PIP News – November 2018
A recap of the Peterborough Immigration Partnership’s work in November 2018
PIP’s ESL Forum hosts Professional Development Day with focus on skills for supporting ESL-Learners
On October 24th, the Peterborough Immigration Partnership’s ESL Forum, in collaboration with Trent University organised a professional development day for ESL instructors in Peterborough. Fifty participants were in attendance, including instructors from Trent University’s ESL Program; Fleming College’s LINC Program; and the ESL program at Peterborough Alternative and Continuing Education (PACE). Other instructors from the Peterborough community also participated in the day’s activities, in addition to ESL tutors and volunteers from the New Canadians Centre. The day’s program included a presentation by Tracey McConnery from Fleming College about the use of Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) by the LINC program and a presentation by Christine Fayek and Ron Jewer from PACE about the use of online resources for teaching ESL. Our guest speaker was Kerstin Okubo from the University of Toronto’s International Foundation Program (IFP), who gave two presentations entitled: The Forgotten Skill: Building Vocabulary for Spoken Production; and Exploring the Connection Between Listening & Pronunciation. Events like this are important for connecting ESL practitioners in our community, and providing them with the opportunity to network and learn in a collective and interactive environment. A special thank you to PACE for providing the venue for this event.
“Nice People Live Here” event explored diversity and inclusion through the lens of sport
On October 4th, the Peterborough Immigration Partnership collaborated with the Reframe Film Festival to screen the feature documentary “Nice People” documenting the creation of Somalia’s first bandy national team (bandy is a sport similar to ice hockey) based in the Swedish town of Borlänge. The purpose: to build bridges between the local population and the large Somali immigrant population, supporting the integration of Somali youth in the town. As the team prepared for the World Champions in Serbia, the documentary filmmakers followed their training, excitement, struggles, as well as local reactions to the Somali team. Watch the trailer here.
Following the film, local youth Tanya Perras and Tomas Casa shared the stage for a panel moderated by Dr. James Onusko, a Professor at Trent University. Tanya, a Grade 10 student at St. Peter’s Secondary School is a rep soccer player was born in Hongkong to Canadian and South Korean parents. Tomas is the 2018 ProSport Bike Champion who immigrated to Canada from Colombia 9 years ago with his family. They shared their thoughts about the role sport has played in their integration in Peterborough and cultivating a sense of belonging for them.
“Sports was a gateway to making friends. It is a universal language.” – Tomas Casas
“Sports bring people together. Your race, nationality, or language doesn’t matter because you’re working together.” – Tanya Perras
Watch the panel discussion below.
Established in 2008, the Peterborough Immigration Partnership (PIP) is a community-based partnership of individuals & organisations (including the NCC) which envisions a community where the meaningful economic, social and cultural integration of newcomers ensures a prosperous and inclusive community for all.
Please contact us for more information and to become involved in this partnership.