Vancouver enjoys an ideal location between the coast mountains, the ocean and the Fraser River. In the centre of the picture is the enormous Stanley Park with its acres of temperate rain forest— PHOTO COURTESY OF TOURISM VANCOUVER |
Story by MAUREEN PAETKAU
I was talking with Angela and Wayne Towler in the living room of their Vancouver home, where Jason (Chiang Shang Hsun) from Taiwan is one of two Asian homestay students. Vancouver attracts Asian students from the PRC, Taiwan, HK, Korea and Japan. They share classes, and sometimes homes, with students from South America – Mexico and Brazil especially – sometimes from Europe and occasionally from Arab countries. In most ESL programmes, the majority of students are Asian. There are very few Thai students – so far.
In addition to a spectacular natural setting and mild climate, Vancouver attracts many foreign students because of the highly developed English language programmes at its schools, colleges and universities. That development has been in response to the large number of immigrants and refugees, many of them from Asia, who have settled in British Columbia. Marilyn Morris, Department Head of International Education at Vancouver Community College reported that VCC serves immigrants and refugees to Canada as well as international students working to improve their English. Other schools have a similar dual focus.
All that has made Vancouver a very Asian-feeling city.
That’s why Jason found it so comfortable. He told me that there are "many many Chinese in Vancouver and when I first came to Canada I wanted to feel comfortable."
Once he had settled into Wayne and Angela’s home and into his classes, however, he consciously tried to avoid hanging out with other Chinese people. That helped him learn Canadian customs and culture and improve his English. His attitude contributed to success and his plan to go on to university in Canada’s eastern coast city of Halifax, where he wants to take Asian Studies.
Vancouver schools and homestay families have a lot of experience making students like Jason comfortable. Some schools offer airport pick-up services and, of course, if you have arranged homestay, your host family – and maybe your housemates, too – will probably meet you at the airport. But that’s only the beginning.
Choices abound
Vancouver colleges and universities provide a wide variety of programmes from general English to courses combining language with film, web, animation study as well as English for academic purposes. — PHOTO COURTESY OF ELI |
Jason could have chosen from among the more than 20 ESL schools – private and public – in the Vancouver area. There are programmes simply to improve your conversation skills; others focus on English for film, web and animation, English through performing and visual arts and business English. Still others provide academic English. Jason chose one of those that will be a stepping-stone for him to university entrance.
All schools interviewed for this article issue a Certificate of Completion if you stay for the complete course. Some schools will issue transcripts and certificates to show which of the courses you have completed if you stay for part of the programme. Students at the University of British Columbia’s English Language Institute (ELI) and the academic English programme at Langara College who successfully complete the highest level are exempt from English language proficiency requirements (e.g. TOEFL, IELTS) for undergraduate admission at UBC. Sally Thompson, Senior Manager at Vancouver YMCA reported that although a certificates from their programme is not officially recognised, students have found the YMCA name "so well known it is useful when they go back home".
Computer labs at the YMCA school provide a valuable complement to English courses. — PHOTO COURTESY OF YMCA |
As a foreign student at a school in Vancouver, you would be surrounded by Canadians and their varied cultures. ESL programmes at Langara College, ELI and VCC are part of campuses where Canadian as well as international students study in the full range of courses from sciences to humanities. Students can and do enter regular academic courses after they have completed ESL. Programmes at the YMCA, VCC and ELI downtown campuses take advantage of being in the thriving downtown, close to the oceanfront and with convenient access to public transportation.
Course choices range from spring and summer programmes as short as four weeks to full-time study programmes of nine months or more. It is possible to study for recognised language tests (TOEFL, ELTS, TOEIC and Cambridge FCE) and to prepare for entrance to university programmes in Canada and other countries.
Full descriptions of programmes can be found on web sites of all the schools. (See the links at the end of this article.) There is also information about course schedules, admission dates and course fees. You might have to click on registration links for the latter. The VCC site has a useful sample budget to give you an idea about monthly costs — including everything from tuition and books to transportation and entertainment.
