Kent Davies

Looking at Kent Davies accomplishments, he seems to have crammed an additional 10 years of living into his life. Although he currently works as the volunteer coordinator of the University of Winnipeg radio station (UWFM), he has traveled and worked abroad extensively. In his position as the volunteer coordinator with a non-profit community radio station, he was required to create and teach lesson plans about job placements. He states that “I really enjoyed the time designing the lessons and working with my EAL students. I found the process so rewarding that I decided that ESL instruction may be worth pursuing.”

In January of 2010, Kent enrolled in the ESL Teacher Certificate Program, juggling work, volunteering, and school for the next 6 weeks, and doing so masterfully. Since completing the program, Kent has recently been offered the position of program coordinator of the Languages at Work program, a project that provides students from Quebec with the opportunity to live and work in and immersion, English environment. Although the position has only started, Kent states “I’m sure I will encounter many experiences, successes and challenges” in this new role.

Of the ESL Teacher Certificate Program, Kent explains that it “allowed me to make the necessary connections with potential employment opportunities. All of the staff and faculty involved in the program have supported me immensely long after the program ended. The strong relationships made between students within the program have also contributed to finding employment.”

Howard Miller

Five years into his retirement, Howard Miller describes that he never expected this part of his life to turn out the way it has - but, then who does? Howard Miller and his family had hosted ESL students for 9 years, opening his home to 14 students from Japan, Korea , and China before he considered the possibility of teaching English as an alternative career in his retirement. Last summer, when he opened the newspaper, and the course offerings for the U of W fell open to the ESL TCP page, the course of his retirement completely changed. After a short chat with the Program Coordinator and other U of W staff, he registered for the Fall 2009 term.

Before Howard’s retirement, he was the Provincial Coordinator of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programs for Manitoba Education. His 38 year career involved the instruction of Deaf students using American Sign Language as the first language, and English taught as a second language. As well, Howard and his wife, Yvonne Peters, a blind lawyer in Winnipeg, recently celebrated their 36th anniversary.

After graduating from the program, an ESL TCP instructor forwarded an advertisement for a part-time position offered through the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) to Howard that involved working with a blind refugee on settlement issues; he immediately applied for the position. Being hired for this position has resulted in a rewarding and challenging experience, Howard relays that his life experience in adapting for students with special needs, and his formal training through the ESL TCP gave him the necessary skills and resources to complete this job effectively.

Now, as he explores the field of ESL instruction and, as his life adventure continues, he says he is indebted to the U of W staff, his fellow classmates, as well as the international students he observed or taught, for their influence in “changing his life”.