Leader-Post: Adjusting to Canadian life challenging for newcomers

Masha Martynyuk teaches a beginner class of English as a
second language at the Regina Immigrant Women's Centre.
Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Leader-Post, Leader-Post

Concentration and determination shone in the eyes of an intermediate level English literacy class.


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The Regina Immigrant Women's Centre (RIWC) is one of many centres and institutions in Saskatchewan that offer English as a second language (ESL) classes at different skill levels.

"(The program) helps clients to learn how to speak English, read and write a little bit," said Sachdev. "I feel that for any newcomer to Canada and particularly for women, it’s really important to be able to communicate in English because the facets of their lives take them all over."


Sachdev said many newcomers don’t even have a Canadian Level Benchmark (CLB) 1, which is the most basic knowledge of English.

Before immigrants are eligible to attend ESL classes at the Regina Open Door Society or the Adult Centre for Employment Readiness Training (ACERT), they have to have a CLB 3.


Once the CLB is 4 or higher, people can attend classes ESL classes at other institutions like SIAST.

Sachdev said the RIWC is focused on women because of the heavy burdens placed on them, but both genders are more than welcome.

Sachdev said in recent years, classes have become more diverse, which leads to additional challenges of learning ESL because of cultural differences.

"Sometimes we have women who don’t want to be in a class with men and we have to deal with that challenge in terms of explaining to them that in Canada, it’s very hard to segregate based on gender,” said Sachdev. “We want to help them to integrate into Canadian society, not to stay on the outskirts of it."

She said funding is a primary issue for the centre, but her goal is to start a library at the centre for the learners and gather simple kindergarten to Grade 5 reading materials.

"We’re trying to see if we can get … very, very simple books that children in schools start to read from and develop a library here so that learners who come in the literacy program can learn to borrow a book to read," said Sachdev.

She added another big challenge is some women, depending on where they come from, may not even be literate in their native language.

"As they advance into the program they also start to learn how to read and recognize letters," said Sachdev. "It’s more of a challenge for the instructor to assist them with that because if they’ve never written before, it’s tough."

Theresa Zwarich (standing) teaches an intermediate class of English as a second language at the immigrant Women’s Centre in Regina.

Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Regina Leader-Post

Once their CLB reaches level 3, newcomers can qualify for the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program offered by the Regina Open Door Society.

LINC teacher Amy Strauch, who has been teaching at LINC for the past three years, said the lower the level, the smaller the class sizes to give them one-on-one attention.

She said a big part of the challenge is for the community to be welcoming to newcomers.

"These are people who are trying really hard to establish themselves in the community," said Strauch. "English can be used by all people, regardless of their accent."

"Personally, I lived in China for three years and I was so very, very fortunate because I had two or three Chinese families that kind of adopted me," added LINC ESL manager Laura  Sheppard. "When I wasn’t quite sure where you got something or how you did something, I could ask them and boy it made such a big difference."

Sheppard said LINC classes are federally and provincially funded and there are 344 students enrolled in the program. She added that all of the teachers have teaching degrees and experience teaching English as a second language.

Sheppard said the program is designed to prepare students for life in Canada, but that isn’t an easy task.

"To me, always what’s helpful is for any of us to try to put ourselves in the situation that if we decided to move by ourselves or with our family, let’s say to take up work in Tokyo and everybody speaks Japanese and nobody speaks English, what would it be like for us?" said Sheppard.

Marion Radmacher, a retired teacher and volunteer tutor from Grace Mennonite Church for the Education and Employment for Refugees and Immigrants program at ACERT, said English is the biggest challenge for newcomers.

She recalled one student who couldn’t grasp the meaning of the phrase ‘to board up a window.’

"He thought it was like in a classroom, the board on the front of the classroom," said Radmacher. "So the multiple meanings of board - he just shook his head."

In the ACERT program, the classes are structured to help students attain their GED in a shorter period of time, said Murray Giesbrecht, the director of ACERT.

Giesbrecht added the class sizes are very small, usually no more than 10 students, to maximize one-on-one interaction. He said in addition to language challenges, he’s seen students struggle with the different climate, political structure and geography.

"We have some people that are from sub-Saharan Africa that are used to a much more temperate climate throughout their entire lives," said Giesbrecht. "Then they get here, dropped off in the middle of Saskatchewan and sort of adjusting to all of those things is certainly a reality for them too."