Halloween Haunting at SGIC!
Our school was all decked out for the occasion with skeletons and cob webs galore but that was
just the beginning! There was the pumpkin carving contest where each class was given time to
make their best jack-o-lantern and although there were some impressive creation EMC came out on
top as the winner of the day. At the end of the week the costumes came out to play and things got really exciting! Andrea,
the activity coordinator, had rustled up some amazing prizes and the students put up a brave fight to win the top prizes of
the day. 1st prize - a three-day ‘French-Canada’ trip with TNT Tours was awarded to Dae Hee Han and the runner up was
Jeang Yen Han who went home with a NYC trip with TNT Tours! We’d like to send out a great big thank-you to TNT tours for
their donations and to all the students and staff at SGIC for making the holiday so much fun!
November 11th is Remembrance Day
This date marks the end of WWI which officially ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the
eleventh month in 1918. Today we take this day to honour the memory of the many war veterans who have
lost their lives fighting on behalf of Canada. There are official ceremonies held at civic centres across the
city including at both the Old City Hall and Historic Fort York. However, there are also smaller ways to
participate such as by wearing a poppy which is the official symbol of remembrance. This tradition began because Flanders
Fields, one of the worst battlefields, is full of the red and black poppy flower. You will see these small flower pins being sold
in shops and on street corners in exchange for a donation to the war veterans’ organization.
Teacher Feature – TKT Dynamic Duo ;)
As promised, we’re back to tell you about a few more of our amazing SGIC teachers. This month we’ll be
getting
to know Greg and Marc, the teachers who teach how to teach (phew!) in our TKT course.
Marc Ordanski is excited to have joined the TKT course full time. It wasn’t easy to pull him away from his
very popular high-level grammar course, but he is happy to be able to focus his energy in one place and on a
subject that he loves! A language buff himself (along with English he’s got Polish, German and Russian
under his belt!) he has always felt right at home in the language learning community. And making a home in
ESL is just what he’s done as Mark has been teaching various ESL programs for about 15
years in Canada, the United States and even Europe. With his first degree in ESL Instruction,
followed by a masters in Applied Linguistics, and specialty courses in vocabulary, advanced grammar and
communicative teaching, all topped off with experience working as a phonetic and phonology specialist,
there is no doubt that Marc has a wealth of experience and knowledge to pass onto aspiring ESL instructors.
As if that wasn’t enough, his belief that, ‚my students’ success is my success‛, is what makes us so proud
to have him teaching here at SGIC.
Greg Beasley is a very well-known face around SGIC and no stranger to the TKT program. In fact, he
has been teaching with us since 2008 and still going strong! However, his career in ESL actually
began in Europe teaching in the Czech Republic and Poland followed by Canada starting from way
back in 2005. With a degree in English Literature from Carlton University in Ottawa, he has spent
his fair share of time wrestling with the English language. Round that off with his experience
running teacher development workshops on everything from multi-skills dictation, to eliciting
output and exploiting a text, to dealing with the challenges particular to teaching
teenagers and he is certainly equipped to shed a little light upon both the English
language and the world of teaching for our TKT students here at SGIC. Despite all of
that, what most students remark on most about taking Greg’s class is his humour.
He keeps everyone laughing and having a good time, which teaches one of the most
important lessons of all learning should be fun!
Toronto Campus
150 Dundas St. West Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1C6
Tel: 416-929-4050
Fax: 416-929-2965
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sgiccanada.com