Maile Han is a LEX Low Intermediate student at CCI-LEX, and she is also CCI-LEX’s eldest student ! When Maile came to Canada 42 years ago, she faced many obstacles, noting how difficult it was to try and navigate a country where you can’t speak the native language: “I thought to myself, if I want to survive in Canada, I have to go to ESL.”
Maile was at a library when she discovered CCI-LEX through word of mouth. She not only wanted to learn English for day-to-day interactions, but also because of her interest in the news and knowing what’s happening around the world. CCI-LEX gave Maile the push she needed in order to propel her skills in English language competency. Maile credits never having owned a cellphone as one major thing that’s helped her in her journey to learning English, highlighting the benefits of relying on your mind to translate instead of your cell phone.
What Maile enjoys most about CCI-LEX are the patient teachers and the many volunteer opportunities CCI-LEX provides for the students:
“I volunteered a few times here with the homeless like at Hope Commission,, the food bank, and the Mustard Seed. I got more experience and I got to know the level of these people more. In my country, we don’t have programs like that for the homeless.”
In her free time, Maile enjoys listening to Chinese opera, volunteering at events like Taste of Edmonton, as well as giving items to donation centers: “I want to pay back society. I came to Canada with empty hands, I’m not rich, but I can still save money to pay back to the society.” Furthermore, Maile highly enjoys travelling. She has travelled to LA to visit her family, and she also enjoys going to Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Hong Kong, the latter of which she has visited 15 times!
Maile hopes she can continue to learn English a little bit faster and maybe even increase her knowledge in digital literacy! She is a dedicated life-long learner and an inspiration to all who meet her!