The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 5, 2008 - 9 Teacher leaving on March break unlike any other By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER St. Bernadette School teacher Melissa Carnelos is heading out on a March break unlike any other. She'll be improving a school in the Dominican Republic from the inside out. Carnelos will be teaching teachers lessons in literacy ­ so that they can pass them on to parents and children ­ and building walls on the schools in which they'll be providing those lessons. "When we first arrive, we will be involved in assisting the local labourers, to help get all the walls up before we move on to our next site," said Carnelos. Making slates and blackboards by hand, running and participating in children's programs, doling out milk and food to local children, visiting seniors' homes and the children's hospital are also on the itinerary. Cleaning up from the severe tropical storms and hurricanes that have hit the Latin America country over the past months is included on the to-do list as well. Snow days are to Canadian school children what rain is to Dominican children in impoverished areas. Learning under makeshift classrooms built from LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER GOING AWAY TO HELP: St. Bernadette teacher Melissa Carnelos is heading out to make a difference in a school from the inside out this March break. tarps, a rainy day closes down a number of illiterate adults who school for the day. would like to be able to keep up Helping the parents of these with their kids who are in school Dominican children learn to read learning. Although literacy is not is equally as important. There are the same as learning a second lan- guage, there are also many in the communities who want to simply learn English. "Basic language learning is the same in any language. We take what we know works for teaching in English and simply present the same steps via a translator." Doing all of this in the Third World is something Carnelos has long intended. She welcomes the opportunity to wade into this brand new territory of volunteering. After all, it has been a way of life for the Grade 8 teacher, who has assisted seniors and read with children in the library locally. Helping a developing country is certainly not new for St. Bernadette School. Around four years ago the Heritage Way student body raised money to build one in Haiti. That experience piqued Carnelos' interest to volunteer. But at the time Haiti was unsettled with violent rebellion and disastrous flooding, so her plans were dashed. At the Heritage Way school a recent `Chew for Charity' is among a bevy of fundraisers the "wonderful" parents, staff and students have supported, especially educational assistant Christine Ricci, Grade 7 teacher Karyn Kastelic and principal Ann Koritko. The school surpassed its goal, raising $3,000. This is the generosity that has typified St. Bernadette, where Carnelos has taught for the past decade. "The staff and students are wonderful. There is a true feeling of community as everyone has offered to help out and the enthusiasm is contagious. "I have told my students and the staff here that I will be working in the Dominican on their behalf, as well, since they have been so wonderful and so willing to help," said Carnelos. "Even though I can't bring them all with me, by helping me raise the money to go, they are helping the people in the Dominican right alongside of me," she added. Where one-room schoolhouses with only one teacher are the stuff of past decades here, they are commonplace in the Dominican. Supplies are scant. "We are very fortunate here in Canada," said Carnelos. "I feel very fortunate having grown up in Halton and want to give back." As much as she'll be giving her time, muscle and expertise to the projects in the Dominican, Carnelos looks forward to learning from the Dominicans. She'll bring back a slew of photos from her trip to share at the school with a slideshow and journal to recall all of the vivid details. Reach 15,000+ active travellers, trade professionals and media at the biggest travel event of the year - TORONTO'S ULTIMATE TRAVEL SHOW APRIL 10-13, 2008 Nicole Clark B.A., M.CI.Sc., Reg. CASLPO Audiologist INTERNATIONAL CENTRE The Oakville Hearing Centre has Moved! Formerly located in the Royal Bank building at Lakeshore and Trafalgar, our new convenient location allows us to provide our clients with an even better hearing healthcare service. At The Oakville Hearing Centre you can be certain that you will be treated with the utmost courtesy and care. " We are proud to announce that we have reformatted the show this year. The 2008 Spring Travel Show now offers you even more opportunities to increase sales and reach Toronto's most desirable demographic. - Lisa Ulrich OUR 2008 SHOW FEATURES: " REASONS TO EXHIBIT: REACH 15,000 people of your ideal demographic - adults 25-54 who spend $6,900 per year on travel SELL travel deals at the show! Past attendees have reported wanting to travel within 6 months after visiting the show LAUNCH & PROMOTE new destination packages ENGAGE consumers by conducting seminars and hosting entertainment Make DIRECT CONTACT with 1,000 industry members and media personnel It's COST EFFECTIVE - 10X10 booth spaces are only $1,450 6 and custom earmolds for pilots 200 exhibitors including tourist boards from 40 countries around the world An advertising and marketing campaign valued at $300,000, unmatched by any other event of its kind Media sponsorship with Toronto Star, Outpost Magazine, Mix 99.9, 1010 CFRB and Travelweek, Canada's travel trade magazine A newly-designed presentation stage A new show guide advertising supplement with a distribution of 250,000 in the Toronto Star Publicity in major national media outlets New feature areas including Canada, Ontario, Quebec, Europe, Adventure Travel, Boating, RVing The Oakville Hearing Centre Inc. 1235 Trafalgar Road, Suite 207 Oakville, ON L6H 3P1 T: 905.849.5894 F: 905.847.2250 www.oakvillehearing.com RESERVE YOUR SPACE... ACT NOW! CALL, FAX OR EMAIL US TO EXHIBIT TODAY! Contact Lisa Ulrich Tel 905-815-0017 x303 Fax 905-337-5570 lulrich@travelweek.ca www.totravelshow.com