Shu Ting’s To the Oak Tree redefines love through a powerful metaphor of equality and independence. Explore the poem’s timeless message, its cultural impact, and the story of one of modern China’s most celebrated poets.
Through helping internationally trained teachers with employment, Mina’s learned a bit more about newcomers’ challenges with jobs, career plans, and stressors such as culture shock. She thinks new Canadians should be encouraged to share these difficulties with mentors, so that they can build strategies together toward better integration. Furthermore, she believes mentoring programs for immigrant jobseekers should be supported, because these relationships foster trust, respect, collaboration, discovery, success, and prosperity – in every community wherever new Canadians are found.
Discover the key to digital wellness by balancing your online and offline activities. Learn how to manage screen time, reduce digital stress, and foster a healthy relationship with technology for improved mental well-being.
Have you ever heard of the PEP formula? It is a job search recipe that has led to success for many job seekers. If you combine it with a new spin on traditional job searching you might find it successful too.
Toronto, a city known for its diverse opportunities, is witnessing a dynamic shift in its job market. As industries evolve, certain professions are gaining prominence, creating a demand for skilled individuals.
The path to Peter Russell’s door was a well-trod one. Leaders of provincial and federal governments, and First Nations, judges, prime ministers, scholars, university presidents, governors-general, members of task forces, tribunals, and royal commissions, all sought Peter’s expert advice.
If you recently lost your job or moved to a new country, you may be surprised by how exhaustive the job search process can turn out to be.
Critical thinking is considered the primary skill of a person in the 21st century. The main problem we must understand is that when there is a lot of information, it becomes challenging to verify its reliability.
Osman OZSOY shares a profound perspective on gratitude and self-acceptance, emphasizing the importance of valuing what we have and recognizing our unique strengths. Through personal anecdotes, he illustrates how individual struggles can turn into strengths, reminding us that life's value lies in how we perceive and utilize our circumstances.
Most people identify summer as school holidays. While many students and teachers take the warmest months off, here are three teachers’ anecdotes of their breaks before September.
At the start of the academic year, Professor Osman Ozsoy emphasized the importance of reputation to his students, highlighting how easily a positive perception can be tarnished by repeated tardiness. In a candid classroom exchange, he illustrated that trust and punctuality are crucial for professional recommendations, teaching a vital lesson about maintaining one's reputation.
In our digitally driven world, technology is deeply intertwined with our daily lives, presenting constant threats to our privacy. From the devices we depend on to the public spaces we traverse, the digital landscape poses significant challenges to our personal information security.
In today's competitive marketplace, personal branding is essential for establishing a deep connection with your audience and differentiating yourself from competitors. By authentically representing your values and journey, you can build a strong, sustainable brand that resonates with people and creates lasting impressions.
Some colleagues and I find exams to be stressful experiences for college students who usually cram for them. Given viable options to traditional midterm and final exams, we want to try other learning components for the same marks. We’ve shared with each other reasons for choosing learning over testing. Over time, we’ve also seen administration’s interest in making exams optional.
Over time, more college students (now adults) have involved parents, guardians, and even legal counsel when resolving academic concerns with their teachers. Many colleagues and I find these encounters contrary to adult autonomy, but while we uphold self-advocacy and self-direction, some colleagues and I also feel that instead of rejecting third parties, we should do no harm, and not make things worse even in ambiguous situations.
A lifelong learner’s granddaughter tells the colorful story of his love of learning, every day of his life, everywhere he lived.
Students get an opportunity to interact with and learn from other cultures, lands, and demographics. Diversity provides for a holistic and enriching learning experience.
I recently caught up with Masoud Riyazati, a 2017 graduate of the Millie Rotman Shime Academic Bridging Program who completed his Honours Bachelor of Arts in June 2023.
Dive into the complex dynamics of immigration, exploring the challenges faced by newcomers, from the initial honeymoon phase to the impact on mental and physical well-being, while emphasizing the transformative potential of migration in shaping societies and fostering cultural diversity.
Surely, every person studying a new field asks themselves this question – “What material should I read on the subject?”.
Finding a job is the greatest challenge most newcomers to Canada face. Whether it is the lack of credential recognition, language barriers, or unfamiliarity with Canadian workplace ethics; a job hunt invariably turns into a frustrating exercise for many.
Pursuing post-secondary education is common for adults even years after they have worked at their jobs. The reasons for going back to school vary.
With the thinking hat right on; I look within myself for all those stories, I’ve witnessed from dusk to dawn but nothing comes closer to the journey of ‘the reflection I capture the day in, day out', whom I fondly call A pocket full of sunshine due to the warm and fuzzy feeling this one leaves behind.
Over the summer, the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (SCS) Blueprint Career Services team has been hard at work updating workshop materials, curating excellent free resources for Blueprint Portal members, and connecting with community groups who need specific career support.
The first few years of life in immigration are usually very challenging. A person often has to literally start their life from scratch - dealing with everyday issues, rebuilding social connections, and navigating new laws and rules.
