English Social Conversation @East and West Learning Connections 2024

*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 a maximum of around 1 to 4 in every session.
 
Time: March 6 and from April to June every second Wednesday of the month at 8-9 P.M., and from September to November every second Thursday at 7:30- 8:30 P.M. Eastern Time.
In 2024, it is March 6, April 10, May 8, June 12, September 12, October 10, and November 14.

Please note you will need to register for each of the above dates via the Zoom registration link.
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 for years, and wanted to volunteer.”

In Fall, we would introduce topics that people could have different opinions to encourage participants and facilitators exchange their thoughts freely and respect different perspectives. Most of the topics would be selected from the first book our Social Reading Club read – Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking by Vincent Ruggiero.

In September we’d start with these topics, and you are welcome to choose either or both of them to express your opinions, and give a why or why not:

Do you think the voting age should be lowered to sixteen?
Do you think banning cell phones will work in schools?

In June, we’d start with this topic:
What qualities do you admire most in others? Please share a story to illustrate.

In May, we’d start with this topic:
Share a good memory of your food experience. It could be a dinner at home, a gathering at a picnic, a meal in a restaurant, or a cooking experiment… Any foodies story is welcome!

In April, we’d start with this topic:
What are your thoughts on climate change? Are you doing anything differently to mitigate it?

In March, we’d start with this topic:

We may all have a memory in our lives that brings us great joy when we remember it.  Tell us the story.

Note: 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 homemakers, everyone is welcome to join us and have English talks with our awesome conversationalists!
 

Finally, below is a short introduction to the program. If you know some native English speakers who could be a good communicators 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 experiences 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! For inquiries, please contact info@eawlc.org. Thanks!

Please consider to support us by volunteering, donating or participating in our endeavor to help people of different heritages break cultural barriers and get connected.  Together, let’s make learning and connections happen!