It’s official – ILAC is going green and it’s all thanks to our teachers in Toronto and Vancouver!
Last month, the first ILAC Greenest Teacher Award (GTA) recipients were announced at both campuses. The Toronto winners were Ecaterina Albu and Andrew Tompkins and in Vancouver, the winners were Nori Morita and Ryan Maclennan.
The ILAC GTA goes to the teachers with the biggest overall reduction in paper use. The winning teachers each received a gift certificate for dinner at a fancy restaurant and a donation was made in each of their names to One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization that supports reforestation projects around the world. For every dollar donated, One Tree Planted plants a tree in North America, South America, Asia or Africa.
“Being a ‘green’ teacher makes me feel happy that I personally managed to save at least a tiny little part of our planet in a visible way – I waste less paper!”, says Ecaterina Albu, a teacher at ILAC Toronto. “It means that I can see the environmental change I can actually make by choosing and planning my lessons differently.”
ILAC Toronto teacher Andrew Tompkins noticed that a lot of handouts ended up forgotten at the bottom of backpacks. So he decided to use the whiteboard more to cut down on unnecessary paper usage and provide students with note-taking practice. “My professors rarely provided handouts, so being a green teacher is as much about being environmentally conscious as it is about effective communication,” says Andrew. “Some handouts are essential, but I’ve found that students don’t hold on to many of them.”
Ryan Maclennan has been teaching at ILAC Vancouver since 2014. “As Kermit says, it’s not easy being green,” he jokes but his tone is serious. “Being a green teacher means shaping students’ futures not only through the skills we give them but also through the way we share those skills.”
For more information about the ILAC Go Green Campaign contact:
Melissa Guarino, Toronto – [email protected]
Angela Johnston, Vancouver – [email protected]
