memorandum - toronto catholic district school board · sunny, peaceful retirement in good health...

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www.tcdsb.org/adulted

Adult Education Program

Memorandum To: Adult Education Program Staff From: Hanna Cabaj (Coordinator) and Antonietta Porretta (Secretary) Continuing Education Department

Vol. 2016/2017 No.243 December 2016

In This Issue

Upcoming Events/Dates 1

New/Important Information

Outreach Report 2

Employee Related News

Memorial 2

Celebrating Retirements 3, 4

Tips for Classroom Instructors

Feature Resource of the Month 5

On A Lighter Note 6

Inserts included this month:

1) January 2017 ESL supply list

2) Adult Education Program Steering Committee Minutes—Nov 16, 2016

Upcoming Events/Dates

Upcoming January 2017 Webinars

Sunday January 15, 2017, 1 pm: PTSD in the Classroom—The Safest Place is in Success (Maria Margaritis).

Webinar Note: This webinar can be accessed through Tutela. (Sign In, then select “Professional Development” from the home page). One must be a TESL Ontario member, and join the TESL Ontario group on Tutela. For more information, refer to the TESL Ontario website.

Winter Break/Christmas Holidays: Saturday, December 24, 2016 to Sunday, January 8, 2017 Last instructional day before Christmas Holidays is Friday, December 23, 2016 Saturday courses: The last instructional day is Saturday, December 17, 2016 Evening courses: Please refer to your Letter of Assignment Daytime and Weekend courses resume the week of Monday, January 9, 2017 Evening courses resume: Please refer to your Letter of Assignment

May your holiday season be filled with happiness, peace and joy!

To: Everyone in the Adult

Education Program

New/Important Information Outreach Report for December, 2016 submitted by Kay Ham, Program Consultant

Community Engagement:

1. Monsignor Fraser College (Midland Campus) provided 7 clients for our program on their registration day, November 29, 2017: 3 clients received assistance with assessment appointments, one client was referred to an evening program, one deferred his start date due to illness and two clients opted for no assistance. Thank you to Lucia Zhang and Naomi Paramanantham for their help with Mandarin and Tamil-speaking clients at this event.

2. A ‘Meet and Chat’ took place with Central YMCA Team Leader (20 Grosvenor Rd.) on December 2, 2016 in which our latest program updates were provided.

Program Promotion:

1. A photo spread created for Oakridge Community Centre & Dawes Rd. Library ESL programs is uploaded on our website, www.tcds.org/adulted, as well as on our Facebook (@TorontoAdultEducation) and Instagram (TorontoAdultEducation) pages.. The photo spread was featured on TCDSB Tweeter feed as well.

Analysis of the effectiveness of promotion efforts prove consistently that client recommendation and referrals through word of mouth is the most effective way of advertising. We would like to remind all instructors that they can request from their Program Consultant that copies of their location flyers be provided to them, so that they can be distributed to current or graduating learners with a request to pass on to family or friends who may be seeking language training. Please allow a few days for updates, printing and delivery.

Upcoming Events:

1. A meeting with a SEPT worker at Msgr. Fraser College (Midland Campus) is scheduled on December 8, 2016. Both Kay and Joanne are presenting our program to the worker.

2. A Meet & Chat session is scheduled with North York YMCA Assessment Centre (Dufferin and Finch location) for

January, 2017.

Employee Related News

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

Memorial

Let us remember in our prayers the soul of:

Mr. Henk (Henry) Kaskens who passed away Sunday, November 27, 2016. He

was the father of Anne-Marie Kaskens, Program Consultant and Projects Manager.

CELEBRATING RETIREMENTS Retirement Celebrations for Iry Lee & Thomas Au Iry Lee’ s quiet departure from the Adult Education Program follows her signature unassuming presence at her school and in her classroom. Iry has dedicated over 25 years of her professional life to teaching adult immigrants to Canada in different sites, class levels and learner profiles, always with dedication, professionalism and good will to all. She will be missed by her colleagues but most of all, by all the learners she has served to date. We wish Iry a well-deserved happy retirement. Thomas Au’s long career with the Adult Education Program has spanned instruction of many different groups of learners and at several sites, and the numbers of learners that have benefited from his dedication going easily into thousands. His learners’ interests were always at the top of Thomas’ priorities but he would always find time for his colleagues who needed advice on classroom resources, use of technology or any other aspect of daily school life. Thomas’ retirement is an end of an era at Mary Ward. We wish him a sunny, peaceful retirement in good health and happiness.

