Category: Events

East&West Dialogue is our monthly program where guest speakers of different cultural backgrounds come as volunteers and share their life stories, knowledge, thoughts, and have conversations with our audience. We hope this individual-level communication will promote mutual understanding among people of different heritages, and the experiences of guest speakers can help the audience, mostly but not limited to first-generation immigrants, to live in their new country with a bit more ease and grace. For that, we truly thank our guest speakers for their time, expertise, and warm hearts for immigrants!

Continue reading “East&West Dialogue with Tony and Jane Preston: A Western Couple Met and Lived in Asia”

Come to learn about Canada through music

At the East and West Learning Connections

Join CBC Music Executive Producer, Kai Black

and his community volunteer team

as they proudly present the beautiful music elements of a diverse Canada!

 

We will kick off the project with the Kanata series, introducing indigenous traditional and contemporary music and musicians, and the related history and culture in two sessions.

We will also have the honour to learn how to sing a beautiful indigenous song with Anishinaabe Singer Songwriter Tara Williamson.

 

Free English Events

 

Time

Session 1: Friday, May 6, 2022, at 8-9:30 P.M. (Eastern Time)

Presenters:

Kai Black, CBC Music Executive Producer

Lily, Community Youth Program Coordinator in Richmond Hill

Agnes, Grade 12 Student in Markham

 

Session II: Friday, May 13, 2022, at 8-9:30 P.M. (Eastern Time)

Presenters:

Kai Black, CBC Music Executive Producer

Tara Williamson, Anishinaabe Singer and Songwriter

Jovial Si, Freelance Translator and Interpreter in Toronto

Shengnan Ma, Human Resources Professional in Toronto

 

Venue

Online Zoom meetings

Registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvd-GprD4jHdcGXc3kl2kD09cmxbt90hqS

You can choose to register for either or both sessions.

Zoom meeting room will be open 15 minutes prior and will be closed for entry 30 minutes after the session begins.

 

Professionals or home-makers, students or parents, everybody is welcome to join the music tours, and interact with our presenters.  You are welcome to share your questions about or experience with indigenous music at the end as well!

 

Special thanks to Musicounts for providing  below resources.

https://musicounts.ca/en/programs/musicounts-learn/custom-resources/kanata-contemporary-indigenous-artists-and-their-music/

For interested educators, Musicounts is Canada’s music education charity associated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and The JUNO Awards.  the website has abundant materials, including the knowledge, tools, and activities, for teachers of different subjects to use to educate their students about the history and heritage of the indigenous peoples through music.  It is open to the public for free.

 

Any inquiries, please contact info@eawlc.org.  Thanks!

 

Poster designer: Erica Liu

The East and West Learning Connections proudly presents entrepreneur and business mentor Martin Copeland as our guest speaker for April’s dialogue! Continue reading “EAWLC Dialogue with Martin Copeland: Entrepreneurship and Life”

Poster designer: Erica Liu

The first East & West Dialogue of Year 2022 is coming! In the monthly dialogue, guest speakers of different cultural backgrounds come to the East and West Learning Connections as volunteers, share their life experiences, thoughts, suggestions, and answer questions from the audience.  With deep gratitude to the guest speakers, we hope these individual-level dialogues can promote mutual understanding among people of different heritages, and help immigrants learn more about Canadian society, people, and culture. Continue reading “East & West Dialogue with Samantha Kaine and Ian Steaman: Voices of Under-represented Community in Film and Television”

Personal communication skills coach Eleanor James will be sitting in to chat with our audience, AND ANSWER questions ON dealing with co-workers or bosses at work, peers or teachers in school, or neighbors, acquaintances, or even strangers on the street; things like how to make small talks, how to approach people, asking questions, dealing with difficult people, or diffusing situations, and being generous. 

Continue reading “Inter-personal Communications Coaching Hour @EAWLC 2022”

Book Club Instructor:

Emma Gorst obtained her PhD in Medieval and early modern English literature from University of Toronto. Before that, she copy-edited textbooks for Pearson and worked in online marketing at Random House. She did her postdoc at Yale University in 2013-2014. Emma teaches university and college writing at Seneca College and tutors young readers in her spare time.

For more details about Emma, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmagorst/

Continue reading “Reading for Culture with Emma: The Western Literature Book Club at EAWLC 2022”

* We are constantly recruiting native English-speaking facilitator volunteers for the English Social Conversation program!  Please see the invitation message at the end of this announcement.

 

Have you ever wondered what to talk about in a social conversation?  Or as an immigrant do you sometimes feel it is difficult to join your local co-workers’ conversation because you don’t know the people or things they are talking about,  or you have some everyday questions that you would like to know how local people would think or deal with?  Or do you just want to find a safe, relaxing and friendly environment to talk to some native English speakers, and enjoy a pleasant conversation?

Judith Lawrence and her native English-speaking volunteer team are kindly facilitating Social Conversations to address those questions for you at the East and West Learning Connections.  They come from all walks of life.  We are so delighted to have a group of open-minded, friendly and fun people as our facilitators!  You are welcome to bring questions of interest to the breakout rooms.  We try to keep a ratio of facilitators to participants at maximum around 1 to 4 in every session.

 

Time:Every 1st Wednesday of the month at 8-9 P.M. Eastern Time, except for summer and winter breaks.

In 2022, it is March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1, September 7, October 5, and November 2.

