Psychological Conditions of Introducing Migrant Children to a New Socio-cultural Environment

The article focuses on retrieval of psychological conditions of introducing migrant children to a new socio-cultural environment. Emotional experiences analysis of adult Russian immigrants living in the West and migrant children and their parents living in Moscow is presented. Main emotional experiences are: nostalgia, permanent longing for Homeland, future vagueness, impossibility of finding oneself in a new society, find new friends, permanent anxiety, frequent melancholy. We suggest that creating and realizing adequate conditions in an education institution that will ensure child's emotional and mental well-being will help in the process of introducing migrant children to a new socio-cultural environment. The aim of the present article was to study these conditions based on the experience of psychological-pedagogical work with children in a multinational school. Based on the analysis of children's emotional experiences we searched for the key-factor in migrant child's ill-being in school. The research was carried out in secondary school # 157 with ethno cultural Azerbaijan component in education. The findings indicate that the following additional conditions are needed for introducing migrant children to a new socio-cultural environment: profound study of Russian and work with parents. Psychological education for parents is essential, convincing them that school education is important, that a good knowledge of local language (even if the family resides in the country temporarily) is necessary and giving support to their children when they make new friends. Joint work of family and school staff where a migrant child studies - this is a basic condition for a competent education and teaching in a school with ethno-cultural component.

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