Looking for a change of pace in your classroom? Try this!

Margaret Meyer's daughter sent us from Uganda the link to a vocabulary website she and her daughter have been enjoying. Both Margaret and I have tried it out and have found it quite challenging. The level of difficulty increases every time you get a perfect score. It is a very simple way to increase your vocabulary, and help feed the hungry (via a U.N. program) at the same time. The funds are provided by the advertisers on the home site. It seems that the altruistic aspect of it inspires Margaret's granddaughter to persevere with the language learning, and it may do the same for your students.

If you're looking for a way to spice up your class, and you have acccess to computers, you might like to encourage your students to try this out. Personally, I find it a good way to relax and unwind, while enhancing my own vocabulary!

ESL WEEK 2007 NEWS AND EVENTS

We are delighted to report that the mayors of Belleville and Brockville joined the mayor of Kingston in proclaiming the week of November 18th - 24th, "English as a Second Language Week".  We joined many other communities in Ontario that have made the same declaration.

For those who were unable to attend the thought-provoking lecture Professor Keith Banting, Research Chair of Policy Studies at Queen's University, gave on November 20th entitled, "Belonging? Multiculturalism and Social Integration in Canada", here are a few highlights.

Dr. Banting’s lecture focused on the underlying questions: How can we preserve a strong community and shared values in an increasingly diverse society? Do we have reason to worry? His talk drew on recent evidence to examine whether new divides are opening up in our society and to discuss the way forward.

Words of an ESL Activist:: Kai Xing

Kai was born, raised and educated in Beijing, China. She came to Canada in 1992 to pursue her master’s degree in urban and regional planning under a fellowship offered by Queen’s University. Since 1995, she has been working in the field of Sino-Canadian business development. Her bicultural life exposure has helped her rediscover her creativity through writing. As she continues to write in her second language, she hopes her writing will in turn help her reflect upon who she is and grow into who she can be. I think you'll agree that this article shows she's succeeding admirably! Read on...

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I came to Canada from China over a decade ago to expand my horizons. Much growth has taken place since then, except that I’m still locked in a “detox” program. I have no idea when it’ll end. My battle is not with drugs. Oh no! It’s much trickier than that.

I have a speech disorder caused by my dependence on using ESL (English as a Second Language), specifically Chinglish (Chinese-English) to communicate. Chinglish to me is like alcohol to a drunk. If I don’t try to avoid it or at least watch carefully how much I allow it in my system, I can easily end up talking funny and getting into troubles. It’d be nice if I could reduce the Chinglish content in my speech from a historical high of 65 percent to hopefully below 0.05 percent. So, eventually the words coming out of my mouth will be considered “non-intoxicating” therefore safe enough for anyone to hear. Even children. But when, when will this ever happen? Some days I’m quite eager to persevere in my “rehab” scheme. Other times, I’m depressed by my slow progress or lapses. Once in a while, I can’t help but grow suspicious about why English is so hard to grasp.

I think there must be some sort of conspiracy in the development of this language. Although it’s not as whimsical as French, its irrational rules, its endless accessories like the idioms and slang, its intricate verb patterns, parallel constructions, subjunctive mood… are, all quite maddening. Perhaps the creators of the English language crafted it specifically to confuse the ESL speakers, test our nerves, and prevent us from ever getting a clue. So to us, the outsiders, English and its elements will forever remain like stormy weather and fast changing clouds. We’ll never know exactly how wild it’ll get or which cloud is going to rain on us. Even just a smallest technicality, say prepositions, which I fear and begrudge the most, can make us feel as if we were walking on black ice!

This past summer I went to a native Indian powwow for the first time in my life. My friends cautioned me beforehand to act with extra respect and courtesy at the event. Remembering this, I remained silent most of the morning. Soon feast time came along, and the general atmosphere at the ground became more relaxed. So did I.

While I was eating lunch, a Native Indian gentleman walked up to me and asked, “Are you Chinese? Can you read Chinese characters?” “Yes, Yes,” I replied politely, bowing forward. He then showed me his left forearm with a big smile, “Look what I've got!”

It was a tattoo of two Chinese words that mean faith and trust. The artwork wowed me, “Gee, who did this to you!” The man was taken aback by my comment. After a long pause, he said emphatically, “Never mind. I think it is very nice and I like it very much!”

Off he went. Looking at his back, I had no clue how I'd offended him. Then an onlooker prompted, in a low voice, “Did you mean to say ‘who did this for you'?” Damn the prepositions--the deceitfully insignificant characters capable of destroying my confidence of ever speaking English!

