First skate spills, thrills and chills for international students

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This article was published 02/02/2018 (2835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes it’s the hands and not the feet that suffer the most in the cold.

That was the lesson one “keener” learned as he took to the ice on skates for the first time in his life on Friday.

Arshdeep Singh, 18, from India will probably bring heavier gloves next time he laces up skates at The Forks and he may even keep at it long enough to love the the thrill of gliding on blades over ice along the Red River Mutual Trail and the Red River in winter.

Singh and the others — college staff dubbed the first group of 30 to lace up “The Keeners” — are among more than 50 international students signed up for courses at Red River’s Language Training Centre. Some arrived in November, others only last month. “This the first time I do this in my life. I’m very interested and nervous,” said Singh’s classmate Tanveer Singh Handa, 18.

All of them were introduced to ice-skating for the first time on Friday.

Singh was one of the first to balance blades on ice, perfecting that awkward skate-walk you use before you master the art of gliding. He made it across the small rotunda rink between the Main and Johnston Terminals at The Forks. And back again. Then he stumbled to a bench.

“It’s too hard,” Singh laughed. “I fell my first time and my hands are too freeze,” he said. Two pairs of gloves later, Singh was back on the benches inside The Forks waiting for his fingers to warm up and watching his buddies out on the ice.

He said he wasn’t giving up, just thawing out.

Aside from English language proficiency, Red River’s Language Training Centre helps newcomers create a sense of community through group outings such as skating on the Red River, visiting the Manitoba Museum and the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Trying out a new sport at the same time as a new language does wonders for comprehension skills.

“These are international students who are here in Canada, in Winnipeg, for the first time so we really wanted to introduce them to something that was a purely Winnipeg tradition,” college president and CEO Paul Vogt said in an interview.

You can’t get more Winnipeg than skating on the Red, added the college president, himself an avid hockey player and loyal Jets fan, and for half an hour yesterday, the students’ first skating instructor.

Red River’s language centre trains more than 1,000 immigrant, refugee and international students annually at its Winnipeg campus in the Via Rail Station. The five-month programs are run through the year and are provided at no charge to students, with costs covered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In the past year, the program has expanded, with the college taking on four new language training centres outside the city, training an additional 250 students.

The expansion saw Red River College take over an existing language program in Steinbach for 100 students, and open new programs in Thompson, Arborg and Selkirk.

All the students said they knew skating was a favourite winter past time in Canada. And all of them understood what skating was and how it meant sliding over frozen ice on sharpened blades attached to calf high stiff leather boots.

“I saw it before on TV,” said Lucy Le, 18 as she swung her leg over a classmate’s lap to have her skates laced up inside The Forks Main Terminal.

The college lined up rentals with the local skate shop and Lucy Nguyen was lacing up Le’s skates as the pair chatted. “This is the first time we skate here. It’s really exciting but I’m scared to fall,” Nguyen said.

Just before the first skate, the college president said he had a few tips to pass on.

“Keep your legs very straight at first until you get comfortable. And spread your arms out a bit, for balance,” Vogt said “I’ve noticed most of them have already picked that up. It’s almost instinctive.”

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca