Hello fellow international CUPE members,
Did you have a hectic winter term? It’s time to get together, relax and enjoy some good company over dinner!
More details:
You are invited to a FREE dinner hosted by CUPE 3906 on the 9th of May (Thursday) at 6pm in the Phoenix.
Why?
Food and Fun! Board games! Make some new friends! Share your experiences and laughter! Learn how CUPE 3906 can help you!
How do I sign up?
Please join the Facebook event (link below) so that we can make sure that there is enough food for everyone! If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can email Venu, our international office, (international@cupe3906.org).
https://www.facebook.com/
It will be fun and hope you can make it!
See you there! Venu (International Officer, CUPE 3906)
If you have any questions, feel free to email: international@cupe3906.org
Dear International Members,
Leading tutorials or lab demonstrations can be an overwhelming task
when English is not your first language, and even more if you have
never before been teaching in front of a full classroom. On this
basis, Grazyna Drzazga and Ahmed Bekhit have tailored a workshop
focused on some of the issues international teaching assistants face
during their first class(es), and in response, they present some tips
and strategies on how to overcome them.
Without further ado, here is the information of the workshop.
Title: “Yes, You Can Teach in English: Workshop for Teaching Assistants.”
When: Thursday, from 12 noon to 2:30 pm.
Where: CLL (Center for Leadership in Learning) Teaching Commons
Inquiry Classroom, Fifth floor of Mills Library, Room 504.
Dear international members,
Grazyna Drzazga, a PhD student in linguistics, has kindly offered to hold an extended version of her “Teaching in a Different Language” workshop. The description of this workshop is as follows:
Teaching in a Different Language
Communication breakdown due to limited vocabulary is one of the biggest fears of international graduate students and teaching assistants. This workshop discusses how to compensate for linguistic imperfections. An array of strategies to overcome communication barriers will be presented and discussed.
The workshop will be held on Thursday Sept 13, from 12 noon until 3pm, at MUSC Room 213 (The MacLachlin Room). If you are interested, please email me at international@cupe3906.com to register before Wednesday Sept 12, since there is a limited number of spots. We will also be providing food to the attendees.
Dear international members,
Grazyna Drzazga is one of the PhD students in linguistics who had one of the most interesting workshops for international TAs during the TA day. Luckily, she has kindly offered to hold her workshop again this term. The description of this workshop is as follows:
Teaching in a Different Language
Communication breakdown due to limited vocabulary is one of the biggest fears of international graduate students and teaching assistants. This workshop discusses how to compensate for linguistic imperfections. An array of strategies to overcome communication barriers will be presented and discussed.
The workshop will be held on Thursday March 1st, from 12 to 2pm, at CLL (Center for Leadership in Learning) Teaching Commons Inquiry Classroom, Mills Library 504.
If you are interested, please email international@cupe3906.com before the day of the workshop in order to have an estimate of the number of people who want to come to order enough food.
CLL is kindly providing coffee and the space for the workshop.
1. What is a union?
Perhaps you have heard the story of “the bundle of sticks” or the phrase “united we stand, divided we fall”. That’s basically, what union means. Union (or more precisely trade union), copying from Wikipedia, is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. You might also be familiar with the term ‘syndicate’ in some other languages.
The idea is that employers (intentionally or unintentionally) do not consider the best possible conditions for the workers. Therefore, workers form a union so that each individual does not have to deal with the employer directly, they can go to their union and work with others to achieve a better result; then, they will have the help of other workers and professionals working in the union to solve their issues.
2. Then, what is CUPE 3906?
CUPE stands for Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE is a general union of employees across all Canada, and actually the largest one in Canada. Similar to any other organizational structure, there are different levels and the lowest level includes the ‘locals’. CUPE 3906 is the local that we are part of, which includes TAs (Teaching Assistants), Sessional Faculties (the faculty members that are usually not permanent), and postdoctoral students. CUPE 3902 is for example for TAs of University of Toronto.
3. Who is a member of CUPE again?