How will you be measured?
A group of LEAP 5 students present their poster project to their classmates. — PHOTO COURTESY OF LANGARA COLLEGE |
Jason studied English for nine years in Taiwan – from year one in junior school. All the teachers were Taiwanese, he said. "They put down the English on the blackboard and we had to write the English and the Chinese – one word English, one word Chinese. And grammar – we studied a lot of grammar." He was assessed at level two in the six-level course at his school when he arrived.
All schools featured here have placement tests like the one Jason took. Some schools use standardised tests, but many have developed their own systems. Intermediate or upper intermediate competence in English is needed to enroll in academic programmes like those at the English Language Institute (ELI) at the University of British Columbia, VCC, Langara English for Academic Purposes (LEAP) and the International Language Schools of Canada, (ILSC). Vicki Vogel, Program Manager of the LEAP, says they look for a TOEFL score of 420 (110 computer based) or IELTS 5.
Andrew Scales, Academic Director at UBC’s ELI reports they have developed "a new approach to spoken communication skills evaluation where students interact in groups (as they would in the classroom) and are assessed by observer-teachers." That is part of their in-house placement testing.
Once you are enrolled and working, in-class evaluation is ongoing. In the academic programme at ELI, essays in student portfolios and marks on all forms of testing contribute to in-class achievement. As is true in all schools, students must pass that plus an end-of-course general proficiency test to proceed to the next level.
Monthly progress reports and end-of-term interviews with the teacher are used to assess students’ ability to use the language structures and functions as taught in the course at ILSC. Other schools like VCC and LEAP use standardised skills-based end-of- term assessment.
Jason told me that in his course, "there’s a test every term. It’s a test in writing and reading. Level 4, I will have to write an essay. Maybe at Level 1 you might just have to introduce yourself. Every test has different topics – different topics from different chapters of our book and we can choose which topic. I remember one topic was about immigration of Canada."
Jason’s favourite classI asked Jason to tell me about his favourite class. "That would be Speaking," he said. They always teach us more lively conversation – like "a spring chicken", "fork it over" (meaning give it back). The teacher prepares something every day. There is a textbook, but we never look at it."
Students at Langara College take a well-deserved break on the grounds of the college. |
"There are 10 students in the class. Sometimes we have a presentation – sometimes to introduce our own country, and sometimes we discuss in one group. The teacher gives us a topic to discuss. The classroom is not so big. We can move our chairs around; there is a square of tables and a hole (in the middle). That’s good for talking."
Jason studies five days a week with teachers whom he reported "are all women and they are so lovely and so interesting. They make the class a lot of life. The class is very different from Taiwan – it is so relaxed, we can even take our drinks or food into class. But I think that is only in ESL."
All schools reported that maximum class size is 14 or 16, sometimes as few as 10 or 12 depending on the school, the course and the time of year.
Classes are long – Jason’s, at two and a half hours, were among the shortest. YMCA classes are three hours, those at VCC are five. All schools reported using a mixture of teaching methodologies, but all included student-centred classes, communicative activities, use of authentic materials and, in the words of Andrew Scales, "real tasks that necessitate communication." Lots of student interaction is a must in all programmes.
Teachers — contrary to Jason’s impression, they are not all women — in all institutions have TEFL training, at least bachelor degrees, and many have masters in English language instruction or their subject field. All have years of experience in providing a relaxed yet stimulating environment in the classroom. Andrew Scales noted that teachers at ELI come from a variety of countries, reflecting the international nature of English.
Linda Moore, Academic Director at ILSC explained one way in which their classes are student-centred. "In the first few days of each four-week session, the teacher elicits from the students the topics and themes that are important to them. The teacher assesses the language needs of the students in the class, and carefully combines all of this information in the right measures to deliver a top-notch course."
