by Tassos Spanos – Spring 2006

IMPORTANT ITEMS
• An ESL Teacher’s Kit for the 2006 census is available at www.census2006.ca. In the past, ESL students have not completed and sent these in and important information had been missing which would help in the creation and delivery of programs and services that would benefit immigrants. All ESL teachers are asked to help students complete the census information in class.
• An extremely important survey will be coming from the newly formed (provincial) Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, which is responsible for managing the additional funds for ESL and Skills Training. Deadline for turning this in is end of April, 2006.

TESL NEWS
• TESL Ontario and TESL Affiliate members get publications and advertisements FREE in the Affiliate Corner part of the tesolontario.org website. This is a benefit of membership.
• TESL Ontario is looking for two Members-at-Large to serve on the TESL Ontario Board of Directors. Members-at-large are mainly involved with membership issues. For more information and to nominate someone, visit www.teslontario.ca/new/members/TESLNominationmal.pdf
• TESL Canada and TESL Ontario are working together towards harmonizing certification and other processes. The Chair of the TESL Ontario Certification Committee will sit on TESL Canada’s Certification Committee.
• Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS): School Board Directors must approach Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to ask to “partner” with them to get SWIS.
• To improve transparency and connection to its members, TESL Ontario will begin to send a bulletin after each TESL Ontario meeting to its Affiliates for distribution to the membership.

NEW & INTERESTING RESOURCES
• ‘New Moves’ Video (20 min.) – highly recommended orientation for newcomer students; deals with cultural and education system differences; suitable to teens, young adults, and parents; available FREE from www.settlement.org/site/ed/guide/videos.
• Meet the Teacher: DVD (8 min.) – shows parent-teacher interview; designed to explain what happens from the time kids get the forms, to parents receiving the notice, to talking to the teacher; available FREE from www.settlement.org/site/ed/guide/videos.
• My Canada software is available from www.nas.ca for a fee; an overview of common Canadian history material covered in high school; can be used on-line; includes a dictionary feature & good audio support.