Angeline Tap

Laying the foundation: Learning English from the ground up

Angeline considers herself a lucky newcomer. Although she didn’t speak the same dialect as her local Sudanese community upon emigrating to Canada some two decades ago, she was fortunate enough to befriend someone at her church who became her guide and companion. She was determined to meet people and make friends, which motivated her to speak English and learn it fairly quickly. One of Angeline’s friends eventually introduced her to CCI-LEX, and she started studying here in 2018.

Although she already speaks three other languages – Arabic, Nuer, and Swahili – English is the first language in which she’s learned how to read and write. Consequently, she feels that these have been the most difficult aspects of her English learning journey. Angeline’s classes have given her both a greater understanding of the English language and more confidence in using it – at school, at work, and elsewhere in her life. She has found online learning to be convenient for her, especially since she works full-time and can save an evening commute by attending her classes remotely. She does miss the social aspect of the in-school setting – such as interacting with classmates during breaks – as well as the office staff, who she says make her feel at home.

Angeline would like to continue in the CCI program so she can learn English at a higher level and be self-sufficient. In her own words: “My dream is I need to have at least a certificate, so I know I can depend on myself, apply for a job by myself, look for things on the computer by myself.” She eventually wants to work in customer service, perhaps at an office or reception job. On her experience at CCI-LEX, Angeline expressed the following: “I’m so happy my friend showed me this school – no matter where I go, I will know that I got my foundation from CCI-LEX. … The most important thing is it opened my mind to know what I can do in my life.”