Matthew Chisholm School Manager		Tomoko Rummel Operations Coordinator
	Cheryl House Academic Coordinator		Soo-Jin Kim Marketing Coordinator
	Caitlin Tally Student Services Coordinator

This month, we welcomed a new English teacher, Adam to our team. He is teaching Intensive IELTS 9:00-11:00 and Intensive English classes12:00-2:00.

 

Kyle has been a teacher at GEOS Victoria for almost 6 years! She has a degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Victoria and a TESL Canada certificate. Her studies and love of culture inspired her to travel to China where she taught for one year.

 

The qualities that Kyle admires most in a teacher are knowledge, passion, humor, and presence. She endeavors to emulate these characteristics daily. She loves to be in a classroom that is lively and involved and to engender this atmosphere comes easily to her because she genuinely enjoys interacting with her students. She loves getting to know their personalities, experiences, concerns, likes and dislikes. She chooses material for her classes by utilizing not only the text book and grammar books, but also current events, newspapers, television, movies, and other realia that is available in this beautiful city.

 

We started the month off by attending a local hockey game, and were pleasantly surprised by the gallant welcome we received (it could have been our large numbers, and unbridled enthusiasm when they scored all their goals!).

The following week students dusted off their cues to play billiards, and taught the teachers a thing or two.

The GEOS Victoria Pumpkin Carving the week after activity revealed some incredible artistic talent; first place was all too difficult to determine! We’ll end off the month with an exciting Costume contest, followed by skating, and a trip to a local brewery in November!

TEC and TESL 2012!

GEOS Victoria’s TEC (Teaching English to Children) course will start on January 3, 2012. The course is for students who have achieved a high level of proficiency in English and this course will teach them the methodology of instructing children. They will focus on teaching skills in a practical, hands-on way. Learners should be prepared to play games, develop resources that they can use to teach ESL, sing silly songs and learn actions for them, master classroom management and excel at lesson planning. They will focus on teaching reading to children using phonics and whole language methods. Learners will have plenty of opportunities to speak and discuss issues and the teacher will be available to refine English grammar when necessary. By the end of the course, learners will be looking forward to teaching children and trying out new ideas.

The next GEOS TESL Program starts on January 30, 2012. This course aims to provide language teaching training to individuals who want to teach English as a Second or Foreign Language. The program will develop linguistic and cultural competencies in students intending to use their skills in their home country or abroad as teachers of English. The program is broken down into modules that focus on both theory as well as practice.

Students will learn how to prepare a lesson, and issues related to planning selection of materials to teach. They will discuss issues related to teaching specific language skills (i.e. listening and speaking, reading and writing, and grammar) and will be given an opportunity to prepare lessons and teach in front of peers. They will receive feedback from their teachers and peers and will develop an ability to assess their own teaching skills.

Goldstream Provincial Park, Salmon Run
Goldstream Park has a world-class salmon spawning stream with thousands of Chum Salmon returning each year. Bright colours and hooked jaws develop on male Chum salmon after they enter breeding streams. This accounts for the very different appearance these fish have from when they are caught in the ocean. In Goldstream, salmon appear mid-October, and may be seen for about nine weeks, the dates varying from year to year. Of the five kinds of North American Pacific salmon; it is the Chum salmon that is most abundant in this river. However, you can also find some Coho and Chinook salmon, as well as the Steelhead and the Cutthroat trout.

Island Farm Santa’s Light Parade
The Island Farms Santa Light Parade routinely draws crowds of more than 40,000 to the streets of Victoria, to take part in a festive celebration of the winter holidays. Bands, floats and even Santa himself will parade through the streets spreading cheer and joy to all in sight!