On January 30/99, we packed up 10,000 sq. ft. of furniture, instructional materials, toys, and together with the fish, moved them all to 2730 Commercial Drive. We have many people to thank for their support and help during the move, starting with Holly Whittleton, our Executive Director. We want to thank the Board of Directors (especially Gerry Rolfsen, who gave hours of his time over the past few years to help us identify what features we needed in a design for the language centre).

Other people to thank include Jeanette Johnston, our CIC project officer, who never gave up hope and with grace and humour steered us through a contract revision; Scott Kennedy, our ever-patient architect; and Gilbert Grey, our amazing contractor, who had the renovation done in record time. We are also grateful to Sheri Moy and Arne Faremo from Community Care Facilities Licensing and the permit staff from the City of Vancouver who helped us through the permit process.

And last, but never least, I want to thank the language centre staff for the tremendous job they did keeping the programs running smoothly while they were simultaneously packing up, moving and unpacking.

The new language centre has the advantage of being in a location central to our learners. Classes are full and we have a wait-list for most classes.

The instructional staff took advantage of the move and used it as an opportunity to evaluate the books and materials in the resource centre. Anita Schuller, with input from the other instructors, developed new curriculum outlines and evaluation tools as part of our on-going program development. Progress forms were developed for learner interviews, and for the first time our students enjoyed an opportunity to meet with instructors for a one-on-one interview to discuss their progress.

The move has also benefited the 36 children whom we care for each day in the centre. They have been busy exploring the child-care space and the parks that our new neighbourhood has to offer.

Volunteers played a larger role in the functioning of the child-care program this year, allowing the staff to give more individual attention to the children. Staff at Supported Child Care helped us plan and successfully implement a program to integrate a special-needs child into the centre.

Finally, we were delighted that He You Hua, the Deputy Director of Kindergarten-Nursery Services for the Education Commission of Shanghai, paid us a visit and expressed an interest in setting up an exchange program for staff training.

Elizabeth Jones
Director

top of page

MOSAIC

Society

Settlement Services

Employment Programs

E.L.S.A.

Language Services

Operations

Location

Links