“As a former student and now the summer activities coordinator at LSI Vancouver, I am in a great position to come up with  fun activities for after school,” states Dalibor Vartovnik, the newest member of the LSI Vancouver team. “Vancouver is known as an active city with plenty of opportunities to enjoy free time outside. For example, last week I took our students to explore the beauty of Stanley Park, the largest urban park in not just Canada but North America. It takes just about 20 minutes on foot to reach this amazing place, which should be the envy of every other city. We rented bikes and had an astonishing ride around the seawall. The many attractions such as Siwash Rock, Lost Lagoon, Lions Gate Bridge and the Totem Poles make Stanley Park the best place for relaxing and recharging yours batteries after a long day of studying.”

“If I haven’t convinced you yet what about kayaking in Deep Cove, hiking in Grouse Mountain, swimming in the ocean or playing volleyball on the beach. All these activities keep our students in good shape and eager to study English here at LSI Vancouver. Summer is the best season in Vancouver and all us here at LSI Vancouver welcome anyone who wants to share joy and broaden his/her English. At LSI Vancouver you will never be bored!”

“I have been lucky enough to be studying at LSI Vancouver during the last few months and was  in this wonderful city when the Oympics was on. I really enjoyed the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.  Of course, some problems happened too.  For example, I needed to line up everywhere for a long time.  Even at pubs where I didn’t need to line up at before the Olympics, and at stations and pizza stands! There were just so many visitors. All the famous places like Robson Street and Granville Street were impossible to walk down because of all the people. It wasn’t all problems though…”

“I was really moved so much by everything, and it was especially great to see the Opening Ceremony at BC Place because the audience was like one big team.  They cheered for the Olympics and enjoyed it together.I also enjoyed the atmosphere in Vancouver and I was especially impressed about how much Canadians love ice hockey!  Everybody was staring at the TV watching ice hockey and screaming and getting very excited during ice hockey matches. I had never seen an ice hockey game in Japan, but when I return to Japan I will watch Canadian ice hockey game on the internet. I really love it now.”

“Sadly my studies are coming to an end in Canada. I have really enjoyed my time here at LSI Vancouver  and I love the Canadian people. I am not returning home to Japan quite yet. As I have enrolled on one of LSI’s multicentre coures I will now be going to study at LSI San Diego. I am looking forward to seeing what it will be like to study and live in the the USA. I hope I enjoy it as much as my stay in Canada”

All eyes were on Vancouver recently as Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. We asked some of our students at LSI Vancouver to give their thoughts about what it was like to live and study in an Olympic city.

Marvin Muñoz is currently studying for a Cambridge exam (CAE – Certificate for Advanced English ) at LSI Vancouver.

“Being in Vancouver for the Olympics was an amazing experience for me, especially because I am from Mexico so perhaps that will be the only chance I’ll ever have to really experience the Olympics from first hand. I even had the opportunity to go to a couple of events (2 hockey games) and I will remember that forever. ”

Fellow student Jeongmin Lee from South Korea also enjoyed the experience.

“I saw the opening ceremony of 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in a pub with other LSI students. It was really crowded there. It was like when we held the 2002 World Cup in Seoul, Korea. It was such a good experience for me. I am lucky to visit Vancouver during the Olympic season! I will never forget it. Go Canada Go!”

Our next Olympic city will be London in 2012. Can you imagine what it might be like to study at one of our two London schools  (London Central and London Hampstead) whilst the Olympics are on? Judging by the comments from our LSI Vancouver students, it will be an opportunity not to be missed!

My name is Anita Kropf and I  studied English at LSI Vancouver. The day I arrived in Vancouver I had no idea what to expect of the adventure I was about to start. From September to December 2009 I worked every morning in the Swiss Consulate General and in the afternoon I studied at Language Studies International (LSI) . LSI is such a nice place with so many friendly people! This was a big opportunity for me to make some really good friends, to have fun and to improve my English. I really loved the mix between school and work.

After leaving LSI I  worked full time at the ‘House of Switzerland in Canada’ , the official Swiss guest centre set up in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was a lot of hard work, not enough sleep, but I met some very interesting people (including athletes),and went to many parties … O my god, it was an amazing experience and I shall never forget those days! The House of Switzerland in Canada was a great success as you can see from the numbers:

• Over 60,000 guests
• 4 tonnes of cheeses from Switzerland and 2 tonnes of Lindt chocolate consumed
• 1,700 facebook fans, 580 Twitter followers
• 8 medal celebrations (6 Gold, 2 Bronze)- including Simon Ammann who won the first Gold medal of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games
• Anticipated to raise $10,000 Canadian dollars for Streetohome, a Vancouver-based charity, including a sizeable cash donation from Lindt
• 36,000 Swiss pins given-away

I will never forget the time in Canada and would love to thank everybody who was somehow involved in this great experience! Thank you too to LSI Vancouver who gave me the confidence with my language skills to take on this challenge.

