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Hello again to all our friends and partners around the world. Welcome to the June edition of GEOS Ottawa’s international newsletter. We send out this information every month, to help you get to know our school, our city, our staff and students. We are looking forward to welcoming some of your clients very soon, so they can experience it all firsthand.
Ottawa - the heart Canadian culture
Did you know Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the Capital of Canada? It was over 150 years ago and it was chosen as a strategic location to control the region between Montreal and Kingston.
That means we’re centrally located between the other major cities in our region. Our students often take the chance to visit some pretty cool places.
For example we regularly organize trips to Montreal (2 hours by bus) Toronto (5.5 hours by bus) Niagara Falls (6.5 hours by bus). If you have a US visa, you can also visit New York City for the weekend (8 hours by bus) or Boston (10 hours by bus).
The eastern region is the birth place of modern North America, with the oldest cities and longest history. And Ottawa is at the heart of it all.
Please find below one of our English teachers. Her name is Edith Brumant:
“I was born in Ottawa and have lived here all my life. I have been teaching at GEOS for 1 year. Before teaching at GEOS I used to teach ESL to government workers. I enjoy working at GEOS because of the friendly and helpful teachers and staff. Also, my lively, hilarious students create a fun environment to teach in. I currently teach both intermediate and advanced writing tutorials as well as the beginner grammar elective. When I'm not teaching, I enjoy baking, traveling, and shopping!”
Thanks Edith. Edith is currently teaching our level 2A afternoon class and our level 5 afternoon class.
We also welcomed 3 new teachers to our staff this month, as we start to increase numbers for the busy summer months. Our 3 new hires are Kendra Shannon, Marlaina Riggio and Raghad Al Chlaihawi. Also, we’re happy to welcome back Heidi who taught with us 3 years ago. It’s always nice to have former teachers return and teach again for the summer. We hope you all enjoy working here (how could you not?) Look out for profiles on them in future newsletters.
I have been in Ottawa for 7 months. I came here to study English in GEOS. Ottawa is really a beautiful city. This city is small, quite and clean. It isn’t crowded.
I was really scared about the cold weather conditions before arriving in Canada. It is cold and but whole highways and other streets are cleaned by the city workers to keep the roads open. Big bus stations have heating systems. Streets in Ottawa are well organized. Life is easy in Ottawa. Also, there are many winter activities such as, going to skate on the Rideau Canal, go to sledding, and go to sky etc...
My favourite season is spring in Ottawa. View of trees is amazing. It has different colours. Walk and ride bicycle are enjoyable beside the Ottawa River in the spring.
People who live in Ottawa are friendly, helpful, and reliable. There are many people of different backgrounds. They respect each other, visitors and foreign students.
Ottawa is convenient to live and study English.
Yesim Karabeyim
Turkey
Fall Enrollments
While we are preparing for the busy summer season, 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 this summer
Royal Visit on Canada Day
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’re coming to Canada. They’ll be the guests of honour at the Canada Day Celebrations (July 1st) on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. That’s just 2 blocks from GEOS! Our school will be closed that day of course, so our students will be able to join the crowds and see the Royal couple. One more reason to be here for the biggest party of the year!
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Currently we have 26 Nationalities represented in the school among our 142 students.
We opened a new level 1 class this month because it’s just so popular! Our promise is that we have a maximum of 14 students per class and when our numbers grow, we open a new class. More space for more students.
In the summer months, we also open extra classrooms upstairs on the 2nd floor of our building. In May we opened 3 classrooms and we’ll be opening more in June before we welcome our Study Tour group students.
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 weather always gets warmer in May, with some days reaching a high of 23 C. That means we were able to do more outdoor activities including the ever popular soccer! English may be the world language but soccer is something everyone can understand.
We also had a fun visit to the award winning Museum of Civilization, which is free on Thursdays after 5PM. You know it is almost summer in Ottawa when the canoe rentals start on Dow’s Lake. Students can try this most Canadian of activities or go in a paddle boat instead. Mini golf is always fun (and sometimes frustrating, but please don’t cheat :) )
There are lot’s more outdoor activities coming soon including barbecues, beach volleyball, cycling, ultimate frisbee and boat cruises. We can’t wait!
Museum of Civilization
Mini-Golf
Tulip Festival
From May 6th to 23rd Ottawa celebrated the 59th International Tulip Festival, which is the largest in the world. Every year the city comes alive with colour. The festival started when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was to thank Canadians for their role in assisting the Dutch during World War II. Princess Margriet Francisca was actually born in Ottawa at that time. She is the only royal baby ever born in North America.
The tulips have become an important symbol of international friendship and spring, with special meaning to the people of Canada and its Capital Region.
Some of our students volunteered at the events, which is a great way to practice their English skills and have fun. Check out the link for pictures of the festival. (http://www.tulipfestival.ca/gallery)
May also has the first long weekend of summer. Victoria Day, (Monday, May 23rd) celebrates the birthday of Queen Victoria. It falls at the end of the Tulip Festival so both events are combined in Ottawa with the Victoria Day Festival at Dow’s Lake. There were lots of events including fireworks at night. It’s a great way to welcome the summer. (http://www.victoriadayfestival.com))
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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But I've been GEOS for about one month, I think everything is great, the teachers here are nice and classmates are friendly. And the sessions here are also lively.
