Hey EC students!!! This is the last week our Student Ambassador Gineth is at EC Toronto.   We are VERY sad to see her go, but in the meantime we are super happy for her because Saturday she is finally flying back to Colombia to hug her sweet children again ! In fact, our Gineth is not only a creative student, a nice woman and a fantastic student ambassador; she is a super mother as well, and her masterpieces Juanita (9 years old) and little toddler Miguel Angel (1 year old) can’t wait to hug her again! Gineth arrived at EC Toronto three months ago. She worked in Bogota and she really needed to improve her English because of her job. When she arrived here she had lots of difficulties in expressing her thoughts and communicating properly because she wasn’t used to using English in daily life. After 3 months of our General English intensive course (30 classes/week) the situation has completely changed: Gineth has improved incredibly and the fluency of her speaking is really impressive. She studied hard and attended class every day, and the result of all her effort is a great final achievement! We are very proud to have students like you, Gineth! Everyone at EC Toronto is going to miss you and wishes you all the best! Thanks for your help!   Your EC Toronto team  

Today was ICE CREAM DAY at EC Toronto!!!! Outdoors the heat is still considerable, but if you browsed around EC Toronto this morning you must have felt a cooler breeze in the air.  And I can assure you that it wasn’t only because of the air conditioning!!! During the first break EC Toronto celebrated the upcoming end of summer with a freeeezing tasty-party: our Student Ambassadors served ice-cream in the lounge, and everyone had his coloured popsicle or ice cream bar! EC Toronto’s students and staff had a very good time together – class is easier after a good ice cream!! Check our EC Toronto facebook page for all the pictures from today’s Ice Cream Party, and tag your friends!  www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto Don’t you wish you could join us for ice cream day and every day? Details are available on our website www.ecenglish.com  

Fun and donations to charity: the perfect combination! Toronto is once again proud to host the Scotiabank BuskerFest (its 14th edition!) in support of Epilepsy Toronto. http://www.torontobuskerfest.com/ Performers from all around the world will take over the Downtown Yonge Neighbourhood from tonight through Sunday August 25.  There will be something for everyone: musicians, magicians, acrobats, daredevils and much more! Toronto is going to be literally invaded by music, artists and audience…for sure our EC Toronto students don’t want to miss all this!!! All proceeds from voluntary admissions will go to Epilepsy Toronto, a non-profit association committed to helping 40,000 Torontonians with epilepsy and their families. Are these 2 famous buskers from the streets of  Toronto? No, look closer — I think it’s Jon and Joe from EC Toronto’s Academic Department! Do you listen to buskers every day in the subway stations as you travel to your English classes at EC Toronto? Do you know how those great musicians get to play their music and entertain you there? We want to tell you about the special relationship between our city and buskers. In fact, what makes this festival particularly significant for Toronto is an event which started in 1979 and totally changed the way ‘buskers’ are seen around the city. Since then, their “profession” in Toronto’s subway stations is controlled and regulated every year with a specific licence: to get this permit (which costs $150 for the year), every busker must apply for and pass the TTC Subway Musicians Auditions, which are held each summer over three days at the CNE (yes, it’s now on!). Toronto’s buskers are self-employed, but for the winning musicians, they get the opportunity to play in the TTC system, following a specific playing schedule drafted by the TTC. You can see different buskers every day in the Eglinton subway … Read more

Here is the story of one of our students who studied at EC Toronto and now is doing an internship in EC Toronto’s offices. Hello everybody! My name is Valentina and I moved to Canada from Italy two months ago. In my home country I used to work as interior designer and things were going extremely well…as long as I had not to deal with foreign customers!!! In fact, I have never lived abroad until last June and my English was extremely scholastic. You can easily imagine how hard it was for me to fully meet customers` requests and desires at that time! The company I worked for used to have lots of contacts with Russia, and I felt inadequate every single time I had to m eet or call them. One friend of mine experienced one month of EC school method two years ago in New York City. She needed to improve her English because of her job, and one month of Intensive English and full immersion in American life enhanced her speaking skill a lot! When I decided to move to Toronto, she strongly recommended to me to look for the presence of any EC School in the city…and that is how I ended up at EC Toronto! In my first month here, I found everything I wished thanks to EC school: a great staff, an appropriate teaching method and good friends. I enrolled Semi-Intensive General English course and it fitted perfectly my needs. The thing I appreciated most has been the double teaching method: I used to spend half morning with an English teacher and the other half with a Canadian one. This allowed to me to get more used to British and American accents both, which is a very important skill to develop. After the extremely helpful four-week course, I … Read more

CNE in 3Fs: Fair-Fun-Food! Toronto’s best summer event is yet to come! Anyone who has lived in Toronto during the summertime knows very well that it’s quite difficult to get bored in this city.EC Toronto students who are here NOW are definitely lucky: the event we are going to present here is actually one of the most interesting of the entire year! The Canadian National Exhibition is one of the largest fairs in North America. It is an annual event that takes place every August at Exhibition Place, now in its 135th season. The 2013 CNE edition runs from Friday, August 16 until Labour Day on Monday, September 2. This huge event is a gathering point for attractions. The fair itself consists of a variety of pavilions, exhibits, shows, concerts, a working farm, horse show, casino, and a large carnival midway with rides, games and food: this all means GUARANTEED FUN! If you either are eager to get in touch with Canadian culture or just enjoy your week-end in a different way, the CNE is the right place to be. Go there and take a look around:  this is an annual tradition to many people in the GTA so go and satisfy your curiosity! What are you waiting for, EC Toronto students? Hurry up and book your ticket! It’s possible to get a discount of 33% if you buy your pass by Aug 16! And go to the EX, like Oleg! http://theex.com/   Your EC Toronto team www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto

WOW COOKBOOK – the ultimate international cookbook by EC Toronto students  Can learning English be helpful for someone other than you?  At EC Toronto this happened! EC is a melting pot of different cultures, and one of our classes (World of Words) did an interesting activity coordinated by their teacher Peter. Students participated in writing up a cookbook full of delicious recipes and appetizing tips from their countries of origin. They only needed 3 afternoon classes to conceive this project, write the original recipes correctly in English and organize the cookbook! But these tasty recipes (such as Venezuelan main courses, Brazilian sweets and cocktails, Korean traditional meals and typical Colombian coffee) were not only ready to be read and cooked by other EC students: the class decided to sell copies in EC’s corridors to help starving children all around the world! All the proceeds from the sales went to UNICEF Canada and Sharon Avery (Chief Development Officer) thanked Peter and his students for their co operation. In fact, collected funds are not the most important aspect of EC’s activity: what UNICEF needs is to be promoted as much as possible, and we can help the association to be more successful! How? Check out the guidelines Sharon Avery of UNICEF wrote back, posted at the Front Desk on the 4th floor. A big thank you to everyone who participated in the production, promotion, sales and generally made this project a big success! Also, thanks to EC Toronto and Print Three for covering the printing costs so all funds collected could go directly to UNICEF. CREDITS: Carlos Jose Delcristo Luces, Paula Correa Dantas, Naeun Kim, Yuri Shibamoto, Ece Evliyaglu, Hsiangyun Fang, Gineth Maritza Carrana Roa, Bora Kim, Yurika Miyoshi, Steffen Rosenlocher, Sejin An, Kristiane Grizotto Chacon, Jiyeong Kim, Jihea Kim, Chul Kim, … Read more

Here is a the story of one of our students who studied TOEFL preparation at EC Toronto. Hello! My name is Aida and I want to tell you my story. Taking the TOEFL test was one of the requirements for my Canadian university application. I needed to get a really high score, at least 95, so I was searching for a professional and trustworthy TOEFL course. I chose EC Toronto Higher Score and I must say that my experience in the school was very impressive, in a positive way. The teachers were serious in their work but also very friendly and willing l to understand your weakest points and advise you on how to improve them. I took the Intensive course, so I passed almost all day at school, learning strategies and tips for the test. This helped me to focus on my purpose and become familiar in advance with the test. I also had the possibility to use the school facilities for after-class study. I got a total score of 111 on my TOEFL iBT test! I am sure that this high score is in great part merit of what I learned in the school. I really have to particularly thank my teachers Andrew and Martin, and the Higher Score Manager at EC Toronto for the availability in advising me and the other students with all our TOEFL related questions. So, if you are looking forward to increasing your TOEFL score, I can say from my own experience that EC Toronto Higher Score will definitely help you with that! Another fact that is worth mentioning is that EC Toronto is an ETS centre and I found it really helpful to take the TOEFL iBT test in the same place where I used to study every day. Awesome, isn’t it? EC Toronto … Read more

 Our wonderful and helpful Student Ambassador Oleg reported on a survey done by EC Toronto students on the subject of  what they have learned about Canada! Canada links all of us. Studying English at EC Toronto is not only going to school and meeting new friends. It is experiencing real Canadian life style and becoming familiar with the culture of this amazing country! There is a matter of fact about Canada: before coming here, most people imagine it as a combination of moose, hockey and French speakers. That’s why our students are always happily surprised when they first arrive in Toronto: Canada is much more than these world-wide known clichés! Our Upper Intermediate Students did a survey in EC Toronto and asked different people inside the school about their first feeling about Torontonians. Do you know what the most common answer was? ‘I do love people here!!!’ (Yuka, current Japanese student at EC Toronto). Other very frequent statements were ‘very kind’, ‘friendly’, ‘you can ask everyone’, ‘so nice’, ‘polite’. People really make the difference. Our students couldn’t imagine Toronto as such a melting pot of different cultures before arriving here, and that’s why they don’t feel culture shock. If you feel the need to experience different ways of living, Toronto is the place to be! So come join us at EC Toronto!  

Did you know Higher Score Canada offers IELTS classes at EC Toronto? The Higher Score Canada® IELTS course has been designed to give you the maximum benefit in the minimum time. Our course uses unique study materials and exam strategies for IELTS that are not available anywhere else in the world. We will help you learn and practice a quick and effective system for improving your writing and speaking for IELTS. We will also help you learn strategies and methods to increase your reading and listening skills. Since 2004, over 97% of Higher Score® students  have increased their score. At EC Toronto, our expert teachers and professionally-designed IELTS course can help you, too. We aim to help all of our students score between band 6.0 and 7.5. Huseyin is just one of the many EC Toronto Higher Score students who achieved his IELTS goal with the help of our course. Congratulations Huseyin!   To learn more, check our website http://www.ecenglish.com/school-locations/learn-english-in-toronto/english-courses/ielts-higher-score-canada