EC Montreal students love finding out about new restaurants and bars in our beautiful and fun city!  When I heard that ‘Canal Lounge’, a bar on a boat on the Lachine Canal, just officially opened up for the summer season, I had to let everyone know!   Open from late May to October, Canal Lounge is a beautiful bar where you can order drinks, coffee, or even a light dinner on a gorgeous 45-year-old refurbished boat with a full glass top.  They have a variety of wines, cocktails, coffees, teas, and light snacks for dinner that you can enjoy from 3 pm until 11 pm from Tuesday to Sunday every week! The boat is docked at the tip of the Lachine Canal, right next to the Atwater Market, just a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro. You can’t miss this sight on the water!   Take our ESL course in Montreal and check out this relaxing boat experience!

EC Montreal staff and students were invited to participate in a self-defense training class as part of our May Health and Fitness month! This week was about learning a new skill. We hired a professional instructor who holds a black belt in martial arts to run the class. His first lesson was if any situation arises, the best thing to do is try to run. Don’t be a hero. The whole point of self-defense is learning how to get away from the attacker. We learned that self-defense is working on the defensive and using your own body’s strength to unbalance and weaken the attacker so you can put them down and get away. We learned six moves involving someone trying to grab you by the shirt, choking you around the neck, grabbing your arm to pull you in and coming in from behind. The instructor presented the moves and then had us practice them over and over again until we felt comfortable with them. We all really enjoyed the lesson and feel that self-defense is a useful skill that helps to empower and prepare you for any situation. Thank you to the wonderful EC Montreal team for organizing the lesson and for helping us to become better versions of ourselves through these different training sessions and activities. That’s a wrap for our very eventful month of May! We look forward to June’s festival season at EC Montreal! Join our ESL course in Montreal so you can participate in many wonderful activities!

Cheng-Chun (Nicky) Weng participated in EC Montreal’s General English programme for the past few months.  He is from Taiwan and a we discovered a very talented chef!  His homestay host told us about all the incredible meals he helped to prepare.  Recently, at EC Montreal’s annual potluck picnic, Nicky surprised us with the most delicious dumplings. Last Friday was Nicky’s last day at EC.  Here is what he wanted to share with everyone about his EC experience: I chose to come to Montreal because I could learn English and French in this city.  I improved my English skills a lot and learned a lot about different cultures.  Before coming to Montreal, I had forgotten all my English skills, and now I am in an Intermediate B2 class. I really liked that the teachers at EC Montreal are from so many different countries in the world. I really liked my homestay.  The best sentence to describe my homestay experience was “All you can eat”. I will definitely recommend EC to a friend.  It is a great experience where you can meet people from many countries. What I will remember most about my time in Montreal is snow, snow and more snow!  But also my incredible homestay, delicious poutine and maple syrup! Join our ESL course in Montreal and meet amazing friends like Nicky!

EC Montreal students are always curious about new shops in our city!  Chinese retailer, MINISO, is literally opening up one of their fun stores right across the street from EC Montreal this summer! Started in 2013 with the headquarters in Guangzhou, China, Japanese designer Miyake Junya and Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu had an idea to create a store with high quality products at low prices that appeal to millennials based around lifestyle goods, office supplies, adorable stationary, and cute home objects.  Most products at MNISO are actually under $5!  With stores popping up in the major Canadian cities of Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, we are waiting in anticipation for this MINISO store on St Catherine Street West right across from EC Montreal to open! Join our ESL course in Montreal and grab some stationary, note pads and pens from MINISO!

Marina Shikata was an EC Montreal English plus Gastronomy student in 2017.  She was booked for a 16-week course and had a working holiday visa.  She found a job in Montreal despite the lack of her French language skills.  She wants to send a message to everyone not to be intimidated by the French language if you want to study English.  She was so happy with her decision to choose Montreal as a destination.  Here is what she wanted to share with all of you: ‘Montreal life’ gave me a lot of wonderful memories, chances to meet sweet wonderful friends and one goal in my life. Last year I decided to go to Montreal to study food cultures and had stayed there for about one year.  Canada is an immigration country, so I thought that I could learn various local food cultures there. That’s why I decided to go to Canada.  And there were two reasons why I decided to go to Montreal in Canada: The first reason was that I wanted to go to the EC Montreal school because it had a food culture course.  As a major feature of EC Montreal school, it has a gastronomy class where you can learn various food cultures.  I took the gastronomy class twice a week with my daily English classes.  The gastronomy class is about participating in cooking classes or local gourmet tours.  For example, I studied Canadian local food, French cuisine, South American cuisine, Portuguese cuisine and so on.  I especially liked the bagels of Jewish culture.  I could feel the history of Montreal through various food cultures there.  It was a lot of fun to know the cultures through their special food.  The teachers at EC Montreal school arranged the classes for me very well, so I could study … Read more