Please note you will need to register for each of the above dates.  Registration for the month is open right after the previous session is finished.

Zoom registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIscO6oqD4uE9I4m3zjcUvl4TeGS1lLMJhZ

Zoom room will open 15 minutes prior.  Please be on time.

Cost: Free

For inquiries, comments, or sending over topics of interest, please write to info@eawlc.org.  Thank you!

 

Message from Judith:

“CASUAL Conversations

I am inviting you to join me  in English conversation in the comfort of your home on zoom!  We can talk about many topics and learn from each other.  I am a retired high school teacher who has spent many years travelling the world.  I like reading, and am running an audio book club.  I have been to the East and West Learning Connections   a few times, and wanted to volunteer.”

The experiences, thoughts and ideas exchanged between facilitators and participants are from individual perspectives only, and do not represent the opinions of our organization or any specific community on the whole.  We proudly promote conversations of this kind so people of different cultural backgrounds get to know each other a bit more at an individual level.

Professionals, students or home-makers, everyone is welcome to join us, and have English talks with our awesome conversationalists!

 

* Finally, here is a short introduction of the program.  If you know some native English-speaker who could be a good communicator, and would like to come and help as a facilitator, please feel free to forward the message — it’s an invitation!

“The East and West Learning Connections is a federally registered non-profit organization that helps people of different heritages break cultural barriers and get connected through learning, communicating and volunteering opportunities.  We are running a free English Conversation program to help immigrants improve conversational skills in social settings.  We cordially invite native English speakers to join us as volunteer conversation facilitators.  It is a good opportunity to share your knowledge and perspective, plus to exchange thoughts and life experience with neighbours of different cultural backgrounds.    The attendees are mostly well-educated, first generation immigrants who would love to learn more about the society, people and customs here in Canada.  We hope everybody at the event will have a good time talking to one another!”

Brought to you by national poet laureate George Elliott Clarke

At the East and West Learning Connections

With debut of the song of special guest Leonard Cohen’s poem

And 4 remarkable poets and 2 stunning musicians!

Time: Friday, December 10, 2021, at 7-9 P.M. (EST)

Free Online event to the public

Zoom registration link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApduCurz4jHNY2Cb1hp0DqIRIJrdgQu82A

Floor will open at 6:45 P.M.

For inquiries, please send email to: info@eawlc.org.

(Poster designed by Shirley Chen )

Poets:

Paul Zemokhol has unpardonably forged two chapbooks and one full-length book. In this fabrication, he has been aided by Luciano Iacobelli and abetted by George Elliott Clarke.

Luciano Iacobelli is a Toronto poet, publisher, and visual artist. He is the owner and editor of Lyricalmyrical Press, specializing in handmade poetry chapbooks. He was also a founder and owner of Quattro Books, which issues novellas.

Amatoritsero Ede won the All Africa Okigbo Prize for Literature–for his first book–in 1998; his second book was a  Nigerian Literature Prize nominee in 2013. In 2004, he won second prize for the inaugural May Ayim Award. Prof. Ede teaches English lit at Mount Allison U.

George Elliott Clarke was the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th P.L. of Canada (2016-17).  He’s writ 7 collections, 5 verse-plays, 5 story-suites, 4 epic tomes, 3 verse-novels, 3 libretti, 1 children’s work, and 1 title each in Chinese, Italian, and Romanian.

Special guest star Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) was a global superstar singer/songwriter, novelist, and poet.  His honours are legion: Induction into several musical Halls of Fame,  plus the Order of Canada at top rank, plus winning 3 Grammys, a Genie,  a Juno, the Glenn Gould Prize, the Governor-General’s Performing Arts Award, and the Prince of Asturias Literary Prize (Spain), etc. Cohen also won—but refused—the 1968 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Poetry.

Composer & Singer:

James Rolfe’s music has been performed by ensembles, orchestras, choirs, and opera companies in Canada and abroad, and recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Jules Léger Prize, and Dora and JUNO Award nominations.

 

Pianist:

Juliet Palmer’s music has found its way to a highway off-ramp, a swimming pool, a boxing ring, and to concert halls across North America, Europe, and Oceania. From Aotearoa New Zealand, Juliet makes her home in Toronto.

 

Co-Hosts: Giovanna Riccio and Jovial Si

Sponsors: George Elliott Clarke & East and West Learning Connections

 

Everyone is welcome.  Let’s mark this holiday season together with shining poetic, musical spirits!

 

This will be the last East&West Dialogue in the year 2021.  A monthly program (except for the winter and summer breaks) at the East and West Learning Connections, the Dialogue promotes life experience sharing among people of different heritages.  In this session, Urban Hero Honey Novick, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medalist Ruth (Ruth) Stackhouse will tell their life stories, the ups and downs, achievements, challenges, and their passion about the Mad creativity!

Continue reading “East&West Dialogue: The Healing Creativity”

(Poster made by Shirley Chen)

Enjoy poetry in music, among friends in a theatre in Downtown Toronto (beer available at the bar)! 

Or, relax on the couch, have some wine, and listen to the poems and songs through the live streaming on our YouTube channel!

Thanks to national poet laureate George Elliott Clarke, the East and West Learning Connections are co-hosting this exciting in-person event for the first time since the year 2020. Continue reading “5 Poets Breaking Into Song -Live”