難熬ㄉ一天(the worst day)

 

移居到溫哥華已一年多了.我除了努力照顧好家人(5個人)外,也熱心地參與當地ㄉ義工服務(如退稅義工,學校義工媽媽),希望借此能儘快打入當地的社會.但仍然讓我嘗到移居加拿大後的難熬一天.

 

10/24(星期二)ㄉ早晨8:00, 我已準備好小孩的早餐, 兒子的午餐也弄好,  正當兒子準備出門搭車上學時,忽然電話鈴響,我忙著去接電話(我還嘀咕---誰ㄚ!一大早打電話來)---原來是小女兒(Alice)的導師打過來提醒Alice的媽媽(是我也)她今天不要到學校上學,因為她前一天被學校檢查出頭髮有lice(複數,louse 是單數)還叫我去買特殊的洗頭髮精(shampoo)治療( treat) 她的頭髮,而且學校改天還會複檢.掛了電話,越想越不對,如果Alcie有,那全家不都逃不了嗎? 難得這個早晨有些些太陽光(已 好幾天早上都是 陰霾的天氣),我打開大門自己先在太陽下攬鏡檢查頭髮,除了頭皮屑(dandruff)什麼也沒看到啊!再上樓細看睡夢中的Alice(小學am9:00才上學,學校又只在離住家約300公呎外,所以她每weekdays早上8:30才起床,悠哉地吃完早餐,再悠閒地走路上學去)什麼也沒有看到啊!(可能他們把頭皮屑看成頭蝨的蛋)雖然我立刻打電話去學校向導師確信沒有,也願意帶Alice去re-check 一次 ,但是導師不給我機會,真是 灰色ㄉ一天開始 .(加拿大政府規定12歲以下ㄉ小孩不能單獨留在家中,如果今天小孩ㄉ父母都要一早上班,學校當日ㄉ早上才通知小孩不能上學,叫家長如何處置小孩呢?如果今天在台灣,鐵定不可能發生.就像去年10月份卑詩省ㄉ教師罷工了3星期---不管學生,不管家長ㄉ處境,只為自己ㄉ薪水要求更高.如此ㄉ老師,叫家長如何尊敬他們).  中午上班時,抱怨給同事(co-worker)聽,還好她給我ㄧ個建議---帶孩子去家庭醫師處確認後請醫師開證名單,再去學校銷案.10/25(星期三)早上我提前Alice上學的時間早半小時去找導師銷案--這個錯,讓我全家恐慌,也讓 Alice 錯過一天上學的機會---但老師只是輕描淡談的說人都會弄錯,再說一天不上學,不是很嚴重之事.

 

沒關係! 這學期我是這學校ㄉ家長代表之ㄧ(一個月開ㄧ次會議),11/07開council meeting前,我會擬好向會議報告的建議書(校長會全程地參與)--我希望下次這種錯,不要再發生在其他家長上 ,尤其新移民ㄉ父母.

***加拿大ㄉ教育制度分elementary school(小學8年--從幼稚園大班到7年級)/high school(中學--從8年級到12年級)全部免費受教.

***小學導師帶ㄧ班有2個年級(例如K+1,2年級與3年級,4+5,6+7), 只有上數學課時,才集中同年級ㄉ學生上課.社區中心就設在學校ㄉ某ㄧ角, 還有一位coordinator(社區協調者)專職社區ㄉ活動與學校ㄉ聯繫(例如一個月一次ㄉcouncil meeting 除了校務會議外, 還包括如何幫社區與學校籌湊經費.所以社區協調者也會全程開會和報告)

*** 中學沒有設導師,但有counselor(輔導老師)負責學生ㄉ選課事宜(例如A老師管學生名字a---h,B老師管i----m, 依此類推......)每個科目ㄉ課都在不同教室上課,  每個科目上課時ㄉ同學也都不ㄧ樣.沒有所謂ㄉ同班同學ㄧ起上學5年.很像台灣上大學上課ㄉ方式                                                           (2006/10/26)

***以下是我預計在11月份council meetingㄉ說詞(speech)----

      Good evening everybody! First I would like to thank everyone for giving me the chance  to    explain and complain about my worst day since I settled down Burnaby. I would also like to give our school some suggestions about teacher, student and parents relationships.------------------I remember the morning of Oct. 24th at about 8:00. I had made my son's lunch for him  to take to school and had been making breakfast for the three children. The telephone was  ringing. I went to answer the phone and thought who would call us so early. It was my youngest daughter's teacher--Mrs. Keeler who told me on the telephone that Alice --my daugher was checked for head lice yesterday by a volunteer mother, so she had to stay home for one day and I'd have to buy the special shampoo to treat her hair.---this call was a shock     to me. In my former country's culture, it means my household family has a lack of    cleanliness and I as a mother I always do all household chores, so I was feeling shameful  if   the case was true.  And  I quickly checked my hair with a big mirror under sunshine and  went to Alice's bed to check her hair carefuly after I listened to Mrs. Keeler's advice and  hung up the telephone.(I have always know if one person was infested, then other household members will be infested too. Oh, my God, it could be a big problem to me.) But actually, I    just found a little dandruff on my and daughter's  scalp. I quickly called back to Mrs. Keeler  and explained to her our situation and hoped she'd agree with me to bring Alice to school   right away for her check again. Because I don't like my children to miss one day's lesson of school by mistake. But this wasn't going to happen with Mrs. Keeler. She said the volunteer mother had been trained and they are good at checking for lice. I went to work in a sad mood  at noon and left Alice at home. I complained to my co-worker and she gave me a suggestion to take my daughter to a doctor and get a medical certificate to show the teacher and let her know this was a mistake. I did it. Because I work part time job and I can take my duaghter to the doctor.

I deeply appreciate the volunteer mothers use of their time to check our students. But I also wish to remind the principal that the eggs of lice very closely resemble dandruff and to      check more carefull. I guess most parents like me feel that"having head lice means a lack of cleanliness or parenting ability and would be very upset." So this area should be dealt with carefully.

I also appreciate that teachers have to do hard work with students  every day. But I also      hope our principal reminds them if they want a student to stay home the next day. Please   send home a notice and let students bring it to their parents or call  their parents well in advance and not at the last minute.

*******To recap: 1. Make sure all volunteers are fully trained. 2. If parents have medical certificates, the childred can come back school right away. 3. Give parents more time to arrange daycare for their childred and not notify that morning.    *****Thank you everybody!                                                                                                                        (2006/11/03)

***********************************************************************************************

問與答>>>>

1.     I am so proud of you.  Did you receive any feed back from the teacher or school after the meeting? from Diana Dowd     ANS: thanks for your encourage to me. At 11/14/2006 council meeting, unfortunately my daughter's teacher was present(one teacher has to joins the council meeting per month), I couldn't do anything. At 12/5/2006, I accepted the coordinator's suggestion---I don't said anything, but the coordinator brought up in meeting and said  some parents have the problems. Ultimately,  my suggestions  had passed to each teacher when the teachers held their moring meeting.

2. 此文化差異, 還真不同. 我想你是很棒的, handle 得很好.  ANS: 謝謝你的鼓勵，只要多參與小孩的學校(尤其小學)義工行列，我們無形中會得到許多幫助!