My name’s Tiffany from the Georgetown area in Ontario. Thanks for letting me share a few moments from my childhood, family, and recent times that make up my life of almost twenty-one years.
I feel delightfully inspired by Larry, a friend on sabbatical from banking to run his own restaurant, a goal that’s excited him ever since he was a student in business school.
Job Search Postcards 3 rules that jobseekers can borrow from the world of sports
Poem of the month - Gathered Stones by Cora Coralina, Mother of Brazilian Poetry
Hello, everyone! My name is Galina. I am 41 years old. I have been living in Canada for 3 years, and many things have changed in my life in terms of both my place of residence and my activities.
The realities of the modern world dictate their own rules. Several decades ago, the life of an ordinary person was simple and straightforward: go to school, get an education, find a stable job, and work until retirement.
My name is Gabriel Henry. I was born in Thunder Bay and lived there until the end of Grade eleven.
These 3 questions are often asked by newcomer job seekers, so to expand on what I know I sat down recently with Angela Mohan, a Career Specialist with Achēv in downtown Toronto.
Bernard Haldane first uses the 80% statistic about hidden jobs in an article about job seeker re-employment from Aug 1966.
When her mother passed away from a stroke last fall, Maggie Galanis suddenly felt surreal without Diana’s presence. But after thirty-six years with melancholic and volatile Diana, Maggie’s life would turn a new page.
Like every refugee, we have a story, a past. My husband was a very well-known person in Türkiye. He was an influential journalist. His columns and his speeches on television were very effective.
Over the past 200 hundred years, the world has changed so dramatically that the human brain can sometimes not comprehend it.
Career Fairs are multi-sector recruiting events that are very common in Canada.
The front page article of the Winter 2022 issue of Learning Curves titled “Micro Credentials The Next “Big Thing” in Adult Learning”
Born in 1970 to Macao businessman Man-Yun Chin and his third wife Emma, Paul grew up studying Chinese, English and Portuguese in excellent schools.
Have you ever wondered how you got to where you are in your life now? What are your personal or professional life accomplishments and how have you accumulated them all?
Municipal elections are the most complex because you vote for 3 representatives: a Mayor for your city, a Councillor for your ward, and a School Trustee for your ward.
Today the whole world knows what is happening in Ukraine. War came to my home in February of 2022 one morning at 5:30am with a deafening explosion from the airport about 15 kilometers from my street.
Robo-advisors which are online investment platforms, are also available to investors through various brokerage firms offering a variety of diversified ETF portfolios designed according to the investors appetite for risk
You’ve now reached a stage where you have completed your self- assessments, researched some work options and arrived at some conclusions. It’s time to set some goals.
Do you know one of the most significant workplace changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? It is the acceptance of remote work and the amount of business that is now conducted virtually.
Now that I think about it, teaching online was productive but long. In fact, I adjusted and managed very well. Two years later, I was back in the class and very happy to say how much I love teaching in person and that those online days are long gone; at least I hope they are.
Two years ago, Elon Osman and Bill Poon met at a basketball event and became fast friends. Knowing Elon needed a place to stay, Bill lent him his Toronto apartment while he was teaching in the Yukon.
Most of the time when we talk about a community, we assume that we are referring to a group of like-minded people who meet regularly in a public or private setting.
At 22 and with two small children to care for, I didn’t have many options. Though bilingual and with some work experience in an office setting, I’d been too long out of the workforce – a mere two years! - to merit any serious consideration.
In the first tech wave of COVID-19, we have seen a rise in fields like software, financial, digital media, information technology, big data, cloud computing, communications, e-commerce and adoption of artificial intelligence. This will continue to gain momentum.
When Brad Dalgleish dropped out of high school in grade 9, he didn’t imagine that he would be graduating from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science 14 years later.
The intention of this article is to provide an overview of some basic information that prospective dividend investors would find useful in their pursuit of additional income streams.
I hope you remember me. It’s Josie Knight, Anna Bradley’s neighbor who asked you for a copy of Learning Curves in 2020. You encouraged me to submit a story, so here I am, sharing my travelogue.
We’re living in a culture that’s “credentials crazy.” These days you literally need to be certified to place bags of potato chips on a shelf (it’s called a food handling certificate.)
You probably won’t find many people who disagree with you when you say that good workplace skills are a necessity.
Congratulations to Terri Preston, this year's winner of the National Literacy Award recognizing a member or group of members who have promoted workplace literacy and clear language.
On November 18, Daniel Munro will likely feel the same elation and relief as thousands of other University of Toronto students that day: they are graduating.
For almost 75 years, JVS Toronto has had a single mission – to help job seekers find meaningful employment.
What does it look like to find a best friend for life in a 70-year-old woman? Might sound boring to some of you but to me, it is anything but that.
A story that comes right from the heart with countless memories that do not depart, a story that puts a smile on my face every morning, a glimpse I would like to share, hope that doesn’t leave you in a maze.
Several years ago, Waheed (Wayne) Mufti sang for a party where I was a guest. The hosts appreciated his music so much that he stayed for dinner, and entertained us well into the evening. Recently, I found his business card and had a chat with him.
