Ottawa-Carleton Education Network

OCENET is pleased to announce a major facelift and refresh of its website.

We may not be able to travel right now but thanks to technology, Grade 5/6 students from a number of OCDSB schools are making connections around the world as part of OCENET’s Global Explorers program.

This year has definitely been a difficult year for our international students who are far from home. OCENET recognized in the pandemic that additional ‘fun’ support would be needed for our students, especially for those students who couldn’t return home.

ICP students have taken full advantage of technology to attend workshops hosted by their peers on a range of topics including Morocco, Japanese art and fashion, Islamophobia, Iran, Black hair, Malawi, Sri Lankan food, and more.

Despite the Covid-19 global pandemic, some students continue to pursue education overseas. The OCDSB has welcomed over 100 such additions to the international student program this year.

Each issue of Global Connections highlights the experiences of international students or educators who visit Ottawa and attend OCDSB schools through OCENET. In this issue the focus is on three international students who are enrolled in the OCDSB International Certificate Program (ICP).

As an academic advisor for international students at 10 OCDSB secondary schools, I am the main liaison between OCENET and the students and staff at those schools. Since the pandemic began a year ago, I'm grateful that my role hasn't changed drastically - apart from not being able to visit schools, which I miss the most.

It has been a year since Covid changed the world, but OCENET has been working through it.

Through many partnerships with schools overseas, OCENET has supported international language learning for OCDSB students and staff.

OCENET is happy to announce that it will be running a training program for secondary teachers of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) from Madrid, Spain this July!