The Nova Scotia International Student Program

The Nova Scotia International
Student Program
Halifax Regional School Board
I SS U E
V
V O L U ME
1
J AN U AR Y
Remember the Moments!
Dear Students, Host Families,
School Staff, School Ambassadors,
Agents and Program Supporters,
Greetings from the International
Services office! We are soon
reaching the midpoint of the year
where things are changing for
many of us. Many of our dear international friends will be returning to their home countries at the
end of January.
It will be
emotional to
say good bye
to our first
semester
international
students.
However, we
know
that
they
will
stay in touch
with
their
Canadian
families and
friends for many years to come. It
may feel like culture shock for
students travelling home because
they will be taking a piece of Canada home with them and have all
become more mature, independent
and worldly individuals!
Thank you dear friends, for choosing Nova Scotia as your destination province. It was an honour to
welcome you in the Halifax
School Board. You have made a
real difference in our schools,
families and communities. You
have been great ambassadors for
your countries and we were happy
to learn from you as well. You
will all be missed dearly!
I hope you will enjoy all the great
pictures and comments in this
newsletter. I am sure the pages
will bring back moments of fun,
discovery and friendship. We are
very proud of all your achievements and hope that you treasure
all the memories you have made.
2 015
Thank you to all the host families
for sharing your home with these
wonderful students. Our new
campaign “Bring the world to
your home” tries to express what
hosting an international student
really means to our families and
communities. I hope your experience has been equally rewarding
and has given you a new son or
daughter for life out there in the
big wide world.
Good luck with your exams! And
for those students who are leaving us at the end of January: have
a safe trip home!
Internationally yours,
Martine Adriaensen
Halifax Regional School Board
Nova Scotia International
Student Program- Halifax
Regional School Board
@NS Intl Student Prog
Check out our
Website
www.nsisp.ca
2
September: Student Arrivals
PAGE
THE
NOVA
SCOTIA
INTERNATIONAL
STUDENT
PROGRAM
New Student Orientation: Bayside Camp
PAGE
3
P A G E
4
Colombia
Short Term Programs
15 Grade 7-9
students and their
teacher from San
Jose De Las Vegas
School, (Medellin)
joined HRSB for a
6 week program in
September/
October.
Turkey
4 students and
their teacher from
TED School
(Ankara)
participated in a 4
week IB program
in the month of
September.
German... Guten Tag
Italian... Ciao
Spanish... Hola
Czech... Ahoj
Portuguese... Oi
Turkish... Merhaba
Dutch... Hallo
Korean... 안녕[An nyoung ]
Chinese... 你好 [nǐ hǎo]
French... Bonjour
Thai... สวัสดี [Sawadeecaap]
Japanese... こんにちは[Konnichiwa]
THE
NOVA
SCOTIA
INTERNATIONAL
STUDENT
PROGRAM
October: Day Trip to Annapolis Valley
PAGE
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
5
6
October: Halloween Fun
P A G E
Pumpkin Carving at Lockview High School
PAGE
November
Interesting Hockey Facts
Students gathered together on November 23 to cheer
on The Halifax Mooseheads Hockey Team as they
played the Moncton Wildcats. Halifax won 4-3! This
was the first experience for many international students to watch one of Canada’s favorite sports.
World Wide Friendships
Becoming a Host Family
I would like to share our experience of spending time as a
host family to Zeynep from
Turkey. The idea of hosting an
international student was new
to our family. After a bit of
discussion with my daughter
and husband, we decided jump
in with both feet. Zeynep arrived at the end of August. We
were all still in summer mode,
going camping, and starting to
prepare for the upcoming
school year. Zeynep quickly fit
into our hectic life, she welcomed life at the campground,
made new friends and participated in family events.
Before we knew it, we were
back at the grindstone with
school, work and extracurricular activities. Zeynep again fit
in as if she had been here forever. She started her new
school, became a member of
the student council and found
her way in the community;
becoming involved in things
of interest to her, as well as
making friends
along the way.
Pictured left:
our family dog
waiting to see
Zeynep at her
bedroom door.
Zeynep has decided to participate in the program again next
year. We had initally planned
on an adventure for our family for a year; however we
could not imagine Zeynep
coming back to Nova Scotia
and staying anywhere else but
with us. Thank you for the
experience this has brought to
our family.
Nicole Boudreau and Family

The first organized indoor
hockey game was played
March 3, 1875 in Montreal.

