My daughter will attend high school in Canada after spending 8 years in my home country’s schooling system. Her dad is Canadian and she speaks English so I don’t worry about language barrier. But Canadian public schools are very different from here. What can I do to help her adjust?
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Second-hand observation here: I know many international families who moved abroad with their kids at various ages; other than the language barrier that won’t be an issue for your daughter, there wasn’t much difference or extra parental concern necessary regardless of the country or school their child attended, regardless of their origin country.
Support, encouragement, listening to their kids, helping when necessary.
She’ll probably assimilate into the local culture and customs with what seems like shocking ease. And she’ll probably have the same troubles, trials and concerns that any student does regardless of which school they attend.
Children are very good at adapting to new things. I think the most important thing is to keep the lines of communication open - maybe you already have a ritual together where you decompress together and reflect the day, maybe expand that or introduce it, so she has a set “room” for her thoughts. More than “doing something”, I would encourage you to listen and see what she needs (not that I think you’re not already doing that, but sometimes it can feel like we have to ACT, when being attentive and react can be more helpful).
I personally would try to get involved in the school, as far as this is possible, get to know the other parents, get a feeling for how the community works, where/how we can socialise and hopefully get some ideas how to help her connect to the other children quickly and easy (events, clubs etc). Maybe the teachers already have some ideas on how to help integration - when a child from another country joined the school of my daughter, they did like a week or so of days where the children would show and tell something about their country or culture or family, all of them, not just the new one, so they immediatly found things they had in commonm and others to be curious about.
Be open, be curious - she’ll pick up on your attitude towards the new situation, so make it a fun adventure more than a challenge. :)
Is say the big thing will be making friends. Most of the others will already have friend groups. Others won’t. If encourage them to join.activities or clubs in or out of school to help the friend process.
