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Adult Education Program

Memorandum To: Adult Education Program Staff From: Hanna Cabaj (Coordinator) and Jaime Puentes (Admin Assistant) Adult Education Program

Vol. 2019/2020 No. 282 March 2020

In This Issue

Upcoming Events/Dates

March Break Week 1

New/Important Information

2019 T4 Slips—ESS 1 Revised School Year Calendar 1 PBLA Monitor in LINC Program 2

Indigenous-Newcomer Relations 2

LINC Contribution Agreement 2

PBLA Course for Learners 2

Client Demographic Reports 2

Outreach Report 4

Employee Related News

Elizabeth Tryczynska’s Celebration 3

Tips for Classroom Instructors

Slangman Series Book Review 5

Upcoming Webinars 5

AE Nursery Program

Winter Safety (Parents and Kids) 6 A Nursery Program Vignette 6

Dominika Ksel’s 25 years of service 6

Inserts included this month

Payroll Memomanda (Tax Forms)

Adult Education Calendar (revised)

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Online PBLA Course Flyer

Upcoming Events/Dates

March Break Week: Saturday March 14, 2020 to Sunday March 22, 2020

Classes will resume on Monday, March 23, 2020.

New/Important Information

2019 T4 slips - ESS

We are pleased to advise that the electronic distribution of the 2019 T4, T4A & T2200 Declaration of Conditions of Employment taxation slips are available online in the Employee Self Service Site as of February 14, 2020. Please review the inserts in this issue, which provide further information on how to access the online taxation slips.

If you require more information, please contact Payroll Services at payrollrecpt@tcdsb.org

If you are experiencing technical issues, please contact the TCDSB Service Desk:

Self Service (from any device): servicedesk.tcdsb.org

Phone (If Priority calling): (416) 222-8282 Ext. 4357 (HELP)

Revised 2019/2020 school year calendar Labour Day is on Monday, September 7, 2020. The Adult Education Program will resume for the 2020/2021 school year on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Due to an anomaly for the school year calendar for 2020-2021 as communicated by the Director of Education, there is a need to extend the 2019/2020 Adult Education school year by one week, ending July 24, 2020. Adult Education program will resume the new school year after the usual 6 weeks shutdown between July 27- September 7, 2020. Please find enclosed the revised Adult Education Calendar for 2019/2020.

New/Important Information

PBLA Monitor in LINC Program

IRCC has announced that it will be conducting a monitor (an audit) of the implementation of PBLA in our LINC programs over April-May of this year. The monitor will include collecting self-evaluation forms from instructors, PBLA Leads and administration, visits to sites and classes, meetings with staff and learners, review of learner Language Companions and artefacts collected, and a review of the rate of assessments and progressions of clients in our LINC classes.

Reconciliation and Indigenous-Newcomer Relations

On Wednesday, February 20,2020 we participated in the Open Forum on Reconciliation and Indigenous-Newcomer Relations organized by the City of Toronto Newcomer Office. The forum included a brief review of history, overview of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada calls for action and provided an opportunity to discuss the City of Toronto vision. The presented plan of action calls, among other things, for the development of hardcopy and online resources for settlement staff and classroom resources for language instructors to help them better inform newcomers about the indigenous culture and history. This is a ground breaking initiative and we are happy to be part of it. More information will follow.

LINC Contribution Agreement Following our approved application for the next Contribution Agreement with the Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada, we are finalizing negotiations of the 2020/2021 fiscal year funding. We have been approved for the status quo level of LINC programming – the same number of sites and classes. Letters of assignments to staff will be finalized during March break.

PBLA course for learners

As mentioned in the February memorandum, the TELLON Project team has designed 2 PBLA mini courses for Learners in Stage 1 and Stage 2. These courses are fully online, self-directed and housed in the Onyx Learner Management System (LMS). They consist of three units each and can take up to 6 hours for learners to complete.

Please share the flyer included in this issue with your learners if they are interested in participating. As instructor, no action is required on your part.

Toronto Language Assessment Centres – client demographic reports

At the March 2020 Community Partnership Committee Meetings, the Language Assessment Centre shared the latest statistical report on the demographics of clients assessed for language training programs in Toronto. You may find the reports on TCDSB Adult Education website at: https://www.tcdsb.org/FORCOMMUNITY/AdultEducationESL/ForPublic/Pages/Research-and-Demographics.aspx

Page 2

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

Employeee News

Elizabeth Tryczynska - 25 Years of Service Celebration Elizabeth Tryczynska received her overdue 25 Years of Service Recognition Certificate in February 2020. Because of her tendency to serve her learners beyond the class time, the staff at COSTI Corvetti Education Centre had to be creative in ensuring her presence in the staffroom, except the creativity became a little too creative and made Elizabeth very perplexed when she entered the room. Once she realized the purpose of the gathering, she became appreciative of the staff’s creativity and enjoyed the get together.

