Guidelines

Mutual ignorance and lack of understanding are the causes of many misunderstandings and blunders. These may hinder successful integration at school and may be an obstacle to your effective communication, particularly if you are an older student.

1. Your culture and language matter. So do the culture and language of the host country. It is important for you to be proud of your own culture and language and to be able to show it to others at school. So, accept invitations from the class teacher to talk about your culture or share cultural artefacts from your own mother culture with others (food, objects, songs, instruments, festivals, etc.)
2. Share with others what you experience as different and as difficult in the host culture. You may write it in a diary or post it in a blog on line.
3. Be curious about the host country and language; be respectful of that culture and show interest on different ways in doing things.
4. Develop your self-esteem and self-concept by engaging in some self-discovery activities. (Do you constantly criticise the social habits of the host country? Are all your friends immigrants like you? Do you spend the whole time complaining? Do you just eat the foods from your host country? Do your views on the host country waver between being all extraordinary and completely negative? These may constitute self-defence mechanisms, but you should use them moderately if your aim is to integrate in the society you live in. It is frequent for new arrived people to feel uncomfortable in the new country and you should work on the feelings you experience).
5. To study in a new country is a big challenge. This adventure may be a positive and enriching both at the learning level and the intercultural and personal levels if you take your time to reflect on the differences of the host country: ways of thinking and seeing the world, ways of learning and teaching, etc.
6. Learn that immigration is often a questioning of everything we have seen and done in life. You need an open mind to succeed in integration.