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My
Course of English in Toronto,  Canada!
This
is my letter from when I studied English for six months in Toronto,
Canada, in April of 2002.
"It
is mid-spring and the weather is still a little bit cool. My typical
day starts at 7am by having a nice Breakfast, typically Canadian.
The members of my Host Family always have their morning meals together
with me as they have small children and the mother is always at
home, something not very common for many of my colleagues.
Then
I take the Streetcar (very well maintained, clean and always on
time) at the stop that is just two blocks, in a beautiful region,
with a lot of trees, arriving right after to the Summerhill subway
station Summerhill where I almost immediately I take the subway,
that is always full at this time but is very organized and the people
extremely polite. Less than 10 minutes later I stop at the Yonge-Eglinton
station, very close to the Canadian College of English, school where
I study.
I
walk for a few minutes, less than five, mostly still passing by underground
stores, like a shopping centre, already full of people taking their
breakfast, when I arrive in my school of English where we are constantly
welcomed by the teachers and the staff of the school, that are very
funny. Several other students come at the same time. Rarely somebody
gets late because here it is a real shame.
Than
I go to my classroom for the first class of the day, a little before
9 am. This is my General English class with colleagues, women and
men, from many countries and ages. In this room we are 9 students
(me from Mexico, three Koreans, one Brazilian lady, a Russian man,
a Japanese couple and an extremely funny boy from Uganda, Africa!
 Even
that all of us have the same level (High-Intermediate B), our accents
and costumes get mixtured as we learn reading, writing, listening
and specially conversation, covering several topics with interesting
and clever activities that keep us motivated all the time. Sleep?
I do not even remember what that is!
My
day of studies (in my case, the Standard Intensive English course)
is divided in three periods: the first and the second with classes
of General English, still in the morning, and the third in the afternoon
with the two Elective Subjects that I choose after my arrival in
Toronto, Business English and Slang English (or daily English).
Specially this last class is great and is always full (up to twelve
students) now with other students from other countries, including
a French-Canadian (yes, Canadian) from the city of Quebec, where
people speak almost French only.
As
far as the morning classes help me on the comprehension of the language,
the afternoon classes are the ones I like most are Elective Subjects
as they give me the chance to really practice the language on issues
that will be useful also in my professional life. Many times we
even have classes out of the school, visiting interesting nearby
places as well as talking with native Canadians.
But,
before this, after the morning classes, around midday, we have a
quick 'lunch' at the cafeteria located inside the school (North-Americans
do not have lunch like us Latin Americans as they think it is a
huge waste of time, getting sleepy after that). Other students prefer
to have lunch out in close restaurants when others do not eat anything,
just stay accessing the Internet, which is quite fast here.
Back
from 'lunch', we have more classes when we can clear out the doubts
we have with the teachers, and soon start the Elective Subjects.
After everything finishes, I make the most of my time to study with
the Internet in the Multimedia Room of the school.
And
reply all the emails from my friends and relatives in Mexico!
Still
before the end of the day, we come back to the cafeteria of the
school where we can casually talk with the teachers, with no formalities
as we some times have in the classroom. All this inside the school,
we do not even need to get out of the building! That is here that
I make most of my friends, including with students in other levels
and also with former students that come visit the school.
On
other days, specially on Fridays, we go out together in small groups,
accompanied by the teachers, for some tourist spot or nightly event.
I already even watched a game of Ice Hockey! And the school Activities
Coordinator always have something nice for us.
 And,
on every last Friday of the session, the Canadian College draws
a scholarship for their students that is equivalent to the time
the winner student still have to study. In other words, it is a
great party. I have not won mine yet but, next time, who knows!
But
it is not always that I want to have fun in groups, choosing just
to come back to my homestay by a different way every day, really
knowing the daily life of the local people, stopping at supermarkets,
bookstores, eating Donuts and hot chocolate, that I love!
Back
to my Host Family, I take my shower, have my dinner (at this time,
much more 'substantial'), finish the homework assigned by my teacher
(studying abroad is not just play and fun as I thought, we have
a lot of work , that is), I watch a little of TV with my Host Family
(even not understanding many things at this point), although I like
more the commercials, and then I go to bed to start everything again
tomorrow!
Every
day I thank my parents for the luck that I have to be here. I hope
that someday you can too. It is great!!
Patricia
Carreras, Mexico.
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