On Tuesday, August 21 Jan Southall introduced Jeff Moore as our guest speaker. Jeff is the Principal of the Community and Continuing Education programs of the Hamilton – Wentworth District School Board. Jan has known Jeff for many years, mainly through teaching related activities.
Information about the city's Community and Continuing Education Department can be found here. Along the top row are the various programs that the department offers – ESL - LINC Language Programs, Adult Programs, Youth Programs, Summer Camps, etc. Jeff talked about each of these programs.
His department deals with newcomers to Hamilton in many cases. There are about 1000 in the ESL program at the Hill Park Learning Centre (former Hill park High School) for example. There are several other sites (notably in Jackson Square). The department offers literacy programs as well as for credit programs.
The programs are tailored to the learners. For example some are hybrid e-learning courses which have a home study component (on-line). Students learn how to use the technology (Drop Box, Excel, WORD, etc.) in-person and meet their teachers. The important thing from their perspective is that students have a plan – whether it’s back to school or work or learning the language or basic literacy (including mathematical literacy). For some students their plan is “independence”. For these learning challenged students they create a pathway to independence. Jeff’s Department works with the Hamilton Rotary Club and Cathy Wever School to offer the “Core Kids” program. These include both after school and summer programs.