SERVICES

Empowering Ottawa's Inner-city with an ESL class

Details

Who can join?

This course has been written with the beginner English learner in mind, covering foundational skills needed to interact with others in English. But all those looking to improve their pronunciation and conversation skills in English are welcome.

Location and timing

The current class offering is scheduled every Tuesday, starting March 25th, and will conclude May 27th. The class will run from 12:00 - 2:00 pm at OIM's building (391 Gladstone Ave.).

Registration

There is no cost to take this class. To sign up and attend the class, please call OIM's office: (613) 237-6031.

Instructors

The class instructor is Heather Berghuis, an OIM volunteer and ...and a certified English as a second language instructor through Carleton University. Heather also has a team of volunteers to help students grow their skills.

Purpose

Through this English as a Second Language class, OIM is committed to empowering individuals with limited English proficiency, including newcomers and refugees, by enhancing their reading, writing, and speaking skills. We strive to facilitate their successful integration into society, unlocking opportunities for employment, daily interactions, and an improved quality of life.

Curriculum

Our first course being offered is a task-based program giving participants the language they would need to transition into retail employment. This is done by using real scenarios from a local Christian thrift store, the re-Source Thrift Shop. Why set the scene in a Canadian Thrift Shop? This scenario was chosen since the language skills needed can be transferred to other work environments and because, being on the board of the re-Source Thrift Shop, Heather has seen how valuable volunteering there can be for newcomers to Canada for learning Canadian retail skills and building relationships with the other volunteers. We hope to include a part B of this class in which participants can actually volunteer at the store with English Support Volunteers.

The course will run 10 weeks with a typical class consisting of teacher-led instruction through PowerPoints and small group practice through games, readers, worksheets, and conversation. All participants will get emails with the PowerPoints and worksheets to continue their learning on their own.

Lesson 0: Assessment through games and activities.

The first two weeks will involve games played at activity stations, covering the skills that will be taught. This will help the instructor gauge the students' level.

Lesson 1: "Introductions"

Letter recognition, letter sounds, memorizing greetings, and spelling names.

Lesson 2a: "When Can You Volunteer?"

Date: days of the week, months of the year, calendar use

Lesson 2b: When Can You Volunteer?

Time: how to read analog and digital clocks

Lesson 3: "Sarah Volunteers - A"

Focus on vocabulary from a story

Lesson 4: "Sarah Volunteers - B"

Learning the verb ‘to be’

Lesson 5: "Meet the Volunteers"

‘To be’ positive and negative