Sitting around a large table under a banner that reads, “Country you belong to,” the students in the English class offered by a settlement agency share something about their homeland that others might not be familiar with.

“In Taiwan, you always hear car sounds. Motorcycles. Even at midnight,” says Eric Kuan Hung Lin, who moved to Mississauga, Ont. about two years ago. “Here, you have quiet at night.”

He is trying to get more opportunities to practise his language skills in person, with other people.

“I don’t know why, but if I have to use English, I’ll feel shy sometimes,” he explains.

Lin, who works at a grocery store not too far from the settlement agency, is also hoping that with more practice, he’ll have better luck landing a job that aligns with his background in television produ

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