If that sounds like too much freedom, Linda also reports that the levels of their courses are worked out according to standards set out in the Canadian Language Benchmarks <http://www.language.ca/Main_En_/E_Benchmarks/E_BE_CLB2000/introduction/description.htm>.
But it’s not all tests and student participation. "Every week," Jason told me, "we invite different people – like doctors or school teachers to tell us different things. I remember that one doctor talked to us about how milk is not so good for people – soy milk is better. We have to make notes and every Monday, we hand in our homework – those notes – to the teacher. So then we could write about that on the test."
Social and cultural life
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Students from ILSC explore Vancouver's English Bay on a sailing outing while a group of ELI students explore by canoe. Vancouver offers many outdoor opportunities for students at Vancouver schools. — PHOTOS COURTESY OF ILSC & ELI |
All programmes have an activities component that includes sightseeing outings, sporting events, sometimes even trips across the border into the United States. There are organised activities to explore the city, plus hiking, climbing and other outings to natural parks and recreation areas. There are many opportunities for social functions with other students.
Many homestay families, like the Towlers, treat their students as family members, taking them to family gatherings, weekend shopping trips and movies.
Wayne and Angela said that for them, the best part of being homestay parents is dinnertime. "One thing is that it’s fun for us too," Wayne said, "because we learn as much as they do. We learn about their cultures – some things about different cultures can seem totally off the wall to us."
"Off the wall" said Angela, "that’s an idiom they learned here."
Dinner with their homestay students is the best part of the Towler's experience — "we laugh a lot," says Angela. That's Jason on the right. Hirotaka Kanemitsu, his housewife, was on a school-arranged trip to a basketball game in Seattle, USA, on the day I visited. — PHOTO COURTESY OF WAYNE TOWLER |
There can be areas of cultural misunderstanding if homestay parents and students don’t quickly learn to adapt. "We’re vegetarian," said Angela, "but we cook meat for them. Jason doesn’t eat beef and I’m sure we’ll get somebody who doesn’t eat pork, but we do respect their religion and customs."
How do you find out about those likes and needs if communication is a problem?
"If you go to the store together," Wayne commented, "you can ask ‘Do you like this, do you like that?’ Sometimes you have to say ‘You can’t have that because it’s too expensive!’
With hot water heated by natural gas – and that quite expensive in Vancouver – showers, too, can be a problem. Some students are used to having 20- or 30-minute showers. Wayne and Angela have to tell them to "make it short".
A tour of the house when students first arrive sets the limits of privacy and quiet time. However, "we haven’t had any real problems," Angela reported. "There are a few things we like to tell them. After 11 o’clock, they’re required to stay in their space and leave us to our space. So, for example, if they’re using the computer and on the Net, about 11 o’clock, they’ll head off to bed or to their own rooms. If they want to watch television until 2 am they have their own space to do that – they’re responsible young adults."
Words of adviceWhat should you do and know and be prepared for if you plan to go abroad for four weeks or a year? Everyone has advice. My advice is to check what certification you will receive when you complete your studies to know how it will be accredited by an institution you’d like to enter. Vancouver schools do have standing arrangements with certain institutions of high learning.
Jason’s advice: "If they want to live in homestay, I think they may want to have more conversation with their Canadian family. I know some of my classmates don’t like to speak with Canadians. When they go home they just go to their bedroom and lock the door. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Open their minds."
Angela, like most Vancouverites, wants to share the natural beauty of the place with visitors, so her advice is "Don’t forget your camera."
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Check out the web sites of these Vancouver schools for more information.
ELI: http://www.eli.ubc.ca/index.html ILSC: http://www.ilsc-vancouver.com/ Langara College: http://www.langara.bc.ca/programs/index.html VCC: http://www.vcc.bc.ca/ YMCA: http://www.ymca.vancouver.bc.ca/NoFrame/ELI/programsnf.html |
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |
