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Speech Contest
Canada: Yours to Discover |
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The KGIC Education Group invites you to test your public speaking skills and win fantastic prizes!
On June 26th 2009, The KGIC Education Group is proud to welcome all ESL students who have started studying in Canada within the last year to join us for our first ever Canada: Yours to Discover Speech Contest.
This national competition will be open to all ESL students in Canada and will be hosted by our campuses in both the British Columbia and Ontario regions. The KGIC speech contest will allow ESL students to demonstrate their ever-improving English skills in front of fellow students, as well as experienced ESL instructors with a two minute speech. All students participating in the contest will receive a DVD of their speech along with written feedback from our instructors.
Students can enter in either a Novice category or an Intermediate/Advanced category and can choose from two different topics depending on the level and region. There is a top prize of $1000 and prizes awarded for second ($500) and third place ($200) for each level and region, making a total of four first, second and third place prizes to be awarded across Canada. Even if you don't participate in the contest, come and cheer on your fellow international students and a chance to win some fantastic door prizes!!
Visit www.kgibc.ca or e-mail speechcontest@kgic.ca for more information and to register for the contest. The registration deadline is June 12th. The KGIC Education group will also offer free speech clinics to help you prepare for the contest. This will be an excellent opportunity to improve your speech skills, win fabulous prizes and have a fun filled day listening to and meeting other international students. Even if you can't be a part of this great contest, be sure to tell any of your friends or family who are studying in Canada so they can be a part of the fun too!
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| Alumni Student Messages |
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Mutsumi Baba (Japan)
I had a great great GREAT time in Canada! The biggest thing is that I met so many nice people and made so many good friends.
The experiences in Vancouver and KGIC are a very big part of me now. I studied hard and I went for drinks on Friday, complaining about homework, and prepared for presentations, I went to beach, went skiing....so many good memories!! I feel like I've got to be able to speak English more naturally.
Actually, I'm planing to come back to Vancouver in a year or so. It's nice being in Japan with family and old friends but I miss Vancouver so much already!
So I'll keep studying English and I'll come back there someday!
Alessandro Bulhões Batista (Brazil)
I believe that KGIC was the Best experience in my whole life! I stayed there for one month, but I had fantastic days! I met people from all over the world and made good friends!
Talking about English language... I have no words to explain how KGIC was the Best option! There are good teachers there... I mean... not only teachers but friends!
Classes are pretty good and teachers know how "to teach" English language!
Well, I really thank you KGIC! I'm sure that KGIC can help us to learn English and much more!
Thanks and keep in touch!!
Do you have a message you would like to share with other KGIC ALumni Students? Send your message and picture to alumni@kgic.ca.
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| English Refresher
Keeping Learning Alive!!! |
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Quote
I'd rather walk through life than be dragged through it. - Alanis Morissette -
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Joke
Question: What are two things you can never have for dinner?
Answer: Breakfast and lunch.
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Proverb
All's well that ends well
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Wine and Dine- When somebody is treated to an expensive meal.
"He spent a lot of money wining and dining his girlfriend for their anniversary".
Kitty-corner- Diagonally across.
"The coffee shop is easy to find. It's kitty-corner from the school".
Breathe easy- to assume a relaxed state after a stressful period.
"Once the monthly level test is over students are able to breathe easy until the next month".
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Vocabulary
Gaffe (noun) - a mistake or blunder.
"He had long hair so I thought he was a woman. It was such an embarrassing gaffe."
Hectic (adjective) - Characterized by intense activity, confusion, or haste.
"Final exams are a very hectic time for students".
Galvanize (verb) -to startle into sudden activity; stimulate.
"The school bell galvanized the students to rush to class".
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Win $2000 US With WYSE |
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As a member of WYSE Work Abroad, the KGIC Alumni Society encourages you to showcase your creative talents by joining WYSE Work Abroad's "Expand Your Horizons" Video Contest. Submit a 2-3 minute video about your work abroad, volunteer, work and travel, or internship experience, at KGIC, KGIBC or CTC and you could win $2,000 US.
To see the WYSE Work Abroad brochure and find out more about this exciting contest, information on submiting your video to WYSE Work Abroad and a link to the WYSE Work Abroad website visit the KGIBC website at www.kgibc.ca.
The contest ends on August 15, 2009!
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Greetings!
Spring is coming to an end and summer is fast approaching. Be sure to read about the exciting Speech Contest KGIC is hosting in both Toronto and Vancouver. KGIC students continue to have fun-filled days on and off-campus. This month students in Toronto have enjoyed participating in activities such as basketball games, cooking classes, a dance competition and more.
