Ukrainian high schoolers helping fellow young newcomer adjust to life in Quebec

Two Ukrainian high schoolers in Two Mountains, 40 km northwest of Montreal, have had weekly appointments to visit the elementary school a few metres away.

16-year-olds Illia Lazebnyi and Alina Mykhalevych have been tasked with helping fellow newcomer, eight-year-old, Artem Tertyshnyy, adjust to his life in Quebec, since fleeing the Russian invasion in October 2022.

“I like it that [they] talk with me [in] Ukrainian,” Artem said. “And I’m not [going to] forget Ukraine.”

“He’s a really cute boy and he’s really interesting in what I talk with him,” said Mykhalevych. “He does talk about backgammons, about the cars that he gets about. I’m talking about some of my experience, he talks about in his experience, also we can play games or I can help him with math.”

The teens, both arrived almost a year ago and visit Artem separately weekly, speaking in Russian, since the boy’s hometown borders Russia.

“We’re talking with him about his life. How is he doing? What was new in his life?” says Lazebnyi.

They’re also introducing him to more English vocabulary, which Artem says isn’t hard to learn, as he chuckled.

“I like [my] teacher, and I like my friends,” said Artem. “I like your people, I like Canada.”

Artem is a bubbly eight-year-old. but it wasn’t always like that at school when he first arrived. Being unable to express himself with staff in English became frustrating.

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“I came to see Artem for the first time, and then I said hi in a language this familiar to him,” said Alina Spevak, a specialized education technician at Two Mountains High School. “So he got very excited, he was like, ‘Oh my God, finally someone who speaks my language.'”

Spevak is an immigrant herself, from Israel of Belarusian descent. She initiated the student meetings.

“It was important for us to make sure that he is happy, that he likes to come to school, that there’s something he looks forward to,” Spevak said. “And for me was just like I was seeing myself in the situation, too, I came here many years ago, but I was a child when I came here. And also I had to face the whole culture shock and language barrier and everything is new.”

“Now he’s talking with the teachers, he’s communicated with them, with his siblings,” said Mykhalevych. “He’s going by and I really love to see him like this.”

“I feel a huge accomplishment,” said Spevak. “I feel like we worked hard, all three of us.”

And as a summer break approaches, the group plans to resume their meetings when school starts.

“We’re like friends with him now, so I want to keep helping for next year,” said Lazebnyi.

“We need to help each other because we are people from one country,” said Mykhalevych. “We need to be like the strong wall.”