For the past two weeks, EC Montreal has been hosting a group of 10 students from Merida, Mexico. They are a group of teenagers from the same high school in the Yucatan Peninsula. They are here with their two English teachers; Lady and Gabriela, who are also taking English lessons in our adult school.
The group of teens are following EC Montreal’s Young Learners curriculum where every week there is a theme. The students work in groups all week and at the end of each week they must present their final project.
The theme during the first week was “Create a Nation”. The students had to come up with their own made-up country or plant and as a group create all the elements that make up that country. What is the population? What is the architecture? Who are the inhabitants? What are the natural resources? What does the flag look like? What do they import or export? What would a tourism promotion for this country look like? We were all blown away by the creativity of the group? They presented their final project to the rest of the EC Montreal adult classes. At such a young age, they did a fabulous job expressing themselves and articulating their ideas.
The second week of their programme, the theme was Art. They had to create their own museum or art gallery by using visuals and telling a story of the museum. They each had prepared their own exhibition and presented their work to the rest of the school. There were ecomuseums and art galleries and so many other amazing and creative ideas.
In addition to their lessons which took place between 9 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., they had afternoon activities three times per week. The group had guided tours of Old Montreal and Little Italy. They also visited the Butterflies Go Free exhibit at the Botanical Gardens, the Barbie Museum and played Laser Tag. Their favorite activity, however, was the hike up Mount-Royal. In reading their testimonials, everybody listed that activity as their favorite. They liked the view from the top as well as seeing snow! They were thrilled to see snow for the first time.
Their testimonials also indicated that they adored their experience with EC Montreal! They loved their teacher, Katrina, who did an incredible job with the group. They all indicated that they learned so much and are no longer shy to speak English. They also loved their homestay families and their activity leader, Danae.
On Friday, we had a certificate ceremony with the group and gave them a “Taste of Montreal”. We served them Montreal bagels, Montreal’s famous smoked meat, the very popular poutine as well as Tim Horton’s donuts. They were overjoyed! They ate all the goodies with a lot of gusto! While they were enjoying their treats, we played a video of a slideshow of all their activities inside and outside of the classroom. They all loved it and said they wanted a copy of this as a souvenir.
They all indicated that they want to come back next year! They had a blast!
Their flight was at 8:30 this morning and they are already on their way back home to Mexico. We will miss this group of teens! They are a lovely group of students and so well-behaved.
They truly took advantage of their language adventure in Montreal by devouring every bit of their experience! We are so proud of their achievements and positive attitude!
We hope to welcome you all to our EC English school in Montreal next year!