As some of you might already know, our LINC school is about to trial a Citizenship Test Module. A couple of you have been nominated to try it out in advance.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the rest are excluded. Here are a few useful resources from Toronto Public Library's blog:
IELTS- Prepare for the International English Language Testing System.
Learning Express Library- Practice tests and tutorial courses in math, science, reading, standard tests and entrance exams such as TOEFL, SAT, GRE, LSAT.
Mango Languages- Learn a new language or improve your English.
My Canada- Lessons about Canada's history, geography, government and culture. Prepare for the Canadian Citizenship Test.
What you need to apply for a Canadian Citizenship?
Share your experience about job hunting and employment preparation
Tips on integrating in Canadian society
March 8 - International Women’s Day
March 10 - Purim (Jewish Festival)
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 20 – Holi (Hindu Festival)
Community recreation programs and how you and your family can benefit from them?
Adult learning programs for immigrants
Those who have never submitted an article are encouraged to do so. Write the draft in MS Word and submit it to me via email attachment before February 15, which gives you at least two weeks to work on it. We took a break for the February issue, but let's start it up for March.
Should kids be happy, or should they be obedient? Should parents try to be popular or feared? Should there be discipline or freedom in the family? This past week has seen a nonstop flurry of opinions on these issues.
The discipline of Chinese moms has just become legendary or even proverbial, with ethnically Chinese law professor Amy Chua of Yale University proclaiming in the Wall Street Journal the superiority of Chinese Mothers in raising children. In the article, she details how she and other Chinese mothers maintain high expectations of their children and would spare no effort to get them to overachieve in every sphere of life, with the exception of sports. If a kid does not perform, she's put through more drills and/or insulted. The stated goal is, of course, to draw the best out of her.
As expected, not everybody's impressed. In fact, Chua's piece has generated quite a media hurricane worldwide. At the present time, the number of comments on the WSJ website is in access of 7,300, and an innumerable number of opinions continue to proliferate on Facebook pages, newspaper op-eds, talk shows, and who knows where.
In the LINC program, learners come from all over the world, from different cultures. Living in Canada, what are some of the cultural differences that you face in terms of child raising? How much would you adopt of the Canadian way of teaching your kids? What about the values of the people here? Some of you may wish to read the whole article and some of the comments there before either:
Submitting a comment below by clicking on the Comments link, or
Posting your thoughts on your own blog, with a link back to this post of mine.
If you happen to be in Downtown Toronto on Friday, do consider attending the IEP Conference, and not just for the free lunch!
Catering to overseas skilled workers in engineering, infocomm, healthcare, finance, and business services, the conference tackles some of the most common and frustrating challenges they face.
Supported by the federal government's Citizenship & Immigration Canada, entrance to the IEP Conference is free, but it's a good idea to preregister through the website: iep.ca.
Sector hub panels include representation from sector employers, regulatory/credentialing bodies, professional associations, educational institutions, government and successfully employed IEPs.
LUNCH (Foyer of Room 106/107)
12:15pm
Take advantage of this opportunity for informal networking with fellow IEPs, and visit the Marketplace (Room 106/107) to connect with supporting organizations and employers! Note: Box lunches will be provided for delegates.
PLENARY SESSION - John Bassett Theatre
1:15pm
Plenary Keynote speaker - Shereli Najak, Senior Producer/Director, Live Remote Productions, , CBC's HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
These sessions will offer IEPs an opportunity to hone their skills to compete in the Canadian marketplace. Please click on the workshops for more details.
CLOSING REMARKS - John Bassett Theatre
4:00pm
Rahul Bhardwaj – President & CEO, The Toronto Community Foundation
Tarek El-Hennawy – Regional Program Advisor, Ontario Region, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
4:30pm Conference Ends
Program Subject to Change - Please check back often for updates.
