English Online, Inc. held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 26, 2019 at the Immigrant Centre’s Settlement Boardroom in Adelaide Street. The AGM gathered the Board of Directors, EO Team including its LINC Home Study instructors, auditors and community representatives from MANSO and MET.
AGM 2019 looked back on the organization’s challenges as well as achievements in the past fiscal year. Notable were EO’s continued increase in learner numbers and the growth of livelearn.ca’s online presence and its learner resources despite major changes in its administration and leadership. Former Chair of the Board of Directors Jo-Anne Schick, as this year’s guest speaker, talked about the milestones in EO’s development from its inception as an alternative learning option for rural Manitobans to its growth as a trusted settlement and EAL resource for all Manitoban newcomers. Representatives from independent auditors (Baker Tilly) were on hand as well to provide an overview of the organization’s Financial Statements for the period.
The event was also an opportunity for EO to welcome its new Executive Director, Irina Volchok. Irina is actually not new to EO having been a LINC Home Study instructor with the organization for almost two years now. She has extensive experience in program delivery for adults, having taught EAL for academic and professional purposes using in-class, online and blended delivery. She has been the president of TEAM (Teaching English as an Additional Language to Adults in Manitoba) from 2016 to the present and has presented in various academic conferences. She holds a Master’s Degree in Linguistics from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology as well as in Linguistics from the same university. As Irina begins her term at English Online, she is looking forward to continuing to provide a comprehensive, flexible and accessible online environment that enables newcomers to address their unique needs for settlement and integration into the workforce and community as well as to succeed and reach their full potential. “At the same time, I am thrilled by the opportunity to collaborate with the exceptional EO staff members and the Board, and to network with and support other SPO’s,” Irina said.
Irina follows Interim Executive Director Natalia Aleko who was instrumental to EO’s growth in its formative years. Her work in developing innovative learning curricula that enhanced language learning and teaching was the mark of her tenure as Lead of Learner Services. Among her major projects were the REALIZE! Forum, the first nation-wide EAL/ESL online conference which gathered the EAL/ESL community as well as settlement and integration professionals. She was also involved in the LearnIT2teach Project, an IRCC-supported project that offers LINC teachers and managers the tools and training to integrate blended learning or technology enhanced language learning (TELL) into language training programs.
For more information about EO’s AGM 2018-19, see the Annual Report copy here: AGM Report 2018-2019