EC Gold Coast

A new venue On a Monday this month we decided to go across the road. This was to Fin McCool’s Irish Pub on Cavill Avenue, Surfer’s Paradise. This pub has existed alongside EC Gold Coast for many years. However, we have never organised a meeting of our students there. Despite this, after our experience there last Monday, we are very happy to announce that we will be planning meeting there from now on, at least once a month.   Arrival and engagement   So what is the place like, and what happened? Well, it’s a large, welcoming, colourful establishment. It was not so busy when the first of us arrived, but quickly became very lively and friendly as more and more students arrived. Arriving students found a shot of red liquid, whose name I can’t quite remember, and the event went off from there. There was plenty of seating, but many of us remained standing. We could see people getting drinks, engaging in conversation or playing pool against one another and the other patrons. I played a game of pool with J. which was rather oddly for free. We ended up playing a second game with a New Zealand national and a man from the UK. We only just managed to beat them in the last shot, so we all really enjoyed a good game. From there other students joined in, displaying their competitive skills and acumen.   An enjoyable time     It would seem that the majority of students were drinking beer. However, many of them were also drinking soft drink, juice and water. Everyone had a great time meeting up with one another, and getting into casual conversations, frequently in their English! From the photos taken we estimate that we had at least fifty of our students … Read more

Things to do during Christmas vary around the world. In Australia customs are influenced by the climate as well as history. Christmas Morning and Christmas Day In Australia Christmas is very important to families and especially children. The family will arrange a Christmas lunch and invite relatives and friends. For the kids, it is particularly exciting. This is because generally, kids open the presents placed under the tree, on the morning of the 25th of December. Usually incredibly early! Prawns for lunch are very popular.                                                 Christmas Carols One thing people like to do on the Gold Coast is attend Christmas Carols. At the carols people usually set up a blanket with chairs, snacks and beverages in a park with a stage nearby with people singing and dancing to Christmas music. There are 22 locations on the Gold Coast where people like to meet and listen to Christmas music and sometimes sing the Christmas carols. The carol events begin as early as 30th November, going to as late as December 22nd, just a few days before Christmas. Because of the favorable weather, people will show up at the carols with blankets or camping chairs to sit on. They also bring lots of food and drink for themselves and for their children. People hold the events for charity with local schools and clubs helping participate in the singing and the dancing.   Christmas Lights One other thing Gold Coasters like to do for Christmas is to organise or visit suburbs with Christmas lights. Some streets in a number of suburbs will put up tens of thousands of lights and decorations. They do this to win competitions or just … Read more

At EC Gold Coast we offer numerous extra activities to help you develop your English skills, build lifelong friendships and life experience. Pronunciation Clinic This is a free activity designed to help develop your pronunciation skills. Good pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in English. You can live without advanced vocabulary — you can use simple words to say what you want to say. You can live without advanced grammar — you can use simple grammar structures instead. But there is no such thing as “simple pronunciation”. If you don’t have good pronunciation, you have bad pronunciation. And the consequences of bad pronunciation are tragic. Even if you use correct grammar, people may simply not understand what you want to say. In our pronunciation clinic we focus on the phonetic sound system and work together to perfect our speech.     Conversation Club Once a week one of our amazing teachers holds an optional conversation club for all students of all levels to join. We run this activity on a Friday afternoon with some traditional Australian snacks, like TimTams. In a very casual environment we provide students with a mixture of conversation questions and away they go. We try to encourage students to speak freely and without the assistance of a translator. It is a fun way to meet other students, learn about culture and the wider world. School BBQ Once a month we hold a school BBQ by the beautiful Surfers Paradise beach. We provide a traditional Australian style BBQ with snags ( beef or chicken sausages) and some specially made kangaroo snags with bread rolls. This afternoon out allows students to mingle and communicate in a less intense environment. The students love to take control of cooking the BBQ and we also play … Read more

1.The Region The Gold Coast is favorably located in the southeast of the beautiful and sunny northern state of Queensland, Australia. This region is south of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. The Gold Coast is different to other metropolitan centers in Australia. This is due to the welcome abundance of natural beaches and the Australian flora and fauna encompassed within. The southern tip of the Gold Coast extends to the border of New South Wales. The southern most suburb of the Gold Coast, Coolangatta connects with it’s twin city of Tweed Heads. From Coolangatta going north there is a 40 kilometre stretch of coast and beach to Main beach before going further north to North Stradbroke Island. 2. The Beaches Including the suburb of Southport, Surfers Paradise forms the tourist and commercial centre of the Gold Coast. EC Gold Coast language school is located at Cavill Avenue, leading directly and a few minutes walk to the world famous Surfers Paradise beach. Beach goers and avid surfers from around the world come to enjoy the sun, sand, the clean and beautiful ocean. They also enjoy the uniquely Queensland Australian, relaxed and friendly atmosphere. 3. The Amusement Parks The Gold Coast is a popular destination for international tourists. It is also a favorite tourist spot for Australians from around the country. The comfortable and agreeable sub-tropical temperatures, plentiful sunshine and easy going people entice tourists all over, The Gold Coast also possesses Internationally renowned theme parks that draw Australian families and young people from around the country. For example, the roller coasters of Movie World, the Australian animal sanctuaries of Dream World, Sea World and Currumbin Wild Life Sanctuary, and the ever popular and preeminently exciting water slides of Wet n’ Wild. In conclusion there is much to be … Read more