Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries
On October 30, 2021, SOCEM held its annual training conference, Gathering XVII. It was the first time we held an online conference, and we welcomed close to 50 participants not only from throughout Southern Ontario, but also from other provinces. Thanks to technology such as Zoom, we were able to accommodate participants from Alberta, B.C., […]
By Jennifer Tong If you live in Ontario, you probably remember the big ice storm of 2013. It was a few days before Christmas. For many, the memories included being forced to leave their homes and stay elsewhere. It was difficult, a struggle. We then had a taste of being ‘displaced persons’, forced to leave […]
[Part 1 of the interview can be accessed here.] ESL Link: What is the most rewarding thing in your teaching or tutoring? AU: Relationships. These people become friends. You have good companions. They ask you, they task you. You build relationships. I personally don’t like to teach in groups. I don’t think group teaching is […]
Sandy has been my ESL class teacher. The atmosphere in her ESL class was always joyful and harmonious. Classmates and Sandy made friends with each other. In March 2019, I was lucky to join Sandy’s Bible study classes; all of my classmates were from the ESL class. We were excited. This was the first time […]
By Kaarina HsiehLead Pastor, Parkway Forest Community Church Recently, I met a kind, thoughtful man who came to Canada from Brazil with his wife and daughter mere weeks before Toronto went into lockdown because of the global pandemic. To be newer to Canada, arriving with so many hopes and dreams of new work, new friendships […]
Check out the rich Christmas resources on our SOCEM site including Christmas lessons from the Virtues series and the Conversation Guides: An excellent reading about the North American Christmas traditions, with a glossary: Christmas traditions around the world; good for starting conversations with students: Stories behind favourite Christmas carols and hymns: A Christmas story from […]