International students are helping to enrich the school culture and population in the Anglophone East School District.
About 1300 students – either visitors as exhange students or new immigrants – have been welcomed into classrooms in Southeast New Brunswick over the past three years and the numbers are continuing to climb.
Many are coming from countries such as Vietnam, China, Germany and Brazil.
Katherine Arsenault, the district’s English Additional Language coordinator, says most international students already have a grasp of English when they arrive.
“Many students have some capability in English. Few students would have no English experience in their background at all,” she notes.
While it may be daunting arriving in a new country with a different culture, Arsenault says a support system is in place to help children adjust.