Instructors Farewell Wishes for Iry Lee Iry Lee first applied to teach at TCDSB in 1989. After teaching at Holy Spirit and several SAFFS sits she landed at Mary Ware. That’s where I first met Iry. I was fortunate enough to co-teach with Iry for about 6 years. She was a pleasure to work with; always gentle, kind, calm and a great instructor. We implemented lots of techniques together to keep learners from arriving late and leaving early such as sign-in and sign-out forms, starting or ending the day with TV/radio news and vocabulary quizzes. Iry was willing to do what it took. I know we shall all miss Iry and wish her a wonderful retirement as she moves between Hong Kong and Canada. All the best Iry!! Catherine Beckingham

I was co-teaching an ESL 4-5 class with Iry at Mary Ward for eight years. It was easy to cooperate with her as she was very accommodating and easy going. Iry always spoke in a calm soft voice, and I have never seen her in a bad mood. I was glad that I shared this class with Iry as having different

teaching styles, we complemented each other well, so the students had a maximum benefit from that by being exposed to more various activities. Whenever I asked the students some questions about Canada, they were able to give the right answers. To my surprise how they knew those things, they said that they had learned it from Iry. Also I was happy that every year Iry took it upon herself to prepare the class for the annual Christmas concert, where the students enjoyed learning Christmas carrols and recite stores, and I didn’t have to do that. Iry has been dedicated to the students and has always tried to improve her teaching. She cared deeply about the success of the students and always tried to find interesting things to do in class. On behalf of the staff at Mary Ward, I wish Iry all the best for her well-deserved retirement as she starts a new chapter in her interesting life. I know she is eager to catch up on the traveling that she loves so much. I hope she will enjoy her time in Hong Kong. I am very excited for Iry; however, she will be greatly missed by both the students and the teachers. Her positive attitude and helpfulness helped make out school a pleasant place to work. Milla Vago

Instructors Farewell Wishes for Thomas Au

Thomas Au was one of the original instructors at Epiphany of Our Lord that was the seed of Mary Ward LINC & ESL Centre back in the 80’s. Thomas’ long and successful career included teaching at Epiphany of Our Lord, Holy Spirit, Mary Ward and IIC at Mary Ward’s Saturday program. Thomas was a meticulous, dedicated and well respected teacher at IIC. All of us at TCDSB wish Thomas an enjoyable and well-deserved retirement. Catherine Beckingham I came to know Thomas when I joined Mary Ward North in 1998. Working with Thomas was an immense pleasure over the years. His constant enthusiasm, inspiring ideas, organizing skills, professional advice and dedication to our learners always impressed me greatly. When facing problems and dilemmas, I could definitely approach Thomas. He always listened patiently, analyzed knowledgeably and shared his experience generously. Thomas will certainly be missed! Thomas enjoy your retirement hobbies and whatever new activities you turn to! Best wishes for your new phase! Jane Sun



CELEBRATING RETIREMENTS

Retirement Celebration for Iry Lee





Tips for Classroom Instructors Feature Resource of the Month submitted by Julia Chemali, Program Consultant

Title: Reading Skills: The Best Way 3 Authors: Jonathan Edwards & James Hall Publisher: NE-Build & Grow ISBN: 978-89-5997-323-1 Field Tested: Mohamud Jamma (Midland ESL 5/6) The Best Way is a three books series and is designed for CLB 5- 8 learners who need to develop their critical thinking and comprehension skills. This is a high-interest and exciting series that contains a balance of fiction and nonfiction texts. It provides systematic activities that are especially designed to provide learners with multiple opportunities to develop, practice, and master comprehension skills and strategies. Above all, this series is designed to introduce the critical thinking skills that students will need to compete in today’s fast-changing, information-based global society. The Best Way 3 consists of five major themes and each theme has four units: Culture and History consists of the following units: Famous Pyramids, The Power of a four-leaf clover, Bringing the World together, and Buried in Time. The units under the Nature theme are: The Bridge in the Sky, It’s Child’s Play! Two Wonders of Nature, and The Goblin’s Milestone. Art and Entertainment theme has the units A Self Made Man, Circus of the Sun, The Angelus, and The Handcuff King. Sports and Health theme include The Naadam Festival, Finding Meaning in Your Dreams, Are You a Skier or a Snowboarder, I want to hike to the Peak. Science and Environment consist of The Science of Smiling, Pluto, The Ninth Planet? Cooling Planet Earth, and The Tree Planter. The units consist of fictitious or non-fictitious readings which focus on reading skills such as identifying main ideas, describing fact and fiction, sequencing, comparing and contrasting, describing cause and effect, etc. Each unit opens up with a visual to stimulate a warm up discussion, followed by key vocabulary exercise, a reading, then practice your reading skills activity, followed by check your comprehension of main ideas or details, then a sum up and a vocabulary review. This is supported by additional building skills exercises from a The Best Way 3 workbook. The Best Way 3 has high-interest content to capture students’ imagination and stimulate their creative and critical thought processes.



On A Lighter Note

Submission t:

Antonietta Porretta

Adult Education

Program - CEC

80 Sheppard Ave. E.

416-222-8282 Ext.2513

fax: 416-512-4992

Email:

[email protected]

memorandum - toronto catholic district school board · sunny, peaceful retirement in good health...

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