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Hello again to all our friends and partners around the world. This is the August edition of GEOS Ottawa’s international newsletter. We send out this information every month, to help you get to know the Capital of Canada, our school, our staff and students. We are looking forward to welcoming some of your clients very soon, so they can experience it all firsthand.
It has been a great sunny summer. The weather really got warmer in July, with some days reaching a high of 34 C (the average though is around 28 C and sunny so it’s very nice).
Please find below an introduction about one of our English teachers. His name is Andre Christopher Hayde:
Andre was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. A singer with a cd in stores, Andre has appeared on local TV stations performing Christmas songs. He comes from a talented family. His sister, who is a former judo champion, went to the Summer Olympics in Seoul Korea, 1988.
Andre himself taught English in South Korea for 5 years. He speaks English, Spanish and Korean. He is currently learning to speak French. He says, “Teaching English is so much fun!”
His favourite hobbies are going to the gym, playing videos games, dancing, reading and going to the movies. His motto for learning English is "If you don't use it, you'll lose it"
It was strange at first, when I started my course at GEOS. I met a lot of people who became a part of my beautiful experience in Ottawa. I even watched my favourite sport (soccer) with them. As I encounter them everyday, I build up my confidence to mingle and practice to speak English so I can be globally competitive. GEOS helped me do what I can now. I can speak English but not that fluently yet but I still learned a lot from my stay in GEOS.
Abdullah Aloggael
Saudi Arabia
Hi, my name is Pei-Shan Cai. I’m from Taiwan. When I came to GEOS I was so nervous, but people here were very friendly. I was familiar here soon and also made a lot of friends who came from different countries. In GEOS, I not only improved my English skill but also widened my views.
Thank you GEOS. Nice to meet you.
Pei-Shan “Sandy” Cai
Taiwan
Happy Birthday Canada
The first of July is Canada day; the day when Canada was born! Downtown Ottawa became one big party, with free concerts, buskers, fireworks and a special visit of some overseas guests.
People around the world tuned in to watch the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. They got married at the end of April in London. For their first official tour, they came to Canada.
They were the guests of honour at the Parliament Hill Celebrations. http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/01/photos-prince-william-and-kates-canadian-tour-day-2/
Our students always make the most of the festivities. See the pictures below to see what we mean:
Fall Enrollments
The busy summer season is upon us, but it’s also important to start thinking now about student’s plans to study in the Fall. There are a number of good reasons for planning ahead in this way:
- The visa process often takes more than a month, and embassies may be slower because of summer vacations;
- Many universities and colleges have January start dates. Advanced level students who start with GEOS in the fall, may be finished level 6 by January and therefore able to use the GEOS Pathway Program to enrol in a college or university program.
- Work and Study program students need to study a minimum of 12 weeks. January and February are good times to get seasonal jobs in Ottawa
So let’s start the process now and hopefully we’ll be welcoming students from around the world in September and October.
Coming up in August
Some of our Arabic students will be traveling home to observe Ramadan with their families. Bon voyage everyone. We look forward to seeing you all again in September.
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Currently we have 38 Nationalities represented in the school among our 287 students.
Saudi Arabian: 26.5%
Qatari: 18.1%
Spanish: 11.2%
Korean: 7%
Mexican: 4.2%
Italian: 3.5%
Brazilian and Canadian: 2.8% each
Others: 23.9%
July is our busiest period of the year. To make sure we have enough room for everyone, we open extra classrooms upstairs on the 2nd floor of our building.
Intensive English – 24 academic hours –
A program based on the Communicative Method of language teaching that is second to none! GEOS is the only private school in Ottawa to operate 6 levels of ESL year-round.
Our morning course, called Integrated Skills (IS) allows students to develop their ability in all four skills of English (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Our afternoon program is called Active Listening (AL) and focuses on improving the practical communication skills of listening and speaking.
Super Intensive – 31 academic hours –
Many of our students choose to enhance their studies with an extra elective class (7 hours per week). Our current elective classes are:
Levels 1&2 – Pronunciation
Levels 3&4 – Grammar Works or IELTS Preparation (Intermediate)
Levels 5&6 - IELTS Preparation (Advanced)
Super Intensive Plus – 36 academic hours
A recent addition to our course options, our Writing classes are available for all levels and are designed for students who need extra practice with spelling, written grammar and composition.
Full-time TOEFL iBT Preparation Program (Advanced) – 24 academic hours
GEOS Ottawa is the perfect choice for the more serious student who is thinking about applying for university in Canada. Our very popular TOEFL iBT program prepares students in all aspects of the test to significantly increase their chances of passing.
Private Instruction / Closed groups
In addition to our regular scheduled group classes we also offer private and small group lessons in English and French with flexible schedules and class content to suit the needs of the student.
The Ottawa International Bluesfest is our biggest and best music festival, held every year in July. There was a huge range of styles to suit almost every taste. Soundgarden, Ben Harper, The Black Keys and many more of the world’s top acts played to huge crowds just 10 minutes from our location! Ottawa rocks! http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/
GEOS in July
Each year we reach our highest student population in July, with around 150 students from all over the world. This year, we played host to 2 groups from Spain and a group from Mexico. The Mexican group take advantage of the GEOS network by studying 2 weeks in Ottawa and then moving on to GEOS Toronto for 2 weeks more. We hope you had fun guys. It’s a great way to experience 2 of Canada’s great cities.
Activity wise, July is always the best. Having a larger number of students, means we organised cool trips like Niagara Falls and Montreal, we went on boat cruises, and water parks. An annual favourite is our boat cruise party which was on July 15th. We cruised around the beautiful Ottawa River, while tearing up the dance floor to the D.J.’s mix of dance tunes. Check out our Macarena video on our facebook page.
We’ve also started working with a great student travel company, so some of students went on a great trip to New York City!
Summer in Canada is all about barbeques and staying cool by the water. We’re lucky in Ottawa to have 2 rivers, various small lakes with warm water for swimming, and the biggest water park in the country all nearby. We also organized a rafting trip.
Boat Cruise to Niagara Falls
Study Tour - Tag Ball Event
CONCLUSION
We hope you have enjoyed our newsletter. Please let us know your comments by email at info@geosottawa.com. We would love to hear from you.
Until the next issue you can keep up with GEOS school life by becoming our facebook friend.
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