This year KGIC is hosting a Student Appreciation week for Spring Break. The KGIC Education Group will be hosting activities such as Sports day, an Amazing Race and Soccer Tournaments. Be sure to check out next month's newsletter for stories on these great activities. Take a look at our Facebook page in the coming weeks to see great photos of recent KGIC events as well.
We here at the Alumni Society would like to thank all the Alumni Students who have sent e-mails and have participated in the Alumni Newsletter. We encourage you to keep your stories and messages coming. If you would like to send a message to your fellow Alumni members please e-mail us at alumni@kgic.ca. Include a recent picture of yourself, what year you were at KGIC and which campus you attended and, of course, your message. We may post your message or story in our next month's newsletter.
As always, we look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Your KGIC Alumni Society
King George International College
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| Student Success Story: Toronto
Luciano Sampio Martins de Souza
 This month the KGIC Alumni Society would like to recognize Luciano de Souza as our Alumni student success story of the month. Luciano attended KGIC's Toronto campus at the beginning of 2007 and left a lasting impression on teachers and staff. Thankyou for your story Luciano, we at the KGIC Alumni Society wish you the best of luck in everything you do.
Learning English was always a dream for me, so when I graduated from Computer Science in 2006, my parents gave to me a two-month trip to Toronto, Canada. I was really excited because it was the first time I travelled outside of Brazil. We decided on KGIC because one year earlier a friend of mine came to Toronto and studied for 4 months at KGIC. He told us about all the great things I would see and do in Toronto. But at that time, I thought he was over promoting Canada and the school, until I saw everything with my own eyes. I studied English in Brazil before, but now I can see the differences in the way they teach us there. The biggest one is that they care about teaching words instead of ways of thinking, what I mean about that is for example if you want to say "This is a beautiful car", but you forgot how to say "car" in English, you can just ask the teacher: "How do I say 'carro' in English?" and the teacher will reply with: "car". But at KGIC, it is different because they teach you to find an alternative for that word, e.g. "That thing that you drive" or "It has wheels" and etc. With that in mind, your learning process goes sky high. After 2 months at KGIC, I was already having full conversations and really happy about it. That was so great for me that I didn't want to go back to Brazil. So, I talked to my parents and asked them for more time, my mother said to me that I was 23 years old, graduated and in an amazing country so they would support me in any decision I made. Of course I didn't want them to pay my bills, so I decided to start looking for a job, but because my visa only allowed me to study and not work, I had to find a company that would be interested in helping me get a new visa. I added my resume online and started going to computer meetings, which there are dozens of every week, all over Toronto, until I met Darius Bashar, one of the co-founders of a company called Apollo Media. The company was looking for a developer for quite some time. So, they helped me during the whole process and four months later I got my new visa allowing me to work in Canada. I started working as a developer and today I work as the Chief Architect where I focus on developing web sites with cutting edge technologies. My work visa will expire this November, after that I will probably go to another country, maybe learn another language, but only God knows. I have to say that my experience in KGIC helped me tremendously through everything I've experienced in Toronto. Luciano Sampaio If you would like to share your success story with KGIC Alumni students please sent an e-mail to alumni@kgic.ca.
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| Grammar Gaffes KGIC Teachers Share Common Student Mistakes
 We all make mistakes. It is a natural part of the learning process and students who study English as a second language are no exception. At times their mistakes offer humor, at other times they interfere with understanding. By studying and recognizing mistakes you can improve your English. The classroom provides you with a safe environment to make these mistakes and an educated teacher to help you with correction. This month we decided it would be interesting to survey KGIC teachers and ask them what are the most common grammar mistakes made by students. Maybe you will recognize some of your own mistakes here. We hope that it will be of benefit to you.
The Verb "To Be"
Using the "be" verb correctly is by far the most common mistake selected by KGIC teachers. The mistake happens with the use of the "be" verb in the continuous verb tense (also known as the progressive).
"I going to KGIC". This sentence is an example of the mistake common with the "be" verb. The correct sentence is "I am going to KGIC". Students will often forget to use the "be" verb here. The solution is to practice and memorize the verb forms of the continuous tense. Be careful about confusing gerunds (verbs that add -ing to the end when used as nouns). For example "I am skiing at Grouse Mountain" versus "I go skiing at Grouse Mountain on Saturdays". The sentence "I am skiing" is in the present continuous and describes an action that is currently happening. The sentence "I go skiing" is using "skiing" as a noun.
