Alessandra Cayley

Canadian Newcomer Magazine •

Breastfeeding: budget-friendly for newcomers with newborns

You may be asking yourself what pregnancy has to do with settlement. Well, imagine being pregnant: with all the changes in a woman’s life, the implications, excitement and planning, and all that she will have to learn. Now, imagine this woman as a newcomer within a country, who hasn’t had time to find herself a job and with no immediate family around.

Lavinia had to wait for her immigration papers back home, in Brazil, away from her Canadian husband, Rocco, for almost three years.
Canadian Newcome Magazine •

Cash in on creative funding

Sometimes, all we need is a little push, which can come in the form of a compliment, some advice, mentoring, or even some cash to free the mind and relieve the worries of daily living expenses, leaving us able to focus on our career.

Much has been written about career development in our pages for lawyers, engineers, nurses, doctors, office workers. But what about creative careers? Where can you get help when you are a singer who wants to hit the road on a tour, or record your own CD? Who can he
Canadian Newcomer Magazine •

The super Enviroforce

Something about it reminds me of those TV shows like CSI and Without a Trace. Even its name projects me back in time, when, as a kid, I used to watch cartoons of super powerful leagues of superheroes, like Super Friends. Despite the lack of colourful costumes, the Enviroforce team could pass for one of them, with the work they perform daily, to ensure that environmental laws and procedures are being respected by businesses across Ontario.
Discover Brazil magazine •

Helô Pinheiro, the girl from Ipanema myth

(Originally written in Portuguese, translated into English by the publication)

Myths are created to inspire, to instill a desire for art to flourish and feeling soul of its creator. Not always of flesh and bone like you and I often end up - eternal or not - transcending the creator. From muse to myth, confusing the audience whether such inspiration actually existed or it was just mere imagination.

It is still like this with Helô.
Discover Brazil magazine •

Luanda Jones

(Originally written in Portuguese, translated into English by the publication)

I never met Luanda Jones prior to this interview. The only thing I knew was what I had researched on the Brazilian Internet. She has been trying to establish her career as a singer in Canada for the past six years. I click on the sample CD available on her website while I continue to complete my daily tasks. Aquarela (Watercolour), featured song on her CD bearing the same name, begins to play and something magical happens.
Canadian Newcomer Magazine •

ICTC gets the wheels rolling in the IT sector

Mauricio Pereira de Oliveira is from Brazil. Daniel Sun is from China. They may have nothing in common when it comes to culture, but when the subject is jobs within Canada their similarities start to grow.

The two immigrated to Canada in the midst of the latest recession. Both are IT (Information and Technology) professionals and have families to support. It was no surprise that both needed a job as quickly as possible.
Toronto Star newspaper •

Newcomer blossoms despite autism

Watching Grigori Drobot among his English-as-a-second-language classmates, the only thing one can be certain of is that he is happy. He is the opposite of what people with his condition are expected to be: antisocial and egocentric.

Drobot, 19, a newcomer from Belarus, has a mild level of autism, says his doctor, Helen Chekna.

But that didn't stop him from winning the 2007 adult ESL spelling contest in Toronto last year, defeating 30 other contestants and his own anxiety.
Toronto Sun newspaper •

It's thumbs up for hope

Everalda Sidaravicius is not a person who tends to walk with her head down. But something in winter has her gazing at the ground. It's the dozens of mismatched gloves and hats that she's been finding around Toronto since 2003.

The first glove she found at a bus stop. "I didn't know what to do with it, so I took it with me", she recalls.

Today she counts more than 130 pieces in her collection.

"The men always lose the whole pair while the women lose just one," she said.
Canadian Newcomer Magazine •

ESL students spell "S-U-C-C-E-S-S"

“Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.” - Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

Channah Coehn was moving into her new office when we met. We were surrounded by dismantled furniture and boxes of papers. The interview was about a spelling contest that she had idealized and organized last November.

Channah’s contest wasn’t just any spelling contest, like the ones where kids win lots of money. To begin with, this one wasn’t for kids, but designed for 18+ years LINC...
Canadian Newcomer Magazine •

Aim to make homework fun

During my interview with young Brazilian student Joao Felipe Galon Sa, he told me how he has improved in his studies since his arrival to Canada, two years ago, not speaking any English. “On the flight over, I was seated next to a Canadian who kept asking me ‘Do you want milk? Do you want milk?’ But I didn’t even know the meaning of the word milk,” he remembers.

When asked for tips on how to do better with homework, he gave me the same old song and dance: read books...