Summer 2016

During the past week in the intermediate class, students learned and practiced using reflexive and reciprocal pronouns. In terms of vocabulary, the week’s focus was on words and phrases used in relation to sports, With the use of place-mat activities, student’s worked in groups to discuss various types of extreme sports and the risk factors involved. Students also worked on peer editing writing exercises to improve their writing skills. Working in groups to share and present topics, working towards improving their understanding of written and spoken English.

In the high advanced classroom, students read articles and discussed sentence integration and specific parts of speech to correct grammatical mistakes in sentence formation. For the oral portion of the week, students learned to apply vocabulary relating to natural disasters (they created a PSA), adventure travelling and the supernatural (came up with a related reality TV show). The class also included many debated on a variety of topics, such as the question of, “whether or not athletes are overpaid?”

Taking a glimpse into two classrooms…

The grammar component today was on adverb clauses, how to form and distinguish them. Afterwards, the class read about Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point” and used the author’s key terms as a guide to discussing vocabulary, idioms and phrases. The last portion of the class focused on leadership and consisted of a quick lesson, self-reflection and discussion. Themes around leadership will be a central focus for the rest of the week.

 

Today many students had free time and the chance to choose how they’d like to spend the afternoon after classes. Meanwhile ‘Greensystem’ took a trip back to Vaughan, right by Wonderland to go to one of Canada’s largest shopping centres. Vaughan Mills is a GTA favourite with its outlet mall setup and “neighbourhoods” which are intended to divide the mall up by category (high fashion, sporting goods, decor, etc.) As shown in the picture, the students definitely didn’t have trouble finding things they liked!

Today Quest had a huge presence at the amusement park with all students either screaming on the roller coasters or splashing in the waterpark. It was a fun, thrilling and beautiful conclusion to the weekend.

Today Greensystem, She Herencia and Sheffield spent the day at Niagara Falls. We left Toronto early and went straight to the boat tour upon arrival. The boat was a lot of fun and getting close to the falls allowed the students to truly feel the power of the water. We even spotted quite a few loons bathing!

EEC spent the day back at Toronto island, while STEP attended the festival on waterfront and CIA is on their multi day trip in New York City, which they embarked to yesterday. It is another eventful weekend in and around Toronto!

Other students spent the day either roaming the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), learning about the animals at the Toronto zoo or celebrating their last day at Medieval Times- a castle-like setting where the students dined while watching horsemanship and jousting matches!

One of the more special parts about Toronto is that the bustling city stands alongside Lake Ontario. In addition to adding beauty to the city, it has provided a little get-a-way for people to relax without leaving the city. Before becoming what is now known as ‘The Beaches’, the region used to be cottage country, with larger houses and tree along the water. However, as the city grew, the area was transformed into four main beaches with volleyball nets, country clubs and of course lots of sand!

Today Lingua and She Herencia had a beach day there, experiencing the typical Torontonian summer lifestyle of a Friday afternoon relaxing and playing under the sun.

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Meanwhile, Greensystem had quite a different day. The very large group spent the first half of the day split into two groups, one half going for a tour of the University of Toronto and the other to a nearby park and public pool. After spending the day outdoors and breaking for dinner, the entire group came together and went up the CN tower. The gorgeous view is enough to make anyone fall for the beauty of Toronto, while the glass floors add nervous excitement. The students had fun experiencing the wild winds at the top which were a fair warning for the rainstorm to come!

 

Taking a glimpse inside: the Level 1 classroom. For today, students started the day with unit 3 page 22. The lesson today was past, present and future tense verbs and how to use them correctly in a sentence. They did group worksheets and played games to practice.

After class most groups went on a trip to Laser Quest. Invented during the 70’s as a means of American military training, the present day game involve an indoor arena and using laser beams to tag each other. The player that succeeds to hit their target the most wins. The location also had other games that the students got the chance to try such as roller skating and glow golf!

Taking a glimpse into our Level 1 class today: students started of the day with a reading comprehension exercise, where they read a short story, followed by questions. They also worked on unit 3 comparative and superlative forms. As well as a writing assignment where they wrote about their future career plans. They ended the day with some spelling games.

After break for lunch, all classes met again on Toronto island where they competed in a series of challenges, ranging from tug-of-war to soccer relay. After a long day of running around in the heat, it felt very nice to take in the breeze on the ferry ride back!