Count and Non-Count Nouns
If you remember your grammar classes, you will remember that a countable noun takes and "-s" when there is more than one (eg. many alumni students) and no "-s" when it is singular (eg. an alumni student). Non-count nouns do not take an "-s". Some examples are "milk", "food", "children" and "money". There are several different mistakes that occur with non-count nouns. Often students will try to make a plural out of a non-count noun (eg. The peoples were happy.). Another mistake happens with using the wrong adjective with the noun. "He has many money" is incorrect. The correct sentence is "He has a lot of money". These are mistakes that you can only correct by studying and knowing your nouns and noun quantifiers.
However, if you listen to how English speakers use the language you will find many cases where the rule is broken. This often confuses students when they hear a non-count noun being used as countable. You may hear an English speaker say something like "Would you like a coffee?" or "I drank three coffees this morning". Coffee is definitely a non-count noun, so why is it being used as a count noun? What is happening is that a part of the sentence that would make the noun countable is not being spoken. "Three cups of coffee" or "a cup of coffee" is correct because "cups" are countable. The "cups of" is being dropped from the sentence and the noun "coffee" is being treated as countable to allow for that. Be careful. This may work with "coffee", but it will not work with all non-count nouns. Unless you have heard a non-count noun used this way, you should always follow the rules regarding count and non-count nouns.
Adjectives "-ed" and "-ing"
The last common mistake selected by KGIC teachers is the use of adjectives that end in either "-ed" or "-ing". An example of this is "bored" versus "boring". Students often confuse the two forms which can lead to some funny sentences. These adjectives are used to express feelings or emotions (bored, excited, exhausted and relaxed are some examples). The difference between the "-ed" and "-ing" ending is whether it is the cause of the feeling or the feeling itself. An "-ed" ending is for the receiver of the feeling or emotion. An "-ing" ending is for the cause of the emotion or feeling.
"You look bored".
This sentence means you look like you are not having fun.
"You look boring".
This sentence means you are not a fun person.
These sentences have two very different meanings, and if you say the second sentence to someone when you mean the first you may upset them.
Good luck with your grammar and keep on reviewing and listening to how English is used. By being aware of these common mistakes you can look for them and correct them yourself. Remember, practice makes perfect!
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TESOL for Junior's Science Fair
For one week, something very scary and horrible happens in Pete's Tesol for Junior class. No, he doesn't teach with his shoes off...No, he doesn't teach without drinking coffee...And no, he doesn't teach using only deductive methods...In fact, something much more terrible happens...Pete forces his wonderful, amazing, awesome, super duper students to plan, prepare and present a campus wide Science Fair! Not only are Pete's diligent students responsible for preparing their own Science Fair project (which includes researching a suitable science fair experiment, collecting all the materials for their experiment, designing and making a poster board, and then preparing and practicing their presentation), but they are often asked to do the promoting of the science fair as well (which includes writing formal invitation letters to the teachers, going to each classroom and promoting it in front of the student body and making advertisements to post in the campus). In addition, Pete's totally cool students are asked to write the criteria/evaluation for their presentations. So what does Pete do? Well, not a heck of a lot...haha...or so it seems....but, in fact, this is definitely his busiest and most hectic week of the whole course...but, it is also the most rewarding week as well, for him and his students. Jung-Hwa Kim, a former student, summed up the experience as this: Since the Korean government has recently put emphasis on immersion education (teaching all subjects in English), the Science Fair was a great experience for our career....and most of all, what I got through this fair is confidence. Being in front of many students, with confidence, is very important.  To conclude, the task is to devise and present a science experiment to not just their classmates, but to the whole campus. It is heart-warming and eye-opening to see the difference in attitude and commitment. Dreading the imminent and real audience galvanizes his marvelous students into quite a different sort of action: they ache with caring about the response and rehearse for hours outside class time. My students' enjoyment of language is extraordinary. I am continually moved by how happy they are, astounded by how hard they work and stunned by how much they develop. The Science Fair has a real audience, a real purpose, a real reaction, and thus, very real motivation... For comments or questions on Pete's science fair, email him at pembapete@hotmail.com or tesol-j@canadatesolcentre.ca Back to top
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Here at KGIC we appreciate all our Alumni Society members and hope that you enjoy the information and updates offered in our newsletter. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to a friend and invite them to sign up for future updates. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to receive our monthly newsletter click on the link at the bottom left of this page or visit www.kgic.ca and click on the "Sign Up For the Alumni Society Newsletter" button.
If you missed a past issue of the KGIC Mosaic visit the KGIC Newsletter Archives. Here you can read past issues of our Alumni Society Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Your Alumni Society King George International College King George International College
201-1400 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V5K6H6
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