Academic Semester/Year 26

First day in the class, I didn’t say my opinions and keep quiet.
A teacher said me you should say something,
you stay here just 1 week. It’s for you!
And then I tried to say my opinions it’s became good experience.

Hi, as long as I remember myself, I have always wanted to visit Canada. Now I know that I like Europe more. To visit Canada and to study English at the same time was a great idea because I was able to make lots of friends at school. A year before the EC School, I was in Ireland and studied English in some other school. I will share these schools. When I arrived at the school, of course I had an exam to determine my level. I did not prepare for any exam and it was not as good as I wished. The exam had several parts; writing, listening, etc. If I had some problem with listening because lack of practice and it was enough to get a group with not so high level. Very soon I understood that my level was higher. It was very important to find your group because it was much more interesting. When you had the same level you were able to choose and support topics you were both interested in. So, do not be shy if you feel your level is higher, ask teachers. At that time, the teachers were a little bit busy, but I asked several times, then they checked my home assignments. We had some conversation, and I was in my new group. It was much better. Now I was able to discuss and speak about things that were interesting for me. Believe me to be with the same level is very comfortable and important.
So, about schedule and activities. In the EC School you are able to choose different additional lessons to improve your writing, listening, etc. There is the main schedule with your group. If you want to change your group, you should take some sort of test. If you want to change some of your additional lessons, just ask about it. It is very convenient. You are able to try different lessons with different levels. In Ireland, I did not have so many opportunities to choose different lessons. In the EC School, some organization worked with our activities. Very often you had to miss your last lesson, and sometimes you could just be alone from your school because this organization worked with different schools. For me, it was very uncomfortable, concerning making new friends. I pay special attention to it because being with friends improves your language so much.
Concerning, household family. None of the students lived with a Canadian family. I lived with some family from Serbia and with three other students. All students were from different schools. We had different schedules, activities, and our lessons started in different times. So, we did not become close friends, but in any case living with other students improved your language quite well.
P.S. Sorry for my mistakes I am a foreigner and I was independent.
Sincerely,
Alexander Ryabov.

Travel to Canada was great. First, I knew a different country with people from every place of the world. Second, I could improve my English skills using it. Third and the most important to me was the environment at EC school. All of the information that I needed during my four weeks in Vancouver I had with the people of school. Information about tourism, extra activities or other kind of things are important to a guy who is in a foreign country. But I would highlight the role of the people from school: secretaries are marvelous and the teachers incredible. The results depends of me... So, I have had the perfect month in Vancouver! To me it was special because I´m a wheelchair user and Vancouver is perfect for this too! Thank you!!!

One of the teachers was simply fantastic. He's very intelligent and has great didactics. The school is super professional, there's strict timing control, which educates students about punctuality. Facilities are good and there's excellent access to wheelchair users. Staff is helpful and friendly (most of them), the school is located downtown, close to shopping centers and snack bar/restaurants. I don't remember anything negative. I've already recommended the school to many people.