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International Students Info
1.0 Insurance Ingle International
For information on medical insurance and claim forms visit:
1.888.268.8888 General Informationa Number
1.866.230.2477 Red Deer Public Schools Insurance Agent-Direct Line
Ingle Insurance is the official insurer of Red Deer Public Schools.
2.0 Speak Out Form open November 2009
2.0 E Link Information
To view your current grades...
Entering E-Link for Grades/Attendance
• Open up Internet Browser
• Type in your username/password (Student Computer Login)
• Click Enter Gradebook
To see the current grades you will need the student's username and password which can be obtained by e mailing International Services internationalservices@rdpsd.ab.ca
3.0 The First Day of School Video
4.0 ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT A TYPICAL SCHOOL YEAR...
Trip to Drumheller October
Hallowe'en October
 Thales from Brazil Halloween
5.0 Red Deer International Education Alliance-Launch
Season's Greetings
International Festival March - Hunting Hills High School
Fair in 2007 Click to Enlarge
Recently Annie L Gaetz School hosted a group of Kindergarten Grade 6 students at their school. Please see the quicktime movie that shows some of the higlights of their visit.
    Graduation Day June 8, 2006
LTCHS salutes international students and second language courses
By Ashley Joannou - Red Deer Advocate - June 04, 2008
Sian Ford, right helps Central Middle School student Mary Ignacio dress in a traditional Japanese kimono during the World Showcase at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School on Tuesday. Students and staff from both Lindsay Thurber and Hunting Hills High School came together to showcase the language and culture programs offered at the two schools to Red Deer Middle School students.
by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Who needs airplanes?
For one day, Grade 7 students from Red Deer public schools got to do a little globetrotting without straying outside the walls of Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.
The school hosted World Showcase 2008 Tuesday, a day-long event featuring the school board’s many international students and second language courses.
“We really wanted the students as they’re coming into high school to realize the value on learning a second language,” said Rob Porkka, director of international services for Red Deer Public Schools. “As the world becomes even more of a global economy, a second language can open so many doors for work or travel.”
When it comes to choosing a language, options for high school students have expanded far beyond a French class.
Between Lindsay Thurber and Hunting Hills High, students can learn Mandarin, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
“Ten or 15 years ago French really was your only other option,” Porkka said. “But now if you want to compete in the world, there are other languages you need too.”
“I think that could be fun,” said Westpark Middle School student Sarah Adams as her class modelled colourful kimonos at the station representing Japan. “It might be good to take a second language.”
Teigan Blondin-de Boer started taking Japanese three years ago “because it was so unconventional.”
“I really got into Japanese because I watch Japanese anime,” she said. “I thought I’d like to be able to watch that without subtitles.”
Now not only is the Grade 11 Lindsay Thurber student watching cartoons sans-subtitle, she’s preparing for a two-week trip to Japan this summer to practise what she’s learned.
“It’s not a hard language (to learn) when you first start,” she said.
Blondin-de Boer hopes a second language will help her after she graduates.
“Most colleges and universities like you to have another language,” she said. “So it opens up a lot more opportunities.”
During the World Showcase, international students had the chance to share a little about back home.
Porkka estimates the high schools hosted about 100 students this year from countries like Brazil, Germany and China. Exchanges ranged from two weeks to a full year.
At the booth representing Brazil, Raphaela Silva and Mariana Gabriel gave visitors a quick understanding of the values in their home country.
“Soccer, everybody knows everything about soccer, we have the best team,” said Gabriel.
Moving away from home is not without its challenges, especially during Canada’s winter, Silva added.
“When I came here in January it was 30 (degrees) in Brazil and -50 here,” she said. “I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ ”
But having so many international students nearby helped, she said.
“It’s like a small family, you always know you can find someone going through the same thing you are.”
International Students Flock to City
-Red Deer Advocate
By SUSAN ZIELINSKI
Advocate staff
Dec 19 2006
Some foreign students seeking an education in Red Deer are not coming alone.
Rob Porkka, director of international services for the Red Deer Public School District, said more parents are moving to Red Deer while their children attend school.
“I have several families coming from Korea,” Porkka said.
“Red Deer is getting quite well known. We think it’s tied to our second language.”
Vancouver used to be a popular city for students until the use of Korean in that city increased so much that it didn’t encourage students to improve their English, he said.
“Red Deer is pretty mono-cultural.”
Plus it’s a small city where families consider it safe to send their children, he added.
Some families may also have job offers in Central Alberta or are looking to immigrate. Sometimes school-age children will live with relatives in Red Deer to attend school.
In September, a family from Mexico moved to Red Deer for two years.
Lili Sartorius, whose son Oscar Ramirez attends Grade 11 at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, said it was an opportunity to improve her English and support her son, a baccalaureate student.
“He is our only son,” said Sartorius, who is a dentist and has taught German.
She participated in a Red Deer College English as a second language program. She intends to take more classes at the college to become a teaching assistant.
Her husband Mario Ramirez is staying in Mexico.
Sartorius and her family lived in Germany for eight years. She remembered the snowy winters. Her son didn’t. But neither of them anticipated the extreme drop in temperature in Red Deer last month.
“It was a little colder than we expected,” she said with a laugh.
But Lindsay Thurber is a good school with a challenging program for her son, she said. “They worry a lot about the kids.”
Her son said coming to Red Deer was the right decision.
“I had a lot of time to look at everything,” said Oscar Ramirez about his research into Red Deer.
“It’s been pretty great. People are really nice.”
Porkka said Red Deer Public tried to make sure foreign students didn’t end up with frost bite.
“I had to send out a warning to not follow the example of how Canadian kids dress.”
This year, Red Deer Public has 85 foreign students, up from 52 last year. About two-thirds of the students live with local host families.
Foreign students pay about $10,000 to attend Red Deer Public schools for the year. Living with a host family costs about $600 a month.
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