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Renison dean weighs in on grammar of proposed changes to "O Canada" in controversial Bill C-210

On Monday morning, Renison’s Administrative Dean, Judi Jewinski, was interviewed by Ben Mulroney, along with Senator Frances Lankin (Ontario), on CTV’s Your Morning. The founder of Renison’s English Language Institute and an authority on English grammar, Jewinski was asked to comment on the grammatical correctness of proposed changes to the English version of Canada’s National Anthem, O Canada. Senator Lankin has sponsored the controversial bill in the Senate, previously passed by the House of Commons, which aims to change the lyrics of the anthem.
 
Watch the interview with Dean Judi Jewinski.
 

They’re in this together:

Renison professor receives grant to study why former refugees choose to help new refugees arriving in Canada

Professor Vinh Nguyen has been awarded a $7000 UW/SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) Seed grant. With the grant, Nguyen, who researches issues of war, refugees, and affect as a faculty member in the Culture and Language Studies department at Renison University College, can start his research project looking at the support former refugees provide to newly arrived refugees to Canada.

Read the full story, with comment from Professor Vinh Nguyen.
 

Educational tech that’s helping to share the stories of Canada’s history

Last week, the ongoing work of Professor Kristina Llewellyn, a faculty member in Renison’s Social Development Studies department, was featured across the country on CBC as part of a piece looking at the use of virtual reality as an educational tool in classrooms. Llewellyn, whose research focuses on oral history, is leading a three-year $500,000 project with The Games Institute at the University of Waterloo, entitled Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation (DOHR).

Read the full story and watch the CBC interview with Professor Kristina Llewellyn.
 

Director of English Language Studies wins TESL Canada Innovation Award

The director of Renison’s English Language Studies (ELS) program, Professor Julia Williams, has won the TESL (Teachers of English as a Second Language) Canada Innovation Award for her series of LEAP (Learning English for Academic Purposes) textbooks.
 
The award celebrates the innovation of English language teaching professionals who produce relevant and creative resources used in thousands of classrooms across Canada and around the world. The Innovation Awards, which were presented at the recent TESL Canada Conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario, included awards for several textbook categories, with the LEAP series winning the award for the Most Innovative Textbook Series published by an International Publisher and Designed for the Canadian Market.

Read the full story, with comment from Professor Julia Williams.

Renison helping students take their studies global

Students immersed at Poole Gakuin University, Japan

Four Renison University College students were selected to participate in the Poole Gakuin University exchange program. They each spent four weeks being immersed in Japanese language and culture in Sakai, Osaka where they attended classes taught in Japanese alongside local students. Through this unique program, which took place from May 15 to June 9, these Renison students had the opportunity to live with homestay families and take part in different excursions offered by Poole Gakuin University. 
 

UWaterloo students gain skills and experience in China

An enthusiastic 19 University of Waterloo students recently completed the China Summer Program, accompanied by Dr. Min Zhou, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute in Waterloo, which is based at Renison University College. During the 6-week program in May and June, students took Chinese language and culture courses at Shanghai International Studies University and ended the program with a 10-day excursion. Learning about art forms, such as Chinese paper cutting, and visiting cultural icons such as the Great Wall in Beijing, Tiananmen Square, the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, and the imperial gardens, the students had the opportunity to develop their global perspective and return to their studies with newly developed skills, contacts, and experiences that will inform them throughout their lives.
 

English Language Studies presents at TESL Canada Conference

Members of Renison’s English Language Studies (ELS) faculty recently presented at the TESL (Teachers of English as a Second Language) Canada Conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation, the conference focused on the work of English language educators and their contribution to Canada’s multicultural policies, which have added to the richness of Canada’s cultural and linguistic diversities.

Read the full story, with comment from Professor Julia Williams, director of ELS.