In our Fall 2021 issue in this story I will summarize the changes I could see from the priorities recommended by the Report found in a scan of course offerings for the Fall term.
Often as adult learners we are focused on finding a course at a time we can make it, that meets a specific learning need, the micro level. But there are activities going on at a macro level which shape what we are offered at the micro level. Canada- A Learning Nation report describes the work of the Future Skills Advisory Council, an advisory council to the federal Ministry of Employment Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. This report came out in December 2020 but I just found it scanning the net for what I can’t remember now.
Sometimes in life, it feels like we are in a catapult where we are pulled back before we can go forward. It is often adversity that creates the tension needed to release the energy that thrusts us forward and lets us reach higher. This is a metaphor that Shahina Suleman, Program Manager at PTP Adult Learning and Employment Programs, loves to use when talking about what the Elevate program does for its participants.
COVID has disrupted our continuing education plans as it has our economy-our job/career plans. We have been in the latest lock down since Christmas Day and when will it let up apparently mid February.
When we first got together via Zoom during the Spring and Summer months, it seemed as if by some fluke we had landed in a place that we had had no intention of visiting.
COVID has changed how education both full-time and continuing education are delivered mainly to online learning. But Covid has not led us to be more aware of what adult education contributes as it has to what international students contribute.
If you are reading this article, you might be interested in learning, or job searching, or just staying informed. Everyone around the world was informed in March of 2020 about COVID-19.
I remember the last day before March Break very well. The Minister of Education stated that all schools would be closed until April 5th due to COVID-19.
Learning outside of the classroom used to be considered an option, now it is to use today’s phrasing the “new normal.”
The Universities, Colleges, and Schools charts in this Mosaic of Adult Education help you find the doors to specific programs at an educational institution.
Do you know the new formula for job interviews? It is: Remote technology plus COVID-19 equals virtual hiring.
The chart below is organized by geography and school board, by the type of education offered. Find the right contacts for your area and your interest.
As you are transitioning into college/university, among the many novel thoughts on your mind – there may be one so glaring that it forces you to stop, observe your surroundings and re-evaluate your decision.
Happy Spring! I hope you enjoyed the books in the previous reading list as much as I did. In this article, along with my picks for this season, I would like to introduce you to two notable reading resources and activities I recently stumbled upon.
Reynosa Sarmiento has taken multiple courses throughout her undergraduate degree. Having graduated in November 2015, she’s had years of experience with online courses and online summer courses.
As a Career/Life Skills and Executive Coach, I often meet clients in career transition who haven’t had to look for a job for the past 15 to 25 years. They are called ‘long tenured workers’ who all of a sudden face the crude reality of a lay off (with or without severance pay) and with it a fast awakening to the fact that their skills have been either outdated, or not on par to compete with on today’s labour market. Let’s face it, no one has to hire anyone…we compete for opportunities, as the labour market of the 21st century.
Regular readers of Learning Curves will know that University in the Community (UitC) is an adult education program founded in 2003 by the Workers’ Educational Association, the publisher of this newspaper
Since its inception nearly two years ago, Epilepsy Toronto’s unique Bridge the Gap ambassador program has reached thousands of participants while promoting epilepsy awareness and helping ambassadors develop skills deemed essential for workplace success.
John Murphy has always been proud of his loud voice and intricate ideas with elaborate arguments, but more importantly, he enjoys giving people advice solely based on his own opinions.
Olga Saade found PTP on her journey towards entering the field of dentistry so that she can carry on in the profession she worked in and loved in El Salvador.
Julie Jackson and I first met at a public library concert two summers ago when she sat next to me.
“Enthusiasm is a state of mind natural to the lover of art,” wrote Max J. Friedländer, “indeed, to him almost something natural.”
Educational providers are constantly developing new courses to help us stay up to date.
Do you remember Duoli’s story? Are you interested in what’s going on with me recently. Since September 2011, I have insisted on learning English step-by step.
I often chatted with Tim when he worked at a store near Toronto’s Main and Gerrard Streets.
Beginning this journey back to school has been a long one, and has not been easy.
There is no static profile for students who come to PTP Adult Learning and Employment Programs.
We all make plans but then life happens.
When I first met Susan Shin in November 2017, she was a college student studying international business.
David is sitting in my office on a frigid February afternoon, explaining how he came to be studying – and succeeding – at U of T after being away from school for so many years.
Most people are surprised to learn that the Canadian Mothercraft Society’s reputation of providing high quality early education
We know that climate change is happening. We also know that it’s the result of increased carbon emissions from human activities like land degradation and the burning of fossil fuels. And we know that it’s urgent.
According MHCC, the average age of a Canadian trucker is 47 years old. By the age of 40, more than half the population have,
The world of work is competitive and further education may give particular candidates the competitive edge and legitimacy needed in their professions.
John has been a residential building custodian for many years on my street.
I am the coordinator of a humanities-based, adult education outreach program called University in the Community (UitC).