Syrian children attending Drayton Heights Public School are tapping into technology to bridge the language gap.
A number of children began school Monday, but the students and their families don't speak english.
The Upper Grand District School Board has provided the school with Google Nexus 7 tablets equipped with google translate.
It allows users to communicate by either speaking, typing, handwriting or scanning text to have it translated between Arabic and English.
Principal Jeff Crawford says the communication was seemless during a school tour, with questions easily asked and answered back and forth.
Meanwhile, Google is asking for help improving Google Translate technology for refugees and volunteers. Last year the tech giant launched Translate Community, where “language enthusiasts can help improve translation quality,” according to a post on the Google blog.