday school or summer language camps.
- expose your son or daughter to interesting and challenging activities that require more complex interaction in the first language.
- continue reading in the first language.
- for students who have well-developed first language literacy skills, continue to choose challenging reading materials. Also, try out grade level translations of well-known novels, plays, etc. that you may be asked to read at school.
B. Students who have more first language proficiency can generally learn the second language more efficiently and quickly. They can often be strategic and translate what they already know in their first language, into English – the second language. Over time, the second language should begin to approach the level of the first language, given instructional support to reach this goal, resulting in full and balanced bilingualism. Parents who want their students to maintain proficiency in both languages are reminded of the need to plan holidays and visits to the child’s country of origin during the summer.
Students between the ages of 1 to 15 have not developed full linguistic maturity in their first language. Students who immigrate to Canada at this age are highly disadvantaged. They must learn a condensed volume of new content area materials and concepts in English at the junior high level at the same time they are learning basic English. These students often require extensive English language support for more than 3 years in order to compete academically in senior high school. They are chasing a “moving target” in attempting to keep pace with their native English speaking peers, as well as keeping up to the high volume of academic assignments. This is challenging and unfortunately, these are the most disadvantaged students.
Newly arrived students over the age of 15 have the advantage of possessing rich linguistic and cognitive resources in L1 to draw on and to transfer into English, assuming they have been fully schooled and are proficient at grade level in L1. They can see language as an object of study in itself, and can use metacognitive/reflective strategies to advance their L2 development. They can benefit from some direct grammar explanations and exposure to idioms. These students often are acutely aware of the need to learn English quickly for educational purposes or for reasons of finding suitable work. For these reasons, they are often self-motivated and disciplined to study English. If they have acquired some English (i.e. to an Intermediate level) in their first language school experience in their homeland, these students often can excel academically.
Older students who have developed literacy skills and have the ability to use their first language proficiency directly to advance L2 development can benefit from maintaining and enhancing their first language by way of the up to one hundred hour option through the International Languages program. Full bilingualism is a desirable outcome but not a realistic goal for many of the students at Almadina.
Bussing
school bus, please contact
Cardinal Coach Lines Ltd.
- (403) 531-3900
Then to speak to the principal if the problem is not resolved.
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