Guidelines

Adapting the lesson content and rhythm might help immigrant students succeed.

1. Be attentive to your impact as teacher: time and learning rhythm management, the effects of teacher’s expectations (a teacher will be more effective when convinced that the students can progress), a realist vision of the students’ level and keeping a certain level of expectancies, relations, emotional skills … All these effects produced by the teachers have a significant impact on students’ success.
2. Take the historical dimension into account: learn about the history of migrations (see the “Routes portal” in the references).
3. Recognise and value the mother tongues of immigrant students and create room for them.
4. In curricula, make links with the immigrant students’ original cultures. Use narration, tales, and the filmography of their countries of origin.
5. Base your approach and materials on the immigrant students’ families, in a co-educational approach for success (see “ATD Quart Monde” in the references).
6. Understand what makes sense for the immigrant students in your class individually and collectively and define learning outcomes accordingly.
7. It may make sense to work on gender equality with some immigrant students.
8. Coordinate with after school mentoring programs and programs for parent cooperation.