TALC ESL Speaks is an annual speech competition open to all Adult Day School students (18+) enrolled in ESL programs across the five Toronto Adult Learning Centres (EdVance and Adult) within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
A section of the TALC Magazine will be dedicated to the TALC ESL Speaks Competition. The magazine represents the Toronto Adult Learning Centres and reflects the collaborative spirit of our adult school community. Winners from each category will have their speeches published in the magazine. For more information, please visit the TALC Magazine tab.
The TALC ESL Speaks Competition was created to build bridges and meaningful connections across Adult Day Schools and related programs while ensuring an equitable and affirming space for adult ESL learners.
Adult ESL students bring life experiences that differ significantly from those of younger learners. Many have spent years navigating work, family responsibilities, migration, displacement, and community life. These experiences often translate into strong storytelling abilities, confidence, and oral expression in their home languages, which in turn influence how they communicate in English.
For this reason, TALC ESL Speaks provides a competition specifically designed for adult learners, where students are evaluated alongside peers who share similar life stages and experiences. Competing within an adult-only space ensures that students are assessed fairly and meaningfully, without direct comparison to much younger participants whose developmental, social, and educational contexts are different.
This approach supports equity by:
recognizing the unique strengths adult learners bring
honouring lived experience as a form of knowledge
creating fair conditions for evaluation and growth
Beyond competition, TALC ESL Speaks is designed as a structured learning experience that can be integrated as a standard instructional unit across all ESL courses.
Through guided speech writing, rehearsal, and presentation, students develop skills that directly support success in ESL and other subject areas. This unit helps students:
strengthen English speaking, listening, and oral communication skills
build confidence in formal and informal public speaking situations
develop storytelling, organization, and reflective writing abilities
practice presenting ideas clearly to an audience
share lived experiences in a respectful and supportive environment
The skills developed through TALC ESL Speaks align with expectations across adult education courses, including:
oral presentations
classroom discussions
reflective and narrative writing
critical thinking and self-expression