Bridge Program

The Bridge program is designed for immigrant youth ages 18 – 25 with interrupted formal education and who are no longer eligible to study in a high school setting. Funded by the Government of Alberta and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the overarching goal of the program is to help learners improve their literacy and life skills in order to transition to the next step in their educational or employment pathway. Transition programs, like Bridge, build capacity by giving learners the support and guidance they need in their studies, while at the same time building their confidence and encouraging them to become independent both as learners and individuals.

Who are the learners?

Bridge learners are a diverse group and come from many different countries.

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While all of the learners have different gaps in their education, the commonality among these learners is that they all have goals and aspirations.

What do we teach?

Bridge focuses on developing learners’ language skills and learning strategies to help them succeed in academic contexts. There is a focus on reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation and numeracy. Project based learning is a critical part of the program. We focus on building learners essential skills through ongoing cooperative learning projects. We have incorporated goal setting, portfolios and learner reflection into the program to foster learner independence.

Why support learners?

Learners’ ability to stay in school depends on whether or not they get the social support they need to manage and overcome their barriers. Bridge works to help learners recognize issues, access community resources, and plan for independent navigation of the services they need in the future. Navigating the post-secondary education system is challenging. Learners meet regularly with a student advisor to create individual educational action plans.

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