Rachel Iserhoff is in her final year of an Education degree at Trent University. She took a certification course in coding for educators which she has found quite useful in the classroom where she has done some of her practical work and is now applying it in programs for summer library patrons. Initially called Tech for Teens, she has expanded the audience by changing the name to Tech for all Ages, believing that people on either side of that age demographic might be interested in learning more about technology. She has been careful to create activities that included a social component: even video games like Minecraft are done in multi-player modes so there is competition. Tech for Everyone includes activities such as coding challenges, roblox and multiplayer minecraft games and Virtual Reality headsets. There are interactive tech puzzles where player moves are monitored by a camera with automated feedback, ipads and coding activities where visitors make
Join Rachel at the Bruce Johnston Branch on Tuesdays at 1:00pm and the Millbrook Branch on Fridays at 1:00pm to learn more about technology and discover some fun new tech games. Each week, Rachel will facilitate a different activity that focuses on a specific technology, such as learning how to code, virtual reality headsets, Minecraft, and Roblox.
Aloha Sidiqi arrived in Canada in 2015 from Uzbekistan, a country in Central Asia that was a member of the USSR until its independence in 1991. Her native languages are Farsi and Uzbek, but Russian was the second official language in her homeland so most citizens also learned to speak that language. She has recently completed her high school studies in Peterborough and starts at the University of Toronto this fall where she will begin to study Political Science in preparation for a law degree.
To say she has a gift for languages would be an understatement. She currently speaks six languages and counting, including English, French and Spanish, with no trace of an accent.
She was hired for these skills with the intention of offering English language skills to those for whom it is a second language. Her approach is miles away from traditional language classes with achievable targets. She hopes to make language learning fun, using games to teach library patrons how to say a few practical phrases to boost their confidence and comprehension in another tongue .Aloah works at the Millbrook branch on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and at the Bruce Johnston branch on Wednesdays and Fridays. Drop in and learn a few phrases in a new language. KG