Welcome to CCI-LEX Community News!

Welcome back to all!

After an exciting summer that welcomed back our in-person events and AGM, I know we are all looking forward to the new term and all that comes with it.

We have some great things to look forward to this term, and I am not just talking about our classes! Though it will be lovely to see the faces of returning and brand new students, we are also looking forward to our annual October Casino Fundraiser taking place at Century Casino this year – and, of course, the spooky season!

It has been amazing to welcome back a relative return to normal this year with our events and in-person classes. But this year we have some news to share, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out (I promise it is worth it!)

It’s hard to believe that it is closer to the end of October than the beginning – but it has been such a happy return for the CCI-LEX family. And while changes may be coming in the next few months, I know we are all prepared for the growth it will bring!

Happy Reading,

Anne-Marie Kallal, Executive Director

New Learning Space in the New Year!

After 20 years calling our current building home, we are excited to announce that we are moving locations!

Following months of preparation by your dedicated staff at CCI-LEX, our move will be taking place at the end of this year. We can’t wait to celebrate the return of classes in January 2023 in our new space!

Located at the 106 Street Tower (#200, 10055-106St), our new space is designed for our students and teachers’ needs! Our classrooms will have the latest in educational technology with interactive media displays, along with spaces and places designed for studying and socializing, all to improve the learning adventure!

Our very-own Ms. Moreno, an employee since 2013 and volunteer before, was kind of enough to share her excitement towards the move, even as she remembered all the good things from our history with the current building.

“People studied long time ago; they come back to the same place, sometimes they don’t remember the school’s name but, they remember the location” she said, “[now] we are going to have a new space with a much better [first] impression…”

We will be opening the doors at our new location near the start of January 2023, just in time for new classes and new memories to make! Things might not be perfect as we put the final pieces together, but we will work hard to keep things running smoothly.

We are confident that the new space will be appreciated by all, and welcome donors from the local business community to help support us in our move – and we will do the work of getting your name onto a classroom! Contact our friendly staff to learn more about our Classroom Campaign!

Back to the hustle and bustle!

We’re excited about all the possibilities ahead of us!

The quick transition into the fall season has all of us wondering where all the summer months went. However, the start of our new school term felt like a warm and familiar return home! Our return to classes this fall has been an exciting one that brings back many memories of pre-COVID times. CCI-LEX hasn’t felt this busy in a long time! The school is “buzzing” and our classrooms are packed! Not only do we have a handful of new students, teachers and staff joining us this fall, we have just as many old faces returning! Keep reading for some observations from our current teachers and some student updates!

Fall definitely turned over a new leaf for us, with many programs and classes starting up again. There’s almost always a lineup at the front desk! Comparing our student numbers to the previous year, we have double the amount of new students in both our LEX and CCI programs. Overall, we currently have over 25 classes running in both programs! That’s over 300 students currently studying at CCI-LEX this September! Similar to last year, many of our students are from Somalia, with a growing number of students coming from Ukraine. We hope CCI-LEX can continue being a safe place for students from different backgrounds to learn, exchange knowledge and make connections as they adjust to their new lives in Edmonton.

Our LEX volunteer program is also running almost fully in-person now! This September, we have around 55 active volunteers and 11 classes running! Most of our LEX classes are now back in-person with 3 classes still running online. We would like to welcome our 12 new volunteers who are finishing up their training. Welcome and we are thrilled to have you join our amazing LEX program!

Keep an eye out for new events and student activities that you can be a part of! Our new Student Events Organizer, Gabi, recently took our students out to Prairie Gardens and Adventure Farm to experience an Alberta corn maze for the first time! Whether it’s our large monthly field trips or volunteering opportunities at the Food Bank or Hope Mission, there will be many more events to come, and we invite anyone interested to be involved. Our goal is to help students learn more about other organizations around Edmonton, gain valuable volunteer experience and grow their network in the community. Please contact Gabi at events@cci-lex.ca if you want to learn more about our events!

Asking our teachers about their experience at school this September, many expressed their excitement in seeing so many new and returning students. Some expressed that some things are still not quite the same. “The big thing is lack of interaction in the hallways. The energy is not quite the same. Slowly, but surely we are getting back to normal. I really missed in-person teaching, I really enjoy it so much more in person!” says Ron, one of our longtime LEX and CCI teachers. Another one of our CCI teachers, Cindy from our Intermediate A class, had some thoughtful remarks on the beginning of our new year. “When meeting my new group of hopeful and energetic students last month, I was reminded of the excitement around “new beginnings” that we often feel this time of year. We don’t know what lies ahead, but are filled with the idea of possibilities just by being here.”

Student and Teacher Stories

See the Student and Teacher Stories on the Our Stories Page of our website.

Elham is one of our amazing student alumni who currently works for Edmonton Public Libraries! She is originally from Iran and she studied as a student at CCI-LEX in 2010 when she first arrived in Canada. Looking back at her time at CCI-LEX, she has a few words she would like to share about her time with us!

Lana was inspired to become an ESL teacher after noticing the barriers to communication faced by newcomer parents to Canada at her kids’ school. Even for those with a formal education in their home country, something as basic as filling out a form may be a barrier to those who don’t know the language. Inspired to make a difference, Lana went looking for an ESL teaching opportunity and stumbled across CCI-LEX via a volunteering website.