Last night, EC Montreal held its first homestay workshop for new hosts of 2014.  Since February, our Homestay Recruiter, Val, has been carefully recruiting new families into EC Montreal’s Accommodation Programme. Each EC Montreal family is chosen with great care!  We want to work with families whose primary motivation is to offer our students a home away from home. As a final step in the recruitement process, the new families are invited to attend a workshop at the school.  It is an important evening as the hosts have an opportunity to meet the team, to ask questions and to meet an EC student who can share his or her experience.  It sends a powerful message to our hosts to hear directly from an international student how they feel about the homestay experience and what they expect from a family. Paula, our Accommodation Coordinator, did a wonderful job organizing the evening.  She seized the opportunity to place some of our summer students with the new families.  She carefully matched our student preferences with the family profiles.  The new families were so excited to receive information about their students. We served lovely refreshements and encouraged the families to mingle with one another. Elisa, EC Montreal’s Centre Director, gave the opening speech, welcoming the families to EC and encouraged them to give our students a warm and welcoming experience.  She told them to put themselves in the student’s shoes or to think how they would want their children to be treated if they were studying abroad.  She reminded them that the homestay service is one of hte most important services we offer at EC.  If a student is not happy with their home life, it will put a damper on their entire experience. Elisa then introduced the families to Andrea from Columbia.  We … Read more

EC Montreal’s Teen Summer Language camp offers an effective small-group language course combined with daily adventures in magical Montreal. From June 30 to August 15, EC Montreal welcomes teenagers from ages 13 to 17 from diverse areas of the globe to participate in this dynamic program. Lessons are especially designed for young students. The program is half day of tuition with half day of activities Monday through Friday. Groups are of a maximum of 15 students, and lessons are offered in 5 different levels from beginners to advanced. The program provides language learning in an entertaining and meaningful context. Speaking and listening take priority. Activities are chosen to ensure that students are offered a balance of sports with a variety of interesting cultural outings, tourist attractions and interesting workshops. EC Montreal counselors ensure that students are well-supervised and immersed in the French or English language during the activities. EC Montreal offers the option of: Classic Homestay: Homestay accommodation in single room at full-board, one full-day activity over two weeks, two-way airport transfer, medical insurance, transit pass and one evening activity per week. Classic Day Program: tuition and day activities as well as medical insurance, lunch and transit pass.

Why choose EC Montreal? There are so many reasons; modern facilities with 23 classrooms equipped with Interactive White Boards, free Wi-Fi, convenient location, qualified teachers, caring professionals, friendly staff, welcoming homestay hosts, but the best reason of all – the destination!  The city of Montreal is all about language, culture and education. These three characteristics are essential in helping our EC Montreal students succeed in a global community! Montreal is one of the most exciting and interesting cities in the world!  We are Canada’s second largest city, however, we have a small town feel because of our efficient transportation system and because all our attractions are centralized. The mix of students from all over the world is great for learning the language and about other cultures. Montreal itself is a very multicultural city and there is always a lot going on. The students consistently have memorable experiences where they improve their language skills, grow as people, and make life-long friends. We feel privileged to be a part of that. If you want to study English, French or participate in a bilingual programme, there is no better destination than the magical city of Montreal!   It is a bilingual gem within a French-speaking province.

Go Habs Go…EC Montreal students have been hearing this over and over for the past 2 weeks!  The NHL playoffs have begun and the Montreal Canadians are on fire!  They effortless eliminated their first team; the Tampa Bay Lightening.  It was a clean sweep! They are expected to play the Boston Bruins next.  They have yet to defeat the Detroit Red Wings but they are expected to be the winners.  The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadians have been rival teams for the beginning!  This will definitely be an exciting match up! The entire city of Montreal is celebrating their beloved hockey team, the Habs!  EC Montreal students are loyal to our team!  They have been watching the games with great enthusiasm and sporting our team’s jersey! We can’t wait to see our team bring home the Stanley Cup!

You may have noticed the bixi bike stands set up this week all over the city.  That means spring is here and there are warm summer days in our near future!  Montreal has been voted the best bike city in North American and 11th in the entire world according to the Copenhagenize index.  Cycling, according to the Index, is on a rise in Montreal due to several factors, including our awesome bixi bikes and the massive cycling routes around the entire city.  There are bike paths all over the city and a path that leads up to all 4 universities in the city! The city of Montreal purchased the bixi bikes and is encouraging all its residents to turn to the bicycle as their main mode of transportation!  The system is easy!  You can purchase a day, month or season pass to rent out the bike.  You can return it to any bixi bike stand in the city! There is a bixi stand right outside the EC Montreal school.  We hope to see many of our students tour the city by bike! Ride on our cycling friends, ride on!

It’s official, the mayor of Montreal made the announcement this week!  Montreal bars will stay open until 6:00 a.m. starting this June.  Montreal is already the party city of Canada where are bars are open until 3:00 a.m.  This is much later than our sister cities; Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax where the bars close at an early 1:00 a.m. The mayor declared that a big metropolis like Montreal will further enhance its nightlife and party reputation even further.  As it is, second to Las Vegas, Montreal is the destination of choice for bachelor parties and other festivities! With over 6000 restaurants and countless bars and nightclubs, Montreal is a city made for those who enjoy life!  We work to live compared to other North American cities whose philosophy is that they live to work!  The quality of life in our beloved city is so important to us! EC Montreal students notice this right away when they arrive.  We are a welcoming city and we share our love for life, food, drink and entertainment with our visitors. Let the party continue until 6:00 a.m.!

Diana Sanchez has been studying in our General French programme since January.  We said farewell to her this week.  Here is what she would like to share with all of you: When I came to EC Montreal to learn French, I didn’t know anything at all but the teachers are very patient and they helped me a lot. I love all the activities that EC does because they help you make friends and meet people from all over the world. The best thing was my homestay. My host mom was amazing with me and it really felt like home. Definitely this was one of the best experiences of my life!

Renata Pereira Alves was one of EC Montreal’s graduates today!  She has been studying in EC Montreal’s bilingual programme. Here is what she would like to share about her Montreal language adventure: Hello! My name is Renata and I’m from Brazil! I chose Montreal to learn both languages and it really was a great and unforgettable experience! I’d like to thank the school for the excellent organization..your staff is spectacular! And the city? …It’s amazing! I loved it!

Colin Strachan is from England and participating in EC Montreal’s French plus Language Co-Op programme.  He just completed his 4 weeks of French studies and will begin his volunteer placement on Monday!  Here is what he would like to share with all of you: I spent four weeks at EC Montreal learning French so that I could improve my abilities before finding work in Montreal. I was not a complete beginner but the lessons were very engaging and really refreshed my memory of structure and grammar. The staff are incredible, they work very professionally and treat you accordingly, but also remember who you are as if you are part of a family. I was really impressed with how they remember everyone’s name despite the rapid turnover of students. I have met some amazing people here from all over the world and I know I will stay in touch with many of them. There is a great assortment of activities, something for everybody, and there is a great vibe throughout the school. My favourite activity is yet to come-football on Thursday, when I will get to remind those Brazilians where the beautiful game was invented!

Claire Cornez is studying in our General English programme at EC Montreal.  She is one of this week’s EC graduates!  We are so proud of her achievements!  Here is what she would like to share with all of you: I have really enjoyed learning at EC Montreal. The teachers are really good and I like their way of practicing English. The most interesting thing is to work with other students from all around the world, so you don’t learn only a language but also about other cultures. Finally, all activities suggested are really nice and it is a way to make relationships and keep learning English. After 2 months I have improved a lot and I definitely feel more confident with my English.