Volunteering at the New Canadians Centre allows Sylvia Dick to meaningfully engage in the community

Since participating in an exchange program to Ecuador during high school where she learned Spanish, followed by a year teaching English in South Korea and now tutoring English to newcomers, language has been an integral part in Sylvia Dick’s life.

Sylvia enjoys volunteering as a tutor at the New Canadians Centre, supporting newcomers in learning and practicing English.

“Tutoring provides me the chance to be engaged in the community. I love being able to share my knowledge and the reciprocal learning that takes place between the volunteer and the newcomer.” 

A real highlight for Sylvia is being able to witness the inter-generational aspect to her tutoring.  Sylvia teaches a grandmother who has one of her grandchildren present during tutoring sessions. Seeing the empowerment in the eyes of an 8 year old realizing he’s playing a role in teaching his grandmother is quite special for Sylvia.

Sylvia Dick (r) teaching English to newcomer Hend using play-cards

Sylvia has also helped out at a variety of special events such as the Multicultural Canada Day Festival, as a facilitator at Coffee & Conversation Groups and at a Citizenship Ceremony.

Sylvia loves that she can intermittently drop into the Spanish Conversation Group, always feeling welcome for over 10 years.  She really admires the volunteer program and thinks of it as a very positive initiative for newcomers and the community

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The Volunteer Program at the New Canadians Centre provides several opportunities to connect with the Peterborough community, learn about new cultures, make a difference in someone’s life, and build new skills. We could not operate nor reach our goals without the generous help of our volunteers.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the New Canadians Centre, please visit our volunteer page.