ECSD first opened its doors to the LINC program in 1992. It has had various forms of English as a Second Language Instruction (ESL) programs before, but this was the start of a new program initiated by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC (previously known as Citizenship and Immigration Canada or CIC). It has grown from a small program of a few classes to one of the largest LINC programs in Edmonton with 86 staff and 1600 students per year. In recent years, we have developed and incorporate a digital learning element into our overall language instruction.
We currently operate in two schools: St. Basil offers three programs, morning, afternoon and part-time evening; and, St. Francis of Assisi which is a Women's only literacy program and offers morning and afternoon classes. See locations for specific information regarding each school. We also have two kinds of programming, literacy only classes (Foundation L to 4L) and mainstream classes (CLB 1-4).
In all levels of both learning streams (Literacy and mainstream), we practice Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA). We also address digital literacy and provide childcare at St. Francis of Assisi.
Student Information
Locations
Resources
Teaching Resources
The ECSD LINC Program - 2019 Curriculum Guidelines have been revised for CLB classes and they now include information on Literacy classes making these guidelines applicable for both streams. This resource is open to the public and tailored to fit the ECSD LINC context.
For further inquiries or to give feedback, please contact diana.agudelocruz@ecsd.net
The literacy stream has been in existence since September 2014 at ECSD LINC. It started at Sacred Heart, then expanded to St. Francis Women's Program and lately to St. Basil. This stream uses ESL for ALL in addition to PBLA, and our own resources which can be found through LINC Literacy @ ECSD.
The Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks hosts LINC core resources for CLB and Foundations classes in its publications web page; the resources we use are accessible below,
Core Resources
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Other resources
Care for Newcomer Children
LINC Care for Newcomer Children (CNC) is a free on-site child care that is available while parents are attending LINC classes. CNC is focused on developing the whole child through play-based learning, and features high safety standards as well as specialized programming that includes: language learning, creating an inclusive environment, managing the effects of culture shock, and emotional regulation.
Presently there is one LINC Care for Newcomer Children programs in Edmonton Catholic Schools. It is located at St. Francis of Assisi. The program is licensed under the Alberta Government as an Innovative Program and is funded by IRCC. The CNC program provides care for children between the ages of 19 months to 5 years.
ECSD LINC Care for Newcomer Children is the proud recipient of the 2024 Minister's Award of Excellence in Child Development!
LINC CNC is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 12:30pm and 1:00 to 5:00pm.
Parents, check out some videos LINC CNC made for your children.
Careers
Requirements
Teaching positions require the completion of the CLB Bootcamp prior to hiring. It is a self-directed course that provides an orientation to the various sections of the CLB document and how they are used for planning and assessment. The online bootcamp can be accessed as follows:
- Go to http://learning.language.ca
- Create a user account
- Click "login" at the top right corner of the page
- Enter your username/password which you created for your account and click "login"
- On the home page, click "CLB Bootcamp"
- The course homepage will appear. You will receive a welcome notice and be automatically enrolled in this course.
- ECSD LINC Teacher Job Description.pdf
To teach at ECSD LINC we require that teaching staff have an advanced level of English in all language skills. If you have completed any part of your education in a country where the official language is not English, you will need to submit results from an acceptable language proficiency test before we are able to offer you employment.
Accepted language proficiency tests are as follows:
TOEFL iBT | 92 or more with a minimum of 22 in each skill |
IELTS | General or Academic 7.0 overall score with a minimum of 6.5 in each skill |
CELPIP | General 10 in each skill |
Volunteering
If you are interested in volunteering opportunities at ECSD LINC, please send your resume to Alex Mendoza, Lead Admin. Support at Alex.MendozaOrantes@ecsd.net or call 780-473-2600.
Employment opportunities at ECSD LINC will be advertised on Indeed.
Partnerships
ECSD LINC's collaborative approach has allowed for the following partnerships throughout the years. For partnerships inquiries please see Contact Us.
Edmonton Region LINC Advisory Committee - ERLAC
In 2000, the CLB/LINC Projects Office was funded under the ECSD LINC in order to support projects to benefit LINC learners and the LINC Service Provider Edmonton community. ERLAC was then formed in order to plan such projects and to eventually oversee the Professional Opportunity Project (POP). ERLAC is comprised of the Managers of all LINC programs and Language Assessment, Referral and Counselling Centre (LARCC ) in Edmonton, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and, eventually, the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) Consultant.
Some of the many projects that ERLAC planned over the years were:
- LINC Assistants – University summer students were hired for 4 months to gain experience in a LINC classroom and to aid the teacher.
- POP – this provided opportunities to individual LINC staff to obtain professional development with all costs covered.
- Development of and distribution of LINC Activities’ Books.
- Payment of registration/travel costs for LINC staff at the ATESL conferences.
- A Learners Conference in Jasper for LINC students only.
- A LINC conference in Banff for all LINC staff in Alberta.
- Hiring of a CLB Consultant to encourage and promote the Edmonton LINC community’s involvement in the understanding, acceptance and incorporation of the Canadian Language Benchmarks into their curriculum.
- LINC Learners were able to participate in many events for free, such as, Galaxyland and World Waterpark, West Edmonton Mall and Capital EX.
In 2017, the CLB LINC Projects Office was then no longer funded by IRCC but the ERLAC Committee continues to meet to this date in order to continue its collaboration and information sharing in the LINC Edmonton and, now, Red Deer community.
Other partnerships are,
- Catholic Social Services
- Action for Healthy Communities – Adult Literacy and Skills Development Program
- Action for Healthy Communities – Settlement Integration Program
- Action for Healthy Communities – Mental Health and Counselling Program
- Edmonton Police Community Outreach Program
- Basically Babies
- The Today Centre
Contact Us
For general inquiries please contact Alex Mendoza, Lead Admin. Support at Alex.MendozaOrantes@ecsd.net
LINC Administrative Team - LAT
SCHOOL | STAFF | STAFF |
|---|---|---|
| Karen Rohne Program Manager | Diana Agudelo Academic Director |
St. Basil | Sarah Baskerville Full Time Coordinator Literacy & CLB Program | Julie Parr Full Time Coordinator Literacy & CLB Program |
| Rebecca Palmer Part Time Coordinator CLB Program | Jacqueline Cairns Part Time Coordinator Literacy Program |
St. Francis of Assisi Women's Program | Allison Rayner Full Time Coordinator Literacy Program | |