The Montreal Canadiens have
won the most Stanley Cups in
NHL history, with 23.

The Halifax Mooseheads are
part of the CHL ice hockey
league

The Halifax Mooseheads was
founded in 1994

The Halifax Mooseheads won
both the Presidents Cup and
the Memorial Cup in 2013

The Scotiabank Centre has a
capacity of 10,595 seats.
7
PAGE
8
PAGE
Thank you to our amazing host families!
9
“Our Andre” … Our Host Family Experience
There are so many wonderful things to
say about Andre Tourinho Ribeiro
(Brazil) that is it hard to know where to
begin! We learned that we would be
hosting Andre for a semester and were
excited to welcome him into our home.
Andre reached out to us through Facebook, even before he arrived. We could
tell that he was a charming, intelligent
and funny young man who would blend
in easily with our busy family. Through
these early chats we learned about his
wonderful family and friends in Brazil
and his passion for bouldering and social issues. These chats were really our
ice-breakers and we felt as if we knew
him already when he arrived.
The kids had a gift and made a sign to
welcome Andre as he came off the
plane. Andre has a great energy and
sense of adventure, and a natural curiosity. We loved him instantly. He swept
our youngest daughter up into his arms
when he met her with a big kiss and he
instantly stole her heart.. She quickly
became his little shadow from that moment on; convincing her big brother
Andre to take her for a bike ride, the
playground, listen to her rendition of
Frozen, or watch her latest crazy dance
routine. With four kids of our own, there
are many personalities in my house, but
Andre was able to find a niche with each
one of my kids and make a special connection.
PAGE
10
idioms and Maritime ‘isms’ to their Brazilian brother.
We’ve had some great adventures as a
family, including an outing to OnTree. We
were proud of Andre for making the Sir
John A soccer team and were excited to
watch him play a few games, cheering
him on from the sidelines. He is a great
athlete and his coach was very impressed
with not only his soccer skills but his great
sportsmanship. Andre is equally supportive for our kids; whether it be attending a
football or soccer game, dance competition, or Christmas concert.
Andre’s positive attitude and willingness
to help have left a lasting impression on
my friends and neighbors as well. Andre
has offered to pile a cord of wood for my
neighbor, participated in family community events, carved the Thanksgiving turkey.
We truly feel that we hit the student jackpot. Participating in the NSISP program
has been a wonderful, heartwarming,
amazing experience. It has also been fascinating to watch his English improve and
his vocabulary grow from those first initial
Facebook messages in broken English, to
holding and understanding entire conversations, and swelling with pride at these
accomplishments as his Canadian ‘mom’.
My husband and I have enjoyed many
great talks with Andre and have learned
that Andre is a very socially aware young
man with a keen interest and concern in
his country’s political future. We shared a
lot of laughs too, swapping stories about
our families, meeting Andre’s friends, and
sitting around the camp fire listening to
my kids trying to explain a few English
We know our time with Andre will be
drawing to a close soon and it will be a
difficult goodbye for all of us, but we are
confident that we will remain in touch long
after his departure and are already planning a trip to Brazil someday. We can’t
wait to see what the future holds for Andre
and can truly say that he has a special
place in our hearts … he’s our Andre.
The Reddick Family
BECOME A HOST FAMILY
We love to welcome new host families to our program. We have opportunities throughout the school year for hosting International Students. Students stay from one to ten months and come from a variety of countries around the
world. If you know of anyone who may be interested in hosting an International Student have them contact International Services or the Homestay Coordinator in their area.
We are now placing for September 2015
Being Part of a Homestay Family
PAGE
11
