It's something this region didn't have just a few years ago, but the kind of thing that's serving a real need.
As more and more local companies have turned to hiring immigrant workers, the need for ESL or English as a Subsequent Language classes has risen in communities all over the region.
First, there were ad hoc program offerings in some communities - mainly volunteer-based tutoring. However, two and a half years ago, Carlton Trail Regional College (CTRC) began offering ESL classes of their own.
About 75 students are enrolled in ESL classes at CTRC this year, noted Kara Loy, literacy coordinator for CTRC, up from 45 in 2008.
The ESL program at CTRC is geared for newcomers to the country in the last five years, Loy reported, though some of their students - mainly people who have married Canadians - have been here longer. Those people were unable to access programming prior to this, mainly because nothing existed in many centres.
Though some former hotspots for immigrants have decreased in popularity in recent years- LeRoy was the third hottest spot in the province for immigrants in 2007, as Stomp's Pork Farm was recruiting from Asia, but with the closure of that business, many have moved away - there has been steady growth in interest in the ESL programs as more immigrants have moved to other locations in the region.
The typical profile of an ESL student at CTRC is someone who has come into the country to work, mainly in the manufacturing industry, and who has brought their family with them. They come from the Ukraine, the Philippines, Germany, and Latin America. The number of immigrants coming from China has waned in the past two years.
Some of these workers have been here a while - for example, the Lilydale poultry plant in Wynyard began seriously recruiting workers from other parts of the world in the 1990s. These workers were offered some work-based ESL programming, but only in the short-term.
In more recent years, many manufacturers in the area, like Schulte Industries, Bourgault Industries and others, have brought in workers from all around the world to small towns like St. Gregor and St. Brieux. Big Sky Farms has also brought in a number of immigrant workers to their locations in five or six communities in the area, Loy noted, and the Watrous area is attracting construction workers from eastern European countries.
"We see an increase in the number of immigrants in (these) locations," Loy said, and therefore an increased need for ESL classes, as immigrants need to be able to function in these small towns.
CTRC offers face-to-face ESL classes in Lanigan, Humboldt, Englefeld, Wynyard, Davidson and Watrous.
The Stage 1 classes help students learn and practice skills in reading, writing, listening to and speaking English, to allow them to better function in English in day-to-day interactions in their communities.
Things like talking about the weather, banking, health care, shopping and transportation are covered.
"It's survival and community-based English," Loy said.
CTRC also offers English for Employment classes, which assist newcomers with their English so they can more effectively manage daily interactions at work and in their communities.
Many immigrants find it difficult to move up where they work or access their actual profession because their English skills are holding them back, Loy indicated. This class helps them with that.
CTRC also offers advanced classes in English for those who have completed the first two levels.
CTRC also brokers a federally-funded LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) home study pilot program for advanced ESL students.
This program is meant to help facilitate learners and provide mentorship support during a newcomer's first years in Canada.
Volunteer tutors also work with ESL students. These volunteers are people in the community - many are retired teachers, Loy noted - who meet with students two hours per week to practice English in conversation.
It is still a challenge for immigrant workers who come to Saskatchewan, Loy noted.
It takes time to get a driver's licence, which makes it difficult for them to get around when they first arrive. And it still takes a long time for a worker to be able to bring his or her family over once they get here.
However, people coming over seem to be more prepared for possible difficulties, Loy noted, and the companies bringing workers over are doing more settlement work and ensuring that their new workers get to be part of their new community. There's also more information readily available for immigrant workers, through agencies like the Newcomer Gateway program.
The small communities are also making an effort to be welcoming, bringing over food and clothing for recent immigrants, and befriending them, sometimes even by tutoring them in English.
Because of these efforts, and classes like those CTRC offers, many people are settling more successfully into Saskatchewan's small towns, Loy feels.
CTRC's programming, she feels, will evolve with the learners they are attracting. "We'll continue to grow and expand as people need different things," she said.
