Adjusting to a new life can be difficult but Eastman Immigrant Services strives to make it easier.

"These English for Work classes are ways to improve your English for a number of reasons." says Gwen Reimer from Eastman Immigrant Services.

"The number one goal of English for work course includes maybe a job. It could include a promotion at a job. It could include even getting some training for the job, maybe even a further option for your education, gain certification, or even just to learn about culture, either Canadian or other countries and culture, so those are some really good reasons to do that," she explains.

However, Reimer mentioned the other success with their program. "Another thing that we offer with these classes is W.E.L.A.R.C. assessment. W.E.L.A.R.C. stands for Winnipeg English Language Assessment and Referral Centres."

"Essentially, what that does is every one of our clients that signs up for English classes is committed to the classes and actually get a free assessment done," Reimer explains, "so W.E.L.A.R.C. assesses your reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and you are given your CLB which is Canadian language benchmark for anybody taking the English language."

This year, Eastman Immigrant Services is offering new sessions starting on November 1st, and they will be running till June 24th, 2022. "We offer 3 free sessions with our Christmas break, and with a spring break, what happens is the client signs up for, you know, we can take new intakes for the first 2 weeks, and then after that, the session closes, and we start again after the break," Reimer explains.

"It's important to sign up right in the beginning. We do this so it's not as interrupted when they do have classes going on."

When it comes to social distancing practices, Eastman Immigrant Services more than encourages the use of them. "Of course, keeping all the social distancing practices in mind, working with Manitoba Health is important," Reimer says. "We're going to be working with the students online and then the technology class is happening Tuesday and Thursday at the Eastman Education Centre and their beautiful atrium."

And, if students are interested in accessing online classes, that's available too. "There's an online version for all classes that we're offering that include CLB 5,6,7, pronunciation and technology." 

Anyone interested in improving their English language skills at no cost can message them on their website www.eastmanimmigrantservices.com, or contact them directly at Eastman Immigrant Services.