After that incident, I vowed to take control of using prepositions by studying my Chinese-English dictionary. I thought I’d start with an easy word, like “take”. Apparently, there are at least twenty-one prepositions we can use with it: to, from, as, for, on, up… I felt it was a bit too much to take all that in. My mind wanted to pick another easy word. “How about ‘mind’?” As I proposed to myself, I tried my luck. Boy, no luck! There are close to sixty phrases that involve all kinds of prepositions with the word “mind”: at the back of one’s mind, be of two minds about doing something, bend one’s mind to something, have something in mind for something… and get this, in one’s mind’s eye! I couldn’t help but laugh, “How can one’s mind have an ‘eye’? Besides, why only ‘eye’, why not ‘eyes’? Does this phrase suggest we are all narrow-minded because our mind has just one eye? Gee, if this is not mind-boggling, I don’t know what is!” I was getting a bit irritated. “I don’t need to get lost in this maze. Maybe I’ll try just one more word, a no-brainer. And hopefully it’ll be piece of cake…” I flipped to the page in my dictionary for my most favorite scrabble word “go”. Or should I have said “pages”? There are six and half pages devoted to explaining what goes with “go”. Seriously, can you believe it? “That’s it! No more prepositions! Starting today, I’ll avoid using any no matter what!” I made my ultimatum without one preposition—not too bad, eh?

So tonight, under the influence of a full moon, I’ve made up my mind. I’m throwing in the towel! For good!

What will I lose if I may never be able to speak authentic English? Only people who were born into this language should be cursed to carry the cross on their back and be judged by their congregation. I’m from a different club. I quite enjoy the ambiance and ease when I’m surrounded by other fellow ESL speakers. With them, I’m comfortably oblivious about the fact that I don’t know better when it comes to the inside workings of the English language, and most of the time, neither do they. Which serves me just great, as they are easy to fool (sorry, I mean, please). I can speak my mind freely without worrying how I should word things. This is what I call total freedom of speech in a democratic country.

Honestly, I don’t see the advantages native English speakers have over us, the ESLers. We have a unique, free-flowing and effective way of speaking. As long as we get our points crossed, grammar, phrasing, order of words, all this cumbersome stuff is unnecessary. For instance, a Chinese ESLer who doesn’t speak Korean and a Korean ESLer who understands no Mandarin can communicate with each other just fine through equally comprehensible Chinglish and Koreglish (Korean-English). Recently my Korean friend, Agnes, a new immigrant to Canada, paid me a surprise visit. It was just after suppertime when she buzzed the speaker for my apartment. As I greeted her over the intercom she shouted in excitement, “Quick come, churchy, Korin penist, four finger!” Hearing that, I flew downstairs. As soon as I reached the lobby, Agnes bobbed her head fast and dragged me to the door. While I speed-walked with her I almost figured it all out--we have to rush to a concert held in a church featuring a Korean pianist. Except, what’s with the “four finger”? So I asked Agnes, “Pianist only use four finger play?” She nodded, “Yiesss.” “So, not use the rest six finger play?” I tried to clarify with her. Agnes gestured with her fingers and confirmed, “Yiesss. She only four finger play.” Intriguing! I couldn’t wait to see.

What troubles me is: although we, the ESLers, enjoy our ease and know-how in speaking Chinglish, Korenglish and the like, English language authority figures don’t quite approve it. They think we need to learn to speak and appreciate the authentic English. They see it their duty to correct us when our English makes no sense (according to them of course). And when we’ve abandoned what works for us (in our minds anyway), they seem so glad that finally we’ve come to our senses.

The subject of authenticity reminds me of decaf coffee, artificial sweetener, Soya meat, laminated hardwood floor, oh and of course, silicon boobs... People know these aren’t “the real thing”; they want them anyway. Perhaps they prefer them. Perhaps we should send our English teachers some “Chinese” fortune cookies (invented in America) or “Italian” glass figurines (made in China), and see if they like them. And if they do, maybe they’ll get the hint and let us speak our imitation English the way we like.

Or maybe not—maybe they’ll change their argument now. They’ll probably say their problem with our imitation English is not so much that it’s unauthentic as that it’s broken. Well, as far as we think, the authentic English is already broken without our help.

For example, listen to this dialogue: “Isn’t he something!” one exclaims. Then comes a definite response, “Let me tell ya, he sure is something else!” Are the two people here in agreement or opposition? Or both?