The month of May at EC Montreal is all about health and fitness!  It is national fitness month in Canada and EC Montreal is committed to promoting wellness! On Wednesday we served a healthy lunch to our students.  We prepared a salad bar with so many wonderful ingredients.  We had three different kinds of lettuce, a variety of vegetables and other delicious toppings! We were delighted to see so many students excited to eat something so healthy!  They are used to us serving a taste of Montreal like poutine, smoked meat and other types of junk food! Next week, we will offer our students a self-defense class to end our Health & Fitness month on an energetic note!  It is an important skill that everyone should learn!  Our instructor is a professional trainer and nutrition consultant who also possesses a black belt in karate.  What a treat to have him come to EC Montreal to teach this lesson! Join our ESL course in Montreal and get healthy with EC!

EC Montreal students love outdoor parties in the summer! When I heard that Village Au Pied-du-Courant, located at Papineau metro station in Montreal, is hosting a summer beach party, I just had to bring it to everyone’s attention.  This super fun place is located about 20 minutes by metro from EC Montreal right on the St Lawrence river!   Their opening summer beach party will be taking place on Friday June 1st, from 5 pm until midnight.  This so called “village” is actually a sanded beach area, filled with lined-up shipping containers that each host their own activities and filled with rows of food trucks.  There will be an outdoor bar, electronic music, a play area, and a dance floor.  And best of all, it’s free to get in!   Join our ESL course in Montreal and don’t forget to check out the Montreal outdoor summer party scene!  

  Our EC Montreal students love the Old Port of Montreal.  Every Sunday, our new EC Montreal students get a tour of Old Montreal as their welcome weekend activity.  The pictures always look spectacular! Especially in the summer, there are many outdoor activities to take part in for people of all ages! To get the public in a summer mood, Montreal’s famous and charming Old Port in Old Montreal is having a special summer launch this Saturday, May 26 from 10 am to 2 pm with a range of activities, all priced at $10!  From jet boating to taking a short cruise, to getting a massage at Bota Bota spa on a boat, you’ll want to check this out! Free ice cream samples and free iced coffee will also be handed out at the Natrel Bar on location at the event.  A list of all the Old Port’s summer launch activities can be found at their website. Join our ESL course in Montreal and don’t miss the very fun activities Montreal’s Old Port has to offer!

In the Spring and Summer at EC Montreal, a lot of students love to go out and enjoy some fresh air and experience our beautiful city views – and what better way to do this than with the activity of bicycle riding around town!  Montreal is an incredibly bicycle friendly city! Coming very soon in a couple of weeks, on June 1st, Montreal will open “Tour La Nuit”- a one night only bicycle ride around the city.  People can register on their website, which includes early bird registration before May 29, here. and participants get a fun BBQ meal at Jeanne-Mance Park right before the ride starting at 5 pm. Students can also volunteer for for the day.  The city of Montreal is looking for volunteers to help out during this event.  Any students who want to feel like part of the Montreal community and want something exciting to put on their resume can sign up!  There is information on the volunteer board at EC Montreal. Participants will also be given night lights for their bicycles.  People can either rent or bring their own bike! Join our ESL course in Montreal and check out our bicycle friendly city!

EC Montreal students are always looking for fun activities to do on the weekend! There are so many festivals and places opening up this weekend in Montreal for the bustling summer period.  One of these places is La Ronde Amusement park on Parc Jean-Drapeau, which is opening up to the public on Saturday, May 19, at 10:30 am for their 51st season. La Ronde (Round) was originally built as the entertainment complex for EXPO 67: the 1967 World Fair in Montreal. Today, it is owned and operated by Six Flags. It is the largest amusement park in Quebec, and the second largest in all of Canada. La Ronde is known for its incredibly fun rollercoasters and thrill rides.  Its most famous rollercoaster is “Le Monstre”, a 40-metre (131 ft) high wooden double-tracked roller coaster which holds the record for highest double-tracked roller coaster in the world. You can join our ESL course in Montreal and experience the fun activities Montreal has to offer!