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For Immediate Release

January 18, 2005

New Enhanced Language Program Prepares New Immigrants For Employment Success!

Burlington, ON - The Centre for Skills Development & Training (The Centre) is proud to announce the launch of an exciting new, higher level and employment focused English as a Second Language (ESL) program for new immigrants: Enhanced Language Training for Job Preparation.

This new, eight-week, full-time program, designed for individuals who already posses a baseline level of English language skills, will focus on improving fluency and “business English”, and will help to familiarize participants with the Canadian job market, workplace culture and job search skills.

“While many of the new immigrants who come to Halton Region do have the professional training and/or skills set employers are looking for, their inability to communicate effectively in English makes it difficult for them to find an appropriate level of employment in their field,” says Barb Krukowski, Manager of The Centre’s ESL programs. “This results in a great deal of individual frustration and a great many missed opportunities for economic growth resulting from an underutilized workforce. By helping them to improve their language skills, this new program will make these new Canadians more marketable to employers and therefore, more capable of realizing their true potential. It’s a real win-win proposition.”

Funded by The Government of Ontario and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the program also provides participants with access to a placement officer who will work with them to identify training or re-training needs, to obtain a non-paying position where they can gain much needed Canadian work experience, or, ideally, to find permanent, full-time, employment in their desired field. In addition to the placement officer, participants also gain access to The Centre’s Bay Area Employment Resource Centre, which is staffed by three career specialists and which contains a comprehensive array of career decision-making and job search tools.

There are currently two sessions scheduled for this program, the first begins at the end of January and the second begins in the middle of February. Because the program features a “higher level” of English language training, a pre-assessment may be required.

The Centre for Skills Development & Training is a leading provider of quality career and workforce development programs, products and services specializing in Pre-Apprenticeship Trades and Technology, Career Planning and Development and Language Skills and Academic Upgrading.