Here’s another one: why do we have to say “a pair of pants” instead of “a pant”? I’m told because we have two legs, “pants” are always plural. I see. Then why don’t we also say “a pair of shirts” rather than “a shirt”? We have two arms, don’t we? So arms count less than legs do in the authentic English world?

And what do you think when people say “It’ll first cool down then freeze up”? Shouldn’t it be “freeze down”, as cold air stays low and things shrink in size when frozen?

Oh, English language authorities, please don’t feel I’m attempting to beat you up or put you down here, as I’m certainly not sure if either is the best way to go. I’m only trying to help you reflect upon your mother tongue. Perhaps you realize that your authentic English is not any less broken than our imitation English. You break it your way and we break it our way. It’s only a matter of choice in style; that’s all.

Isn’t choice a great thing! That’s why people prefer to live in the free world. We’re free to choose. If native English speakers—knowing how crazy their language is—choose to be content about it and make do with what they’ve got, so can we, the ESLers, with our Chinglish, Koreglish and so forth. I actually quite look forward to having tons of fun getting together with my people.

So, come on ESL activists! Let’s put up our declaration on the door to our hall of fame: “ESL Schoolars Only. Miscellaneous peoples not enter!” Let’s enjoy our freedom of speech. If any speak-so-called-pure-English’s local people dare come knock our door and against our sign make nasty comment, we then first politely smile a smile then to them say, “Shovel off!”

PS: If you'd like to know more about the pianist, Lee Hee-ah, you can hear her play and watch a video here:
www.samtsai.com/p532/hee-ah-lee-four-finger-pianist/
And if you wish to contact Kai, click here: Kai Xing

Great Canadian Resources Online

Here are some resources both students and teachers will find useful:

From the diverse cultures of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Vietnam, Germany, Guyana, Somalia, and others, immigrant children write of their experiences leaving their homes and moving to a new country. The stories, poems, and pictures in Our New Home tell of the fear and sadness, the excitement and challenge of moving to another world and forging a new sense of self in a new land. The editors of this book bring rich backgrounds to it. Emily Hearn has written programs for the CBC, TVO and the National Film Board, books for children, and a natiural history comic strip for OWL Magazine. Marywinn Milne's career spans 30 years with the Toronto District School Board in a variety of teaching roles, including those of teacher librarian and ESL/ESD teacher. Our New Home was just released in October by Second Story Press, a small Canadian publishing house with a reputation for publishing high quality books, fiction and non-fiction, for both adults and children. Their children's book, Hana's Suitcase – the nonfiction tale of a Japanese historian and a little girl who perished in the Holocaust -- is part of the award-winning Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers and has won many awards. For ordering information, see Second Story's website: http://secondstorypress.ca/books/140-our-new-home

In case you haven't explored it yet, the settlement.org website, run by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, (OCASI), has a wealth of resources for ESL teachers and students alike. There are two sections: one for immigrants, full of articles you can use in the classroom on such topics as education, health, money management, and much more, and one for those of us who serve immigrants, with many resources and articles that can contribute to our effectiveness, and also to our wellbeing. It's well worth taking a little time to explore both sites, which you can enter here: http://settlement.org/path.html

The Canadian Immigrant is an online magazine full of information, resources, success stories, thought-provoking articles and pictures. It can be an invaluable classroom resource, as well as providing pertinent and enjoyable reading for students at home.

To view The Canadian Immigrant magazine, click on this link: http://www.thecanadianimmigrant.com/index.php

The Link is a two-hour daily radio show aimed at connecting new immigrants to Canada and Canada to the world. Plug in to the show for immigration news and stories. Find out what's new and exciting on Canada's cultural landscape. And get the pulse on what's happening in Canada today. Whether you live inside or outside the country, just click on The Link and get connected. 

To check out The Link at Radio Canada International, click on this link: http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/emissions/1952.shtml

All sorts of new things are happening at ISKA these days. Remember to check their website so you can refer students appropriately. For more information and updates on services, click here:
http://immigrantserviceskingston.ca

Be sure to download their monthly calendar of events and their newsletters from the website.

CANADIAN COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN & YOUTH

Barbara Burnaby has sent us some encouraging news about a new venture. She has long felt that it's time that the CCICY evolved into a more structured organization.  The Ottawa Community Immigrant Settlement Organization (OCISO) has been working with support from the Laidlaw Foundation to consider the structural options which would be suitable for this next step as well as to work out a plan for as many of us as possible to meet to take decisions on this.  The meeting will take place on November 28, 2007 in Ottawa.  The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) is having its fall consultation at the Travelodge Ottawa Hotel from November 29th to December 1st , and the hope is that some people planning to attend that meeting will come a day early for the CCICY meeting as well as bring in some additional people.  The Atkinson Foundation is helping too.

