3200 Souvenir Road, Chomedey, Laval, Quebec H7V
1W9 The Learning Exchange...what a year! The Learning Exchange (TLE)/Centre Lire-Écrire is a volunteer not-for-profit organization dedicated to addressing the needs of the Laval & Northshore English-speaking community. TLE serves, recruits, trains, and supports members of the community through reading, writing, numeracy, and life-skills programs. We provide free, confidential, individualized instruction to adults, using trained volunteers. The Learning Exchange strives for excellence in literacy by promoting and fostering a commitment to life-long learning through outreach, prevention, and training. This past year has been a very exciting one… a fabulous year of growth and renewal! We continue to welcome new students and work to train new volunteers to meet the growing demand for tutor matches. This year we have welcomed a new Board of Directors, seen the budding start of a Student Committee, attended the Alpha Forum 2002 in Quebec City, completed the development of a new 15-hour Basic Tutor Training programme and are nearing the completion of our detailed Policy & Procedure document and Orientation manual. We have enjoyed fruitful partnerships and have indeed been fortunate to have such dedicated volunteers and staff working for us this past year. Special events are held to recruit new members, offer opportunities for special recognition of individuals, and to show appreciation of all of our members. Volunteers and students are recognized throughout the year for their hard work and accomplishments. TLE’s activities provide members with opportunities to meet other students, volunteers and tutors, and encourage participation and involvement throughout the year in the literacy program. Our events help to raise public awareness of literacy issues and inform members of the community of our services. We are happy to share some of our highlights from the past year: A Reading Circle, run by volunteers, takes place at TLE’s Centre on a monthly basis. Book Club members select a book title at each meeting and come together the next month over coffee and refreshments for an enlightening discussion to share their ideas, thoughts, and opinions. This is a very popular activity at TLE! TLE’s Family Literacy/Prevention and Intervention program consists of activities at TLE’s centre, elementary school visits and participation in community family events. TLE works to strengthen literacy practices with children and their families, and helps increase intervention skills for parents of at-risk children. Thanks to funding from Honda Canada, on January 26th, TLE, Elementary Schools from the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, and the Laval Multicultural Library partnered together in celebration of International Family Literacy Day. The day began with a Cycle One ‘Family Fun’ workshop and continued in the afternoon with free books and a Geordie Theatre Production presentation of “Frank Frog and the Mountain of Doom”. Over two hundred parents and children attended! At the Laval Multicultural Library Chief Top Leaf entertained eager children and their parents with his storytelling and fascinating artifacts. Talented face painters performed their artistic magic on delighted children and a balloon clown amused all with her artistry and balloon creations. There were free books, bookmarks, pins, library membership registration, and TLE information. The day was a huge success with over two hundred and fifty people passing through the library! This year’s Volunteer Appreciation party was a wonderful celebration of our volunteers and their dedication to the cause of literacy. Many students, tutors, and volunteers wrote lovely notes and letters to tell us of their thoughts of being a part of TLE. A scrumptious buffet of home cooked turkey, ham and fixings resulted in the collaborative effort of our volunteers and staff to create a cookbook of recipes for our students to receive (as a surprise!) at the Student Achievement Party in June. In the spring, Fondation québécoise pour l’alphabétisation held a writing contest called “I share my success”. We were thrilled to get the news, two of our students, Alice Amaral and Ernie Collison, were winners of the contest and would receive beautiful pens with “Learning Achievement Award” printed on them. We were proud to present them with a plaque, letter of distinction and the prize pen at our annual Student Party in June. Congratulations to them both and to all of our students who work so hard throughout the year towards their reading and writing goals!! TLE has grown from a small home-based volunteer group to a multi-faceted organization. We look forward to continued growth and community partnership in the future. We are proud of our achievements and proud to have been a part of so many students’ and volunteers’ lives. Our students’ dedication and our volunteers’ gift of time are the key to our success. I leave you with my recipe for success, presented to our students with a gold key pin, at the annual Student Party: The Key to Success Mix together equal parts of
determination, Submitted by Darlene Brown |
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