English as a Second Language Department

Our goal is to provide English Language learners with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in both their social and academic lives, and to participate fully in Canadian society.  We feel that growth towards full linguistic and cultural competence in English should not come at the expense of students' own language and cultures.  Therefore, a key goal of our ESL program is to encourage students to value and maintain their own linguistic and cultural identities.  Such young people are able choose language and cultural norms that are appropriate in any given situation or cultural context, and can contribute greatly to our multilingual, multicultural society.