December: Skating Party
PAGE
12
December: Celebrating Christmas
PAGE
13
January: Skiing /Snowboarding Martock
PAGE
14
January: New Year 2015!
PAGE
15
Polar Bear Swim…
Hundreds of people marked New Year's Day by braving icy
waters in polar bear dips across Canada. A few brave international students in Halifax celebrated January 1, 2015 by
jumping into the chilly Atlantic Ocean in the minus degree
air temperature.
Mooyeon Seo (South Korea) Byungheon Jeon (South Korea)
(pictured above) from Cole Harbor High School with their school
Ambassador, Morgan Kaiser, helped to raise over $900.00 in just
3 hours to help support Feed Nova Scotia! Way to Go!
Congratulations to our 2 January 2015 High School Graduates!
Best of luck as your continue your post secondary education.
Shuang Wu (China) Sir John A Macdonald High School
Martina Castelli (Italy) Cole Harbor District High School
School Ambassador Program
My Ambassador Experience
Being the Student Ambassador for
Sackville High school has taught
me many things. I have learned
many interesting things about the
international students on a personal level, but I have also learned
things about their countries. For
example; my buddy Janet’s favourite part of a hockey game is
watching the Zamboni clean the
ice. In Janet's home country China, she celebrates Christmas with
her family by walking around the
city looking at pretty decorations.
In Spain, Albert and his family
celebrate the tradition of “El Tio.”
This is a decorated log or tree
trunk which they give sweets and
candies during the days up to
Christmas and then on Christmas
day they beat El Tio with sticks
until he gives them candies to have
and share with their family. Sarah’s favourite tea is Vita Plus
from the Philippines. Not only
have I learned things about these
amazing people, I have learned a
little more about myself through
this experience. I am now confident in myself, so that I may go up
to someone new and introduce myself to them and make them feel
welcomed and like they belong. I
have gained so much from being
friends with all of these unique and
special people, who were so brave
PAGE
16
to come here all alone, miles
away from their home and families. They came to learn how to
speak English and how things
work in our culture, but I hope
they learn so much more. I hope
they learn little random things
about the friends they make here
like I have learned about them.
But most importantly I hope that
they learn that no matter how far
away they travel, and no matter
the distance between us they will
always have a friend in me.
Madeline Mitchell, Grade 12
Sackville High School
World Wide Friendships
I never knew befriending a international student from Thailand
would lead to so many world
wide friendships. I think being an
ambassador is like travelling
without ever leaving home. Not
only have I learned about culture
through food, music, movies and
so much more; but I have learned
a lot more about Nova Scotia.
When we go on outings to Citadel
Hill, Pier 21 and the Maritime
Museum of The Atlantic, I get to
rediscover through someone
else’s eyes how interesting and
exciting
our
province
is.
I love challenging myself to come
up with a fun Canadian activity to
do every month with the students!
Sometimes we do big things like
explore Halifax and hit up all the
historical sites and fun shops, go to
a Haunted House or Christmas Parade; but then other times we do
things all teenagers do, anywhere
in the world like hang out, talk and
watch movies! Some of my favourite memories I have are the welcome goodbye bonfires I host in
September and June. Sometimes
this is a completely new experience for international students! I
like to give a tutorial on how to
make s'mores! Being an Ambassador is amazing and extremely rewarding; but it's also heartbreaking
during the "Goodbye Weeks" when
we see friends leave to go home.
However, the students always
remind you that you will always
have a home in their country
when you're ready to come visit
them!
Morgan Kaiser
Cole Harbor High School
PAGE
Bake Sale
SJA Coffee House
Sharing Culture
Halifax West Day Trip
Halifax West Against Bullying
SJA Lobster Lunch
Junior Achievement
