STAR Literacy is still talking up a storm, with a little help from the St. Albert Community Foundation of course.
In December, the latter provided a grant of $1,500 to the former to help with its STARTalk Conversation Circle, a program started a little more than a year ago that has already proved its mettle. Of last year’s group of nine, two of the attendees are now employed.
“Their confidence just seemed to increase. They went out and they applied for jobs and they got them! Now, they’re in working situations where they have to speak English,” stated a proud Shelley Passek, the head co-ordinator. “That was a great benefit – a real success – to the program.”
The Conversation Circle started a year ago. It makes for a fine complement to the English as a Second Language class that STAR Literacy has offered on Thursday evenings for a few years now. There are also English tutors who are available to help people on a one-on-one basis with listening and speaking skills. It’s far more structured than the loose and casual circle, however.
Those programs aren’t for everybody, Passek continued.
“Some people just want to practise speaking. To go to the ESL class wasn’t necessarily the best place for them to go. That’s why we started the Conversation Circle. It’s a little less intimidating.”
It works to help anyone become more fluent in English by offering them a venue and some basic guidance to develop their language abilities in an easy, low stress environment in small groups.
It’s all run by a volunteer facilitator and so expenses for the non-profit are otherwise at a minimum.
“The library is very generous in providing us space to run the program, but there’s the cost of materials.”
The facilitator often uses the library’s resources either as conversation starters or for writing activities. For example, many of last year’s participants contributed to a booklet called Our Stories that STAR produced in June.
The program is open to newcomers, immigrants and anyone else who needs to practise conversational speaking. This funding means that the circle can be open to anyone and everyone while other funding streams that STAR receives have limitations on who can benefit from the programming.
“It’s open to anyone who wants to improve their English skills. The Conversation Circle … I don’t have to turn anyone away,” Passek continued, praising the generosity of the St. Albert Community Foundation.
“They’re very generous! It allows us to make sure the circle runs for a full year.”
Some of the current attendees include some Spanish-speaking immigrants, one person from Iraq, and another from China. One person recently moved here from Québec and is thankful for the opportunity to practise English in a friendly atmosphere.
Often the participants get to be quite familiar with each other and develop such good relationships that the sessions can become spirited. The good news is that there is office space that they fit into so they don’t disturb the other more discreet library patrons. “Sometimes they get a little loud. They just get so excited and animated, which is what you want.”
This $1,500 improves upon the grant of $1,000 that STAR received from the foundation last year. It also receives funding from the St. Albert Rotary Club.
The circle is a free drop-in program that takes place every Monday afternoon (excluding holidays) from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Public Library. For more information call STAR Literacy at 780-459-5864 or visit www.stalbertfurthered.com/star.html.
Series
This is the fifth article in a series exploring the recent grants handed out by the St. Albert Community Foundation.
