The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) has approved a new, locally developed course that will provide students with the option to take Arabic language-learning classes from elementary through to high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides an opportunity for students to learn either a new language or provide them with instruction on language in their mother tongue,\u201d said board chair Saadiq Sumar. The course also serves to teach children about Arabic culture.<\/p>\n
The move comes despite EPSB rethinking their requirement for language courses in schools<\/a>, a proposal that was tabled in May. Many other locally developed courses have been tabled this past year, including courses teaching AI, design, and smudging.<\/p>\n The Arabic language and culture courses approved were developed by another school authority. Meeting notes pointed out that in March, 168 students enrolled in the course in a K-6 school that is already providing the class.<\/p>\n A Competencies in Math class was also proposed, as a way for kids to expand their abilities in mathematics.<\/p>\n Parents protest international ban<\/p>\n Prior to the proposal of the new classes, multiple parents and a student protested the recent cancellation<\/a> of all all school-based international travel.<\/p>\n Parents and educators emphasized that they believe the decision was made out of fear, and that the programs do more good than harm. There was an anecdote brought forward by a parent named Lindsay Austrom about a Paris trip, where an itinerary was adjusted to keep students safe in the wake of Paris Saint-Germain F.C. victory celebrations. Austrom talked about how much preparation has now been for nothing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had planned travel, we had planned home renovations,\u201d said Austrom. \u201cBut at this point, there will be no alternative exchange program.\u201d<\/p>\n Her son, Rory, also spoke about his trip to France being cancelled, which will affect his ability to take a C1 French exam and apply to French universities.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been considering foreign travel and foreign education for a while,\u201d said Austrom.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do that exam on my own is very hard to prepare for. I don\u2019t have study material, I don\u2019t have the support of my teachers, and it comes at a cost of around $400.\u201d<\/p>\n ismyth@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) has approved a new, locally developed course that will provide students with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[34803,34806,52,27213,34801,34804,34802,34805,5680],"class_list":["post-92499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-arabic-culture","tag-culture-courses","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-public-school-board","tag-epsb","tag-liam-newbigging","tag-saadiq-sumar","tag-school-authority","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}