Page 3

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

Page 4

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

Outreach Report — March 2020 Submitted by Kay Ham

Community Engagement: On February 10, 2020, Naomi Paramanantham and Kay Ham co-presented to approximately 30 staff members of TAIBU Community Health Centre located in the Malvern area. We promoted relevant programs to the area and the demographics that centre serves. Upcoming Events: 1. Kay and Naomi are participating in the Education Fair hosted by COSTI Corvetti Education Centre on March 11, 2020. This is an event that provides information to the public on post-secondary education and specialized training programs. 2. Kay will be part of Humber TESL Career Day organized by Humber College TESL Training Program on March 19, 2020 to provide information on our program and answer questions. 3. Annual Education Fair 2020 is taking place at Bickford Centre on March 25, 2020. Joanne Hincks and Kay are participating in the event. Our programs in the South Central area, ESL for Health Care Professionals and Essential Skills program are going to be promoted at this event. Adopt a Library Branch Campaign: There are 100 branches of Toronto Public Library in the city of Toronto. I would like to appeal to our staff to adopt a branch and monitor the level of our program directory in the branch. When low, you can simply email me at kay.ham@tcdsb.org for replenishment. By working together, we can have our program directories available to the public at all time. Your support of this campaign is highly appreciated.

Social Media Posting: Please continue to send picture and videos, after securing participants’ consent, to Sharon Rajabi Sharon.rajabi@tcdsb.org or Gabrianna Jolie – Gabrianna.jolie@tcdsb.org. Also requested to promote our media handles with your learners and encourage them to follow them. Our media handles are:

Facebook: @TorontoAdultEducation

Instagram: TorontoAdultEducation Twitter: @AdultEdTCDSB

Memo Submissions to: Jaime Puentes

Adult Education Program 80 Sheppard Avenue East

416-222-8282 Ext. 2513 Fax: 416-512-4992

Email: puentej@tcdsb.org

Tips for Classroom Instructors

Slangman Series—Book Review Submitted by Agnes Nowicz, ESL Instructor at Eglinton LINC & ESL Centre The Slangman series is a collection of colourful business and street-world of American English for ESL speakers. It contains well planned lessons for learners and teachers who are interested in nuances of colloquial and slang English. Despite its American content, each lesson is adaptable and teachable to Canadian slang as well (having a blast, running a fever, getting comfortable, chilling out, soak up, step on one’s toes, daily grind, in the boonies). Each chapter is theme-based (movies, school, restaurant, dating, birthday parties, political correctness) with cartoons, true or false exercises, a pronunciation guide and real speak (D’jeet jet?-Did you eat yet?), as well a literal interpretation of each term. David Burke aka Slangman is an author of over a 100 products and books, and has been featured on BBC, CNN, Voice of America and most recently at the TESL Ontario Conference (November 2019, at the well-lit Hollywood booth). He has a YouTube channel consisting of short clips on teen slang and TV slang among others, as well as a children’s channel (www.wordy.com), which may be an asset for childminding caregivers. The books are written for a high functioning learner (CLB 7-8), but the YouTube clips may be used at any benchmark level with zero to minimal preparation time for the instructor. It gives real-life examples and is fun and interactive. The “Street Speak” slang series also come with an assessment guide made up ready-to-copy tests on slang and usage of vocabulary. I would highly recommend the series, the books, and the channel. In addition, David is a cheerful and lively speaker with a funny bone and a gift of gab. He lives in Los Angeles but travels to Toronto from time to time, he is keen on giving workshops and reaching out for a partnership with ESL and LINC program at TCDSB. His books may be ordered online at www.slangman.com.

Upcoming Webinars Visit Tutela to register for the webinars below. Webinars below with a star are for TESL Ontario members, who also join the TESL Ontario group on Tutela.

*March 22, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: A consideration of Intercultural Curricula (Alanna Carter)

*March 26, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm: The Blend Sync Approach to Teaching ESL: Pedagogy and Technology (Dmitri Priven & Donald Moen)

Page 5

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

AE Nursery Program

Winter Safety for Parents and Kids Submitted by Naomi Paramanantham, Nursery Program Consultant

Nursery Instructors please share this link with your parents in your CNC/Nursery Programs: https://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/winter_safety Winter is a great season for outdoor activities, such as sledding and skating. Cold weather, ice, and snow can be fun but also dangerous for children. This link offers tips to help parents and children enjoy winter activities safely. Acknowledgement: Canadian Pediatric Society www.cpa.ca

A vignette from TCDSB Adult Education Care for Newcomer Children Program at Victoria Park LINC Centre A three year old girl is sitting at an activity table, happily pasting stickers on a page, as another child is brought in to the room by a parent. The girl jumps up from her chair and runs towards the other child with arms outstretched in a hug. Both jump up and down with excitement, giggle, then go to the activity table holding hands. Best friends forever !!! Both come from different continents, speak different languages (Arabic and Telugu), and are newcomers to Toronto and Canada. They met several months ago in the same Care for Newcomer Children program, where they play and learn together, and communicate in the new language they are both learning - English. That is success!!!

Dominika Ksel-Naporowska’s 25 years of service - Eglinton LINC & ESL Centre

Page 6

To: Adult Education Program Staff

From: Hanna Cabaj, Continuing Education Department

On February 18, Cris Stathopoulos, Nursery Program Consultant, presented Dominika with her 25 years of service certificate issued by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Congratulations!