A Tribute to Dawn Seabrook de Vargas
A pioneer and trailblazer;
one of the founding members of ATESL
On February 20, 2009, the TESL community lost one of its energetic and valuable members - Dawn Seabrook de Vargas. Dawn’s early departure has left a significant gap in a broad range of expertise that she accumulated over the years in her many roles in a variety of subject areas within the TESL discipline. Dawn was a pioneer and trailblazer; she was one of the founding members of ATESL. From 1985 to 2009 she worked at NorQuest College, where she wore multiple hats. She worked initially as an English in the Workplace instructor at the Westin Hotel and then at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Dawn soon moved up to a coordinator position in which she supervised all English in the Workplace programs, among many other assignments.
She seemed to be involved in everything: assessment, community education, cross cultural education, plain language and, of course, Essential Skills, which became a lasting interest of hers.
Dawn is remembered as a kind colleague full of energy, compassion, and ideas, and as someone who was always interested in creating exciting learning opportunities for students. She used her energy and ideas to break new ground in a variety of areas. She was the driving force in the development of English in the Workplace programming, which she expanded into industries such as forestry, steel, and food processing, among many others. She was involved in the development of multiple resources. She became the Essential Skills expert and helped instructors throughout the community to develop an understanding of Essential Skills.
Over the last 8 years, Dawn worked on the NorQuest College Rural Routes initiative where she literally took her expertise and energy on the road by providing services to smaller communities all over the province. Through this project, she facilitated numerous professional development workshops on a variety of topics related to teaching ESL, and she mentored many coordinators, instructors, and tutors providing ESL programming in their communities. She built close relationships with people all over the province; those she worked with knew that they could always call on Dawn with their questions and problems regarding ESL programming and that she would point them to the resources they needed.
Concurrent to her work at NorQuest College over the last 8 years, Dawn was the project manager for Alberta Workforce Essential Skills society. In that role, she managed many projects and focused her efforts on helping instructors develop capacity based on applied research and shared experience. Through this work she was able to put into practice her ongoing commitment to professional development for instructors. Anyone who worked on projects with Dawn was provided with professional development on Essential Skills, workplace literacy, and English in the Workplace.
In her multiple roles, Dawn worked with a large number of employers, among them the Alberta Food Processors Association, the Alberta Forest Products Association, Syncrude, and the Construction Safety Association.
Dawn’s contributions to the TESL field are many and varied, and she is fondly remembered as someone who generously shared her knowledge and expertise and assisted many in their professional development.
submitted by Anna De Luca