LSI Canada would like to congratulate Simon Struebin at his inclusion on the Swiss Winter Olympics team. Simon studied for his CAE certicate ( the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English Cambridge) at our LSI Toronto school back in 2002 . Simon is now back again in Canada, this time in Vancouver, as a member of the Swiss curling team.

Simon has recently been in touch with our school. Whilst at home in Basel he enjoys skiing, running, American football, hip-hop and basketball. Unsurprisingly though his main interest is curling and he is a member of the Basel-Regio Curling club in his home town of Basel. Simon has a successful career as a real estate agent.

Here at LSI Toronto we will be watching closely on February 16th when the curling events begin. All of us here will be cheering Simon on.

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.

Brand new for 2009 , LSI are offering  the exciting TKT course to students who, as non native speakers of English, would like to learn more about teaching English. The TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test), one of the widely respected Cambridge ESOL examinations, is ideal for all existing teachers whatever their back ground as well as those who would like to take up teaching. Although the TKT is not a teaching qualification in itself, the course content is primarily about the teaching of English and will therefore give any potential student a good foundation to pursue any further teaching qualification.

The course focuses are the following key areas:

• the different methodologies of teaching
• the ‘language of teaching’
• finding, creating and effectively using resources
• the main aspects of effective lesson planning
• classroom management methods for different needs

As a highly specialised course , the course is presently only offered in some of our language schools. At present the following schools offer TKT :

In Canada – LSI Vancouver
In England – LSI Cambridge
In the USA – LSI New York and LSI San Diego
In New Zealand - LSI Auckland
In Australia - LSI Brisbane.

To read more about our TKT course and dates when this course is available , please read our TKT information sheet.

At one of our  language schools in Canada our students tried to be good all week in anticipation of our holiday party on Friday December 12th, hoping Santa would stop by for visit. Luckily he did not disappoint! He came by LSI Vancouver while students were enjoying a delicious international potluck lunch provided by students and staff. The front room of the school was transformed into an impromptu cafeteria and everyone enjoyed a huge variety of food from around the world, including guacamole, sushi, salad and chili. There were also two tables full of desserts including traditional Swiss chocolates and very Canadian Nanaimo bars!

When Santa came by he brought candy canes, chocolates and lots of hugs for everyone. After lunch was finished teachers Steve and Cris pulled out their guitars and everyone joined in with them to sing traditional holiday songs. We were even treated to a version of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer in Korean and beautiful Spanish and German versions of Silent Night. The day was bittersweet though as our Cambridge exam preparation course had just finished that week and many students returned to their home countries the following weekend. However a great time was had by all and everyone appreciated the opportunity to enjoy a meal and celebrate the holidays together – and to meet Santa!

At all our LSI schools we always aim to provide our students with not only an excellent learning environment but also with opportunities to relax and have fun. In our Canadian schools we frequently run our popular movie and games nights. Students get the chance to play interactive games and watch movies whilst getting to know their fellow classmates. It’s great fun as our students at LSI Toronto can testify to.

Here, one of our students, Javier from Mexico, focuses on making a-hole in-one. After school, students can play our Nintendo Wii as an alternative to real exercise. With so many sports to choose from you’ll ever get bored!

For those students feeling a little less energetic, at LSI Toronto, we organise movie nights once a week in addition to a full weekday social program. Here we have some eager students gathered in front of the big screen to watch “Edward Scissor Hands”.Do you have a movie you’ve been wanting to see? Just ask us, (and provided it’s not obscene), we’ll get the movie for you and play it after class finishes. At LSI Toronto, there are always plenty of cultural and fun things to do at the end of the school day.

The ghouls and goblins descended on LSI Vancouver on October 31st to celebrate Halloween at LSI’s haunted Halloween party. There were activities like pumpkin carving, costume making and even a haunted house!

Students learned about the traditions of Halloween by working with their teachers to organize and run games, activities and a very scary house of horrors for their peers. There were refreshments like chips, drinks and candy (of course!) and lots of great costumes. Some students that didn’t bring costumes were dressed up by their classmates using everyday things like string, tape, and even toilet paper with surprising and sometimes hilarious results! Students also put the finishing touches on each other’s looks with Halloween makeup and scary hairstyles. Halloween stories were shared, lots of pumpkins were carved and students even bobbed for apples.

Near the end of the day students with the best costumes paraded in front of their classmates for a chance to win prizes – and the admiration of their peers! Since most students had never celebrated Halloween before, it was a great chance for everyone to learn about a fun Canadian tradition!