Our roving reporter, Peg Deaton, attended this meeting on behalf of TESL Kingston. Following is a summary of the decisions made. For the full report, see the CCICY's website.

Strategic Priorities
Given the current resource base, CCICY wanted to be very focused on what was achievable at this time. Three strategic priorities were proposed for the next year.

Initially, POE will contain credential equivalencies for twenty-five countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK and USA. We expect the list will grow very soon to encompass the vast majority of countries.

This self-assessment tool is currently limited to a post-secondary degrees and recognized degree-granting institutions. It does not include secondary-level or other types of institutions and credentials.

The equivalencies provided are based on information in WES database. There is $30 fee to review equivalencies for three international credentials. This fee can be credited towards the cost of a formal evaluation report.

Note: Since the statement of equivalency is not based on a review of actual documents, it has no formal status, and cannot be used by an individual as proof that they have earned the degree described. Only a formal evaluation report can be used for purpose of degree authentication.

For more information, or to access the Preliminary Online Equivalency, click here.

Credential Evaluation for Newcomers
by Peg Deaton, Roving Reporter, TESL Kingston

On May 31st, 2006, Nancy Millward of World Education Services (WES) gave a presentation at St. Lawrence College on the whys and hows of credential evaluation for newcomers.

She stated that approximately 40% of employers indicate that they would screen out internationally-educated applicants because they do not know how to assess their education. In order to break that barrier of what employers are thinking, WES aids foreign-trained professionals to apply for employment, apply for licensing or certification with professional associations, enter apprenticeship training programs and even to immigrate to Canada. For employers in Canada the biggest issues are understanding foreign credentials and ascertaining language skills.

In working with the applicants there are three key questions: Does the work they do belong to one of the regulated professions? How will a credential assessment help them get a job? Why choose World Education Services?

WES is an international not-for-profit agency whose mission is to facilitate the employment and academic integration of immigrants through the provision of credential evaluation services. WES is recognized and funded, by the Government of Ontario, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. It has 30 years experience and does approximately 55,000 evaluations annually.

For teachers of these professionals the following contact information may be useful:

www.wes.org/ca At this site the individual may download the application form or complete the form on line.

www.edu.gov.on.ca (or call 1-888562-4769) At this site or phone number the individual
may obtain information related to regulated professions.

416-651-1496 Costi Translation Services

www.ilc.org or call 1-416-326-5775 At this site or number questions may be asked with regard to apprentice training.

www.apprenticesearch.com This site gives information about jobs for apprentices.

www.SkillsInternational.ca This site is a very new venture. It contains a searchable database of candidate profiles and is dedicated exclusively to profiling the skills of immigrant job seekers in Ontario. This tool unites pre-screened, internationally trained individuals with employers who need their skills.

www.wes.org/ca/apply/westoeic.asp This site allows newcomers to apply online for an evaluation of international educational credentials as well as registration for a TOEIC test.

For those using WES, Nancy stated that the most important document for foreign trained professionals to obtain is their transcripts. These should be sent directly from their university abroad to WES in a sealed envelope. Once those are received, their standard service is fast – 7 businesss days. For one fee, WES evaluates all the professional’s formal academic degrees or diplomas issued by educational institutions.

An on line application may be made to www.wes.org/ca/application . To check the status of a report online, the applicant may go to https://www/wes.org/ca/appstatus

For no extra charge, a second original copy of the report is sent directly to an institution of the professional’s choice. Course-by-course evaluation reports are preferred by educational institutions and licensing bodies. An evaluation can be used for employment, continuing education, licensing, entry to apprenticeship training programs and immigration purposes.

The cost of a document-by –document report is $115 per application. The cost of a detailed course-by-course report is $200 per application. An upgrade from document-by-document to Course-by-course report is $150. Rush service is available at an extra cost: same day service is $200, 3-day service is $100. Nancy recommends that one use the
same day service only if transcripts are already in the WES office.

If you would like a WES staff to contact you for an “Information Session” on their Evaluation Services and outreach to employers, contact Nancy Millward at 416-972-0070 ext. 26 or Kevin Kamal 416-972-0070 ext. 25.

You may order materials from WES to give to your students, including WES application forms in English or French, brochures about the TOEIC-WES application, WES hire-smart booklets, WES postcards, and a brochure on understanding a WES report. For these materials contact Kevin or Nancy at the above numbers.