Cooperative ESL Ministries Society is an interdenominational Christian organization dedicated to welcoming newcomers to Canada. We serve people of all faiths and cultures—advocating respect and understanding of cultural, religious and language backgrounds.

We train, resource, network and consult to fulfill our mission–empowering churches to reach out in love to the immigrants and internationals in our communities.

TRAINING & RESOURCES

CESLM hosts annual training events for staff and volunteers from church and community organizations that work with newcomers to Canada.

  • Online Training Webinars: Since 2020 and the COVID global pandemic, we, like many others, were forced to go online with our training events. 2020 was a good year for us to jump into hosting online events to train and equip staff, volunteers and teachers in both churches and other organizations to better prepare to meet the needs of newcomers.

  • Annual Spring & Fall Training:: a half-day training event for both teachers and other working with newcomers—providing information, strategies and inspiration for those assisting newcomers, plus workshops for ESL facilitators to enhance their classroom skills.

  • Intercultural Communication Workshops: a half-day or evening workshop to raise intercultural awareness, learn about different cultural values and improve cross-cultural communication skills. Workshops are currently delivered online by CESLM facilitators.

For information on our current events, contact training@eslcooperative.ca or visit our Upcoming Events page.

CESLM Logo Partners Montage

BUILDING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Through our community network, we reach out to agencies, to connect them with our network of churches, organizations and individuals working with newcomers, to help build a community that reaches out to New Canadians with the same goal—to welcome them to our cities.

  • Networking Opportunities: We offer churches, agencies and individuals working with newcomers the opportunity to showcase their services at our training events throughout the year.

    For webinars, we will promote your agency via a slide promo run a couple of times during the webinar, as well as send a pdf online brochure to all attendees, post-event.

    For onsite events (when permitted again), we offer space to display your printed brochures and other materials for teachers and others working with newcomers to browse during event breaks and take brochures to distribute to their students.

    For both webinars and onsite events, we charge a small fee to promote your services.

  • Reaching Newcomers: to assist those offering free services to newcomers, such as ESL classes, workshops, and job skill-building classes, we will post your information, at no charge, on our website Resources page, on our social media platforms, and in our monthly newsletter.

    As well, if you are looking for volunteers to help with ESL teaching or assisting, we will post an ad on our website Resources page.

    If you are looking for students for your free ESL classes, we offer no-charge advertising for your ESL programs in our ESL Directory.

For more information on how we can help you network with other newcomer serving organizations and promote your services to newcomers, contact resources@eslcooperative.ca.

ADVOCATE FOR NEWCOMERS TO CANADA

We strive to raise awareness among church and community groups to encourage openness and involvement in reducing the barriers faced by immigrants and other newcomers in Calgary by providing relevant resources.

  • Information and resources via our website, newsletter and annual workshops, conferences and networking events.

  • Encouraging interaction through Social Media: ‘Like Us” on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or learn more about us via our contact page.

For information on our current workshops, contact training@eslcooperative.ca or visit our Upcoming Events Page.

DONATE NOW

Thank you for partnering with us as we train and equip churches and volunteers to better reach newcomers in their communities. Your investment equips volunteers to invite immigrants out of isolation, serve them in a tangible way, and welcome them to connect with a Christ-centered community.