LHS Chess Tournament
17
Discovering the World
When you change a country to live in,
even for a determined times as in this
experience, you need to have an open
min to adapt to the new culture completely different from what you are used to.
New country, new family, new home,
new school and people that you do not
know and need to learn how to live with,
totally out of your comfort zone. The
new can seem daunting for a lot of people, but little by little you start to get used
to and miss your new country, even before you leave it.
Differences between countries will always exist. We have different histories,
cultures and more. But the best thing is
finding out about these differences, have
an open mind and leave your comfort
zone to discover the world and see how
different people live, and bring a little bit
of your country to let them discover the
way you live.
These differences are what make all the
countries special and it is really a pleasure
to venture out and find these things, become a new you with more knowledge
about the world and be an ambassador of
your country.
Maria Esilene Valenca Batista, Brazil
Lockview High School
A Weekend Getaway ... Dream Come True
When Mayra De Castro Fonseca (Brazil)
first arrived in Nova Scotia, there were a
few conversations around her dream of
being able to see New York.
Our family had been many times before,
but we knew this was something Mayra
really wanted to do while here in Canada. We are fortunate enough that New
York is a drive-able distance and with
winter around the corner, we sat down
and talked and determined that we would
love to take Mayra there to see the sites
of New York City.
We surprised Mayra with a weekend get
away to the Big Apple. The girls did a lot
of shopping, we did a speed boat cruise
down the Hudson River to the Statue of
Liberty, saw Phantom of the Opera on
Broadway, visited Carlos Bakery famously known for the Cake Boss, bought goodies and enjoyed them on a sunny Autumn
day in Central Park.
We were very happy to have been able to
have taken Mayra on such an exciting trip
and help make her dream come true.
Christina Cunnane and Family
PAGE
18
Memories of Nova Scotia ...
PAGE
19
INTERNATIONAL SERVICES IS EXCITED
TO WELCOME TO THE TEAM ...
JUDY FILSHIE
Judy has been a valued asset to the School Administration department for several years and is
excited to start her new role with the International
Services office. Welcome Aboard Judy!
JOY SLAUNWHITE
Joy is joining the team as Homestay Coordinator
for the Lockview High School area. Joy has been
a host parent with the program for over 10 years
and is excited to support our international students
in their education journey. Welcome Aboard Joy!
JANICE ROBINSON
Janice is new to our team and will be supporting
the Short Term Programs as Special Projects
Homestay Coordinator. She immigrated from
England 7 years ago so understands the feeling of
newly arrived students. Welcome Aboard Janice!
DOROTHY ANDREWS
We are excited to welcome Dorothy back to the
team. She is looking forward to be working with
NSISP students and participating schools again
and supporting them through EAL teaching. Welcome Aboard Dorothy !
We would like to wish all of our First Semester
departing students a safe travel home and best of luck
in your future studies.
We hope that you have made many great memories in
Nova Scotia and will come back to visit us soon.
International Services Office
Martine Adriaensen—Facilitator
Kelly Pitre—Program Manager
Charity Semple—Project Manager
Marilyn Hurst—Administration Assistant
Judy Filshie—Administration Assistant
Homestay Coordinators
Jillian Butler
Jane Delorey
Madisyn LeBlanc
Kelly Chisholm
Melissa Alexander
Joy Slaunwhite
Janice Robinson
EAL Teachers
Julie Schwartz
Lori Stafford
Caroline Higgins
Cathy Vaughan
Dorothy Andrews
Halifax Regional School Board International Student Program
33 Spectacle Lake Drive Dartmouth Nova Scotia Canada B3B 1X7
Phone: 902-464-2000 ext 2548 Fax: 902-484-6126 Web: www.nsisp.ca
NSISP STAFF at the Halifax Regional School Board
would like to extend our thanks to everyone for their support and commitment to the success of the program