Life Skills

Come practice your English language skills in a fun group of other new speakers.

Meet new people, learn English, and have fun! This program is presented in partnership with the Baha'is of North Vancouver.

This program will be held via Zoom. The session will start at 2:00pm, however, you're welcome to tune in as early as 1:45pm to test your technology.

The session can be accessed via: https://nvdpl.zoom.us/j/96690503411?pwd=NnlCSEh0K24zWmZCcWR5eHlreVRxZz09

Statistics verify that the uptake to actually complete Advance Care Planning in North America remains dismal despite many attempts to educate the public; there is the perception that it is an overwhelming task.

Join Advance Care Planning specialist Helen Aqua to learn some easy-to-do tasks to prepare for the eventuality of a sudden personal emergency - an illness or accident - that leaves a person unable to speak for themselves.  Helen will also present highlights from Dr. Daren Heyland’s Plan Well Guide. This workshop is relevant to adults of all ages from 19-90.

About the presenter:

Helen Aqua, a native Vancouverite recently spent 4 years studying various topics offered in Simon Fraser University’s Lifelong Learning End-of -Life Studies and then went on to qualify as an Advance Care Planning Facilitator from Respecting Choices. Helen’s studies have included learning about Death Doulas, Palliative Care Teams, the role of Social Workers and Spiritual Care Providers during serious illness. Through her company, Decide Now Consulting, Helen is now conducting presentations on a variety of topics relating to Advance Care Planning via Zoom and she looks forward to the time in-person discussions are once again possible.

This meeting will take place on Zoom. What you’ll need: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam for Zoom; or your smartphone/tablet. We will email you the Zoom link in advance of the event.

Last year, the BC Parks Foundation helped youth and adults alike capture over one-million wildlife observations for scientists. This year they have an even bigger challenge for British Columbians: to get the most wildlife observations in ALL of Canada!

NVDPL is stepping up to the cause by helping the BC Parks Foundation rally kids of all ages in our community to become citizen scientists and take on the Foundation’s challenge. 

Becoming a NVDPL citizen scientist is simple: upload observations using iNaturalist and complete a NVDPL Nature Challenge activity booklet. Using this activity booklet, we want you to explore the outdoors and make as many observations as you can about the living things in your community! When you return your completed booklet, you can enter your name into our book prize draw. (But you don’t have to stop making nature observations using iNaturalist!)

Are you read for the challenge? Here’s what you do:

1. Collect a NVDPL Nature Challenge activity booklet from your nearest NVDPL branch starting Friday, March 12.
2. Have a parent help you access the iNaturalist app on your smart device or computer.
3. Next, explore and make careful wildlife observations while completing your activity sheets. You can explore anything from BC parks to your own backyard!
4. Make sure to take wildlife observation photos with iNauralist, if you are able! The observations on iNaturalist helps achieve the most observations in all of Canada.
5. Once you complete your activity booklet, return to your NVDPL branch for a stamp and an entry into the book prize draw.
6. Only the chosen winners will be contacted for the prize.
7. Only one entry allowed per child.

NVDPL Nature Challenge Booklets will be available starting March 12. Winners of the book draw will be chosen and contacted by March 31.

Discover the BC Parks Foundation and the Parks Foundation iNaturalist Project here: https://bcparksfoundation.ca/projects/wildlife-forever/bc-parks-inaturalist-project/

Learn more about iNaturalist here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started

Come practice your English language skills in a fun group of other new speakers.

Meet new people, learn English, and have fun! This program is presented in partnership with the Baha'is of North Vancouver.

This program will be held via Zoom. The session will start at 2:00pm, however, you're welcome to tune in as early as 1:45pm to test your technology.

The session can be accessed via: https://nvdpl.zoom.us/j/96690503411?pwd=NnlCSEh0K24zWmZCcWR5eHlreVRxZz09

Want to up  your  cooking game with some help from a professional chef? Join Chef Mark on Zoom for step-by-step help making a simple vegan Tomato Ragu & Pasta!

Whether you’re a whiz in the kitchen or a cooking novice, you’re welcome to join other teens for an afternoon of side-by-side kitchen help! Participants will receive a list of ingredients beforehand, and the library can assist in providing ingredients as necessary. Open to ages 12-18. Chef Mark of Crisp Cuisine has been a chef for 15 years. He loves cooking because there is an endless supply of knowledge to learn about when it comes to food.

This program is presented in partnership with North Vancouver City Library. 

