2010 is truly an exciting time to come and study at one of LSI’s schools in Canada. This year the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, presenting all our students based at LSI Vancouver with an excellent opportunity to see some of the sporting events at first hand. Not to miss out on the fun, the Olympic torch will be passing through many Canadian towns prior to the opening ceremony on the 12 February.
It seems Olympic fever has already hit Toronto. It was a cold evening in Toronto on the 17 December, but hundreds of people lined Yonge Street to cheer on the runner carrying the Olympic flame as he passed by LSI Toronto. Our students wasted no time recording this unique event.
During the week of January 25th, 2010, staff and students at LSI Toronto worked together to raise money for earthquake relief. Our staff and teachers cooked a pancake breakfast for the students before class. The hot breakfast was certainly welcome on a winter day! Kiley Woods, our Director of Studies, organized a bake sale, with delicious goodies from her own kitchen.
Students bought LSI mugs to paint and design, and we saw some really creative artwork!
By the end of the week we had collected $300, which will be matched by the Canadian government, so we actually contributed $600 to the people of Haiti! Well done, everyone!
In the USA, ‘Thanksgiving’ is an important national holiday where all the family get together and eat so much food they have to lie down! This is also generally accompanied by copious amounts of television and alcohol. Sounds like fun? Read on and see how we celebrated it at LSI Berkeley (San Francisco).
Thanksgiving is an excellent holiday and at LSI USA we share this with all of our students. This year at LSI San Francisco/Berkeley, for example, we had a school ‘pot luck’. A ‘pot luck’ is where you have a party and everybody brings some food that they have made.
All of our students were asked to join together in groups by nationality and prepare food that was typical of their country. As we have students from all over the world, we had quite a feast. There were dishes from Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Korea, Peru, Turkey, Canada, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. There was a general consensus that the Saudi group made the best food, although they admitted that they had had some help from the local Middle Eastern restaurant.
Why not celebrate next years Thanksgiving with us at one of our language school in New York, Boston, San Diego or even Berkeley!
In September Language Studies International’s school in New York held its first ever photography competition. Students were invited to submit photos that they had taken of the city during their time studying at LSI. Tomoko Fujita, enrolled on our 36 week International School year course, was elected as winner.
Tomoko Fujita came to LSI New York in July after quitting her job with a security company in Japan. Since her arrival she’s been photographing New York City and the variety of people here at LSI. In this photo she managed to capture both her teacher and fellow student during class without their knowing. She describes the photo as a kind of accident because she had to take the picture so quickly. People are her favorite subject matter. She also likes photographing in color and black & white. Although Tomoko’s father is a professional photographer, she doesn’t intend to photograph professionally herself. Instead she will continue to experiment with her digital camera while studying here at LSI.
Ever wanted to check out how good your English, French or German is, without the hassle of a paper or online test? You now can. LSI Zurich has launched the very first language test App. During the first month since its release on 30 August 2009, it has been downloaded well over 3’500 times in countries as far apart as Denmark and Taiwan. Okay, you need an iPhone or iPod Touch to use it, but we think the investment (in the App) is worthwhile. Check out our support page at http://www.lsi.edu/en/iphone.php or visit iTunes and type in LSI to find out more. The Language Test is available free of charge on the App Store. Look for it under “language tests” and try it out for yourself. Have fun. Your LSI team in Zurich.
Madeleine Walder from Zurich, Switzerland studied a Cambridge course at LSI Berkeley 23 years ago from April to June 1986. Today, she came back into the school with her young daughter, Jennifer and Louise Hendry. Louise was Madeleine’s homestay mother during her stay. They have been in regular contact since then and are still good friends to this day.
Madeleine is also still in contact with friends that she made at LSI Berkeley. When she stopped by the school, she was on her way to visit her old LSI class friend who had married an American and moved to Alameda, California.
The Berkeley High School Judo Program and LSI, with the help of Brazilian Senseis Newton Casemiro, American Dan Augustine, found a very nice way to teach and learn about American, Brazilian and Japanese cultures.
LSI Berkeley students participated in judo lessons and taught American high school students about Brazilian disco dancing and typical food, as well as Japanese origami, sushi and many other interesting cultural activities. It was a great experience for both our LSI students and Berkeley High School.
The results are out, and LSI is pleased to let you know that Zurich, Vancouver and Auckland all ranked in the top 5 cities overall for quality of living. Zurich came 2nd behind Vienna, and Vancouver and Auckland were tied in 4th position. Why not take the opportunity to come and study in one of the Top 5 cities in the world!
LSI New York students now have the opportunity to live in newly renovated and furnished apartments in Chelsea, one of Manhattan’s most popular downtown neighborhoods. Galleries, clubs, restaurants and shopping are all just outside the door. And LSI is just 20 minutes away by subway. This new residence provides single rooms with shared kitchen, bathroom and living room, as well as a roof deck where you can hang out with friends. The LSI apartments in Chelsea are a really welcome addition to the great New York accommodation options we have to offer at LSI.
Helen Davaran, school director at LSI Berkeley, will be leaving us after 27 wonderful years at LSI. Helen wanted to send the following message to her many friends and colleagues at LSI.
Helen Davaran
“I am writing to tell you that I will be stepping down from my position as Director of LSI Berkeley at the end of April. I will continue working on some projects for LSI from home on a part-time basis until the end of the year.
When I began at LSI Berkeley, in February 1982, I could never have imagined that I would have remained for 27 years. I thought it would be a temporary assignment, and my husband and I would return to our life and teaching in Iran, where we had lived for almost 7 years, prior to and following the Iranian revolution; I actually lived very close to the American Embassy throughout most of the American hostage crises, which was quite an exciting time. Obviously we never returned there and stayed on in Berkeley.
Time really does fly! When I first arrived at LSI, Berkeley was the only LSI school in the USA. I have had the opportunity to be involved in the growth and development of the USA schools with San Diego opening in1989, followed by Boston and New York. As some of you may recall, we also organized and operated very successful summertime programs on various college campuses in Florida, Los Angeles, as well as in New York City in those early years. Additionally LSI itself has grown worldwide and become internationally recognized and accredited.
I want to thank all of you whom I have worked with; while I will miss the daily interaction with my colleagues, as well as with our wonderful students and agents, I am looking forward to taking it easy and enjoying some free time. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to travel and perhaps visit with some of you in the future.
Again, a big thank you to all of you, and please feel free to keep in touch with me. I would love to hear from you.”
As a parting farewell , LSI Berkeley held a party for Helen. Why not see how the party went by viewing our YouTube video.
During the week of January 25th, 2010, staff and students at 
Tomoko Fujita came to LSI New York in July after quitting her job with a security company in Japan. Since her arrival she’s been photographing New York City and the variety of people here at LSI. In this photo she managed to capture both her teacher and fellow student during class without their knowing. She describes the photo as a kind of accident because she had to take the picture so quickly. People are her favorite subject matter. She also likes photographing in color and black & white. Although Tomoko’s father is a professional photographer, she doesn’t intend to photograph professionally herself. Instead she will continue to experiment with her digital camera while studying here at LSI.
Madeleine Walder from 
The Berkeley High School Judo Program and 
LSI New York