Caroline is a German Student who graduated from EC This year. Here is her story:
Studying at EC:
My time at EC Vancouver was awesome! I did a 12 week preparation course for the Cambridge Advanced Exam. Thanks to that I was in a class with the same people for the whole time, which was reaaally great! We were about 13 students, ages between 18 and 25, and we had two teachers. Most of the students came from Switzerland (the German part), and there was one German (me), one Swedish students and another from Spain. It was often hard to not speak in German, but our teachers, Nickola and Hillary, were very strict about that. They were fantastic teachers! We had a lot of fun with them in class and we learned a lot in those 12 weeks. They prepared us for the exam, and they also talked with us about Canada, so we could learn more about the country we were in for 3 months. The school is modern and well-designed. Besides modern classrooms, there is free wifi, cosy couches for the breaks, a library and space for the breaks, which had microwaves, water boilers and vending machines with candy and drinks. The location is perfect – in the middle of downtown, right beside a sky train station and just a 5 minute walk away from harbor (nice spot for lunch in the sun). They also have very good staff, who are helpful and friendly. And a very important point for English beginners: every member of staff is able to speak a foreign language, besides English, so when you have a problem and you can’t communicate in English, the likelihood that there’s a member with skills in your mother language is very high. So all in all, my stay was perfect. In the end, I didn’t want to leave. I made many friends that I hope to stay in contact with for a long time. Of course, it was also worthwhile for my English. I didn’t receive the results of my exam yet but I’m sure I made progress. I would choose EC again.
Advice for German Students:
Honestly, I don’t have any specific advice for German students. Just try not to speak so much German. You make the biggest improvements when you speak English, only English. I know that it can be hard, but when you try it from the very beginning it will stop feeling strange 😉 Oh, and don’t expect too much of the food. That’s really not the best thing about Canada 😉 But all in all, it’s not very hard to adopt the Canadian lifestyle. Except a few things, Canada is quite similar to Germany. You don’t need to be afraid.
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Do you want to learn English in Canada? EC offers English courses in Vancouver!