Immigrant Students in Winnipeg Overcome Significant Challenges at School

Being a student is hard, and those challenges can feel even more pronounced if you're a newcomer to the country. In this episode of Civic Platform, U-Multicultural reporter, Zuher Almusre, speaks to Winnipeg high school student, Halle Ashamed, about her experiences as a new immigrant adapting to school.

Alhamed admits that she "had a lot of fears during the first months of school", but that she wasn't the only one as their were international students and other immigrants from all over the world.

As a Muslim, she said the first issue for her was finding out where she could pray at school, and the school was accommodating.  Secondly, the language was a principle challenge. While she had experience reading English, understanding conversational English was a challenge.

She spoke at length about how she went about finding friends. She first sought out other Muslims, but she soon extended her circle.  She said that how she presented her culture to others was a significant aspect of making those friends. It was important to present her culture as interesting and impressive - this made a difference in getting others to be interested in her, she explained.

There were plenty of culture shocks. For example, going to a public school, which is co-educational including boys and girts. The informal relationship that students had with the teachers also was unexpected. And of course, clothes - the many styes of clothes that the girls wore.

Her main advice for others is "to take your time" and "to be yourself".  In essence, she advised going with the flow without giving up any of your own values or culture.

Alhamed explained that she found Winnipeg a culturally diverse city that accepts everyone, and that she had no bad experiences in her school. She made many friends whom she considers her second family.

Alhamed said she worked hard to help new immigrant students to understand the school system and to share her personal experiences with them, so that they have the skills they need to overcome any difficulties they may face. She also added that it is great to help others, as true happiness is making others happy. 

Stay tuned for more Civic discussions on Civic Platform: https://u-channel.ca/civic-journalism/ 

Contact Zuher Almusre, our civic journalist, to share your story and explore civic issues at zuheralmusre@u-channel.ca.   

The project is funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).