We’re hosting this virtual program on Zoom. What you’ll need to attend: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam, or your smartphone/tablet. 

Register online. For more information, email Jessie: [email protected]

We’re hosting this virtual program on Zoom. What you’ll need to attend: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam, or your smartphone/tablet. 

Registration required. Register online or call 604-929-3727, ext. 8166.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Did you know NVDPL offers free access to e-newspapers and e-magazines?

Come and learn more about PressReader, NVDPL's main resource for accessing e-newspapers and e-magazines. With PressReader, you can access over 7,000 publications from over 100 countries in 50+ languages. The PressReader platform allows you to customize your reading experience, gain international perspectives, and engage with topics of interests through our bookmark, share, translate, and comment features.

Join us to learn how to access current newspapers and magazines from around the world on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Please bring your device with you if you wish to follow along.

Registration required. Register online or at 604-984-0286, ext. 8144.

Please note that this session will take place over Zoom. You will need a microphone and speakers, or a headset, in order to take part in the session.

Join us to view Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MasterClass on mindfulness and meditation!  

In this MasterClass, Jon Kabat-Zinn shares suggestions for reducing barriers to a daily meditation practice, including how to meditate in a range of different positions, how to tame and befriend the restless or unhappy mind, and how to bring  mindfulness to everything from yoga to exercise as part of a well-rounded practice. Through a series of six guided meditations, he illuminates how mindfulness can be used to reduce stress, pain and suffering and help move toward greater levels of health and well-being. Members will leave this class feeling inspired by Kabat-Zinn's liberating wisdom and empowered with the tools and perspective needed to cultivate a lifelong mindfulness practice of their own. 

Registration required. Register online or call 604-929-3727, ext. 8166.

This meeting will take place on Zoom. What you’ll need: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam for Zoom; or your smartphone/tablet. We will email you the Zoom link in advance of the event.

About Jon Kabat-Zinn

Kabat-Zinn is internationally recognized for his work as a scientist, writer and meditation teacher, widely credited with bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979, and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society in 1995. He has spent more than 50 years at the forefront of the Western mindfulness movement. He has written seminal scientific papers and 14 books on the subject, contributing to the growing popularity of mindfulness in mainstream medicine, health care and education, as well as within corporations, the tech world, prisons, government and professional sports.

How will you tell your story? StoryLab is NVDPL’s new digital creation and storytelling facility at Lynn Valley Library.

In this quick virtual tour by Zoom, we will walk you around the fabulous new StoryLab facility and answer your questions. At this time, public bookings are limited due to COVID.

We’re hosting this virtual program on Zoom. What you’ll need to attend: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam, or your smartphone/tablet. 

Register online. 

Come practice your English language skills in a fun group of other new speakers.

Meet new people, learn English, and have fun! This program is presented in partnership with the Baha'is of North Vancouver.

This program will be held via Zoom. The session will start at 2:00pm, however, you're welcome to tune in as early as 1:45pm to test your technology.

The session can be accessed via: https://nvdpl.zoom.us/j/96690503411?pwd=NnlCSEh0K24zWmZCcWR5eHlreVRxZz09

Join us to view Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MasterClass on mindfulness and meditation!  

In this MasterClass, Jon Kabat-Zinn shares suggestions for reducing barriers to a daily meditation practice, including how to meditate in a range of different positions, how to tame and befriend the restless or unhappy mind, and how to bring  mindfulness to everything from yoga to exercise as part of a well-rounded practice. Through a series of six guided meditations, he illuminates how mindfulness can be used to reduce stress, pain and suffering and help move toward greater levels of health and well-being. Members will leave this class feeling inspired by Kabat-Zinn's liberating wisdom and empowered with the tools and perspective needed to cultivate a lifelong mindfulness practice of their own. 

Registration required. Register online or call 604-929-3727, ext. 8166.

This meeting will take place on Zoom. What you’ll need: A computer with microphone (or headphones) and webcam for Zoom; or your smartphone/tablet. We will email you the Zoom link in advance of the event.

About Jon Kabat-Zinn

Kabat-Zinn is internationally recognized for his work as a scientist, writer and meditation teacher, widely credited with bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979, and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society in 1995. He has spent more than 50 years at the forefront of the Western mindfulness movement. He has written seminal scientific papers and 14 books on the subject, contributing to the growing popularity of mindfulness in mainstream medicine, health care and education, as well as within corporations, the tech world, prisons, government and professional sports.