In the Frontiers

1001 Nights of Storytelling

Once upon a time… Frontier College went storytelling.

Friday, November 30, 2007, saw Frontier College at the University of Toronto partner with 1,001 Friday Nights of Storytelling to run a storytelling event at the Innis College Café. 1001 Friday Nights is a community event that has been running since 1978. An open format event, anyone who has a story can share, the only requirement being that you can’t read it.

The evening, hosted by Dan Yashinsky (the unofficial Dean of Storytelling in Toronto) began with a story told by Frontier College’s Director of Finance, Eric Plato. Eric told the story of how his great-grandfather escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad, eventually making it to Canada, and how his great-grandfather’s drive for literacy shaped the lives of his descendants. Other stories told by Frontier College volunteers included ones by Stephen Hong, who told a story written by one of the students from the Newcomers’ Homework Club about bringing an elephant to school, and by Leah Stokes, who relayed a funny family hunting story.

Thanks go out to Howard Kaplan and Karen Blair, two of the 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling coordinators,
who allowed us to collaborate with them on this event and were a pleasure to work with. Also, the night would not have been complete without the free coffee and snacks provided by Starbucks. Thanks to those who came out and helped make the event a success.

- Martha Mahlstedt

Summer Job Opportunities

Frontier College is seeking candidates for 3 exciting summer programs:

1. Camp Counselors for the Aboriginal Summer Reading Camps for children and youth in Northern Ontario,
2. Labourer-Teachers to work as manual labour on farms and teach literacy and ESL to migrant farm workers, and
3. Reading Tent Coordinators to organize and run an outdoor reading program for children at various locations around Toronto. (This program also runs in Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax.)

Deadlines for #1 and #2 are fast approaching! The posting for #3 will go up at the beginning of April.
Please check the Frontier College website under Job Opportunities for more information.

Join the Organizational Team!

We are recruiting new members for the 2008 Organizational Team of the Frontier College U of T St. George program. The OT plays a key role in promoting, organizing and supporting the program, including recruiting, screening and training volunteers, and organizing literacy related special events and fundraisers. Work together with a like-minded group of committed volunteers and help support the cause of literacy for all Canadians! If you’re interested in getting involved, contact your Site Coordinator or Ken Martin at kmartin@frontiercollege.ca.

Site Updates

Danforth is a program of classroom tutoring support for high school students mostly in the special education program. We got off to a promising start this year thanks to the hard work of our 10 committed tutors and most undoubtedly Patricia and Barb, our teacher partners at Danforth who worked diligently in arranging tutor placements. Tutors have taken an active role in their students’ learning by discussing their progress and weaknesses with their teachers and we have already seen improvement in the students.

- Alan Tsang

In 1997, members of the Somali-speaking community recognized a need for an after-school educational program for their children, and organized a homework club through their local Regent Park Community Health Centre. In recent years, it has expanded to welcome learners from other communities within Regent Park, and now offers adult ESL tutoring in addition to the student homework club program. This year, the Newcomers’ Homework Club decided to focus on younger learners from Grade 3 through 8; high school students now participate in the Pathways program. We have over 40 student learners and 11 adult learners taught by over 55 tutors from both Frontier College and Ve’ahavta. Our program has a long tradition of helping many learners attain their educational goals. We are looking forward to another great year.

- Ernest Pang

This year has been an exciting year at the Heydon Park Program! First off, there is an exciting research project administered through Frontier College on tutoring programs at the Heydon Park program. This research project, which focuses on Frontier College’s tutoring programs at Danforth Collegiate as well as Heydon Park, seeks to assess the benefits of such programs by gathering feedback from tutors, learners and teachers. The first focus group meeting for Heydon Park volunteers took place on Wednesday, January 16, 2008.

The volunteering program at Heydon Park, which continues to deliver one-to-one tutoring as well as in-class assistance, enables volunteers to have different perspectives on their experiences with their learners. With the help of community contacts at the school, the research project will provide valuable information to improve similar programs in the future. In addition, the scope of Frontier College’s program at Heydon Park has, in the past year, continued to broaden, as volunteer tutors are able to offer their help in math and science classes as well. As the program expands, we will look forward to any other new opportunities for development. But so far, it has been a very exciting year!

- Renée Pang

In an old Victorian house at the corner of Gerrard and Sherbourne is the Native Women’s Resource Centre.
On the top floor you’ll find Darlene King, the literacy coordinator, who organizes individual programs for a variety of learners, yet can always find a minute to chat. Volunteering at the Native Women’s Resource Centre involves working one-on-one with adult learners who have differing personal literacy goals,
which range from improving grammatical and numerical skills, to writing resumes, to earning secondary school diplomas and preparing for post-secondary degree. With two tutors, Frontier College is looking forward to working with the learners at NWRC in the New Year.

- Julia Sisler

Things at the Alexandra Park Friday afternoon English as a Second Language (ESL) program keeps getting bigger and better! This year we have 16 students and 9 tutors working together to further English literacy in the Toronto area. All of the students in the program come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Learners are paired up with tutors on a 1-to-1 or small group basis so that the tutor can help the learner better achieve their literacy goals. Some goals include going shopping, speaking with their children in English or even at a more advanced level gaining their citizenship.

At the same time that the adult ESL program is taking place, 15 young school-aged children are also improving their English. Three Frontier College volunteers help the Alexandra Park Community Centre run an after school program targeted at young children coming from families where English is not spoken at home. They play games, complete activities and listen to stories that help harness their English skills. They are having so much fun that they don’t even realize they are learning at the same time!

- Hilary Peden

If I had to summarize the overall feeling of the Alex Park Homework Club this year, it would be energetic. We have been fortunate enough to have the help of many dedicated volunteers who are keeping up with the children’s enthusiasm. The children are bright and they constantly challenge the creativity of the tutors
when they ask for harder and newer math problems or spelling tests! This year, we’ve continued with the sticker program where a book is given after collecting enough stickers. Other activities included the making of a Christmas portfolio where everyone was able to draw pictures, write a couple of words, or compose a story with the holidays as the theme. With a successful first semester and new ideas like a poetry contest and guest speaker floating around, it’s hard to not be excited about our program.

- Imelda Chan

This program, now in its 6^th year, is an off-shoot of the Newcomers’ Homework Club. Many of the learners are parents of children who are participating in the homework club, as well as other adults living in the community. Tutors and learners work one-to-one on English reading and writing, grammar, and speaking. Two of the learners, Yasmin and Amina, have been in the program virtually from the start,
returning each year to get help improving their English language skills. I have noticed a major improvement in their confidence and skill in English, as they work towards their employment and life goals.

- Ken Martin

Upcoming Events

Get a team of friends together and come out for a great night of SCRABBLE® fun while helping raise $$ for the Frontier College literacy programs at U of T St. George.

Snacks, refreshments and cool prizes!

Date: March 4, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Location: University College JCR (outside Diabolos)

Check our website for more information as it becomes available: http://utfrontiercollege.files.wordpress.com/

University of Toronto Film Festival wants your shorts

The University of Toronto Film Festival takes place on March 12-15 at Innis Town Hall. This year’s partner is Frontier College,
a national literacy organization based in Toronto. We seek submissions of movies of any length and genre, especially on the theme of literacy.

The deadline for submissions is February 15. There is no entry fee.

We are also looking for volunteers. If you are interested in helping, please feel free to contact Salome at info@uoftfilmfest.ca.

For more details visit uoftfilmfest.ca.