Under the category of 'better-late-than-never', welcome to our September newsletter in November.  We've had a wonderfully busy autumn with more classes and especially French students than ever before.  We continue to be impressed with the enthusiasm of our students to register and extend their classes, and our teaching staff, administrative staff, and group of internship students, has grown to meet the challenge.

On the topic of interns, we have a great new intern from Germany, Stefanie Kundel, who is here doing translation and student service work for the school.  She is super friendly and is available at the front desk to help out with weekend activities or anything else you might have in mind.

And, on the topic of interns, our paid and unpaid internship programs continue to grow in popularity.  The unpaid internship is perfect for students interested in a professional work placement to advance their careers.  The paid internship is perfect for those students looking to supplement the cost of their studies and practice their English or French in a service-industry environment.  In fact, we have a video-game company in Montreal actively looking for our interns to work at testing their translated games.  Yes, you can be paid to play video games all day.  Please contact the school for more information.

Again and always, please keep in touch, become  or join our Facebook group

	Uri Carnat School Manager		Sayaka Sakakibara Homestay Coordinator
	Billy Barbier Program Coordinator		Jérôme Commun Head Teacher - French
	Ian Orti Head Teacher - English

It is the end of a great summer full of interesting activities at GEOS. Students and staff alike, we have now to brace ourselves for a very promising fall season as the city teems with students of all sorts. So, welcome to the crisp mornings and the gentle wind of September.

We delved into more discoveries of our charming city, Montreal, as we planned the hike up the Mount Royal, mustering all our energy and enjoying the picturesque view offered to us. Besides, the Mount Royal offers more than that: it is a congregation of rhythm lovers and soccer prowess artists. On Sundays, as the punctual Tam-Tam drummers made us dance to their vibes, our great students enchanted us with their soccer skills taking advantage of the superb weather. These weekly rendezvous, set below the superb mountain and under the caring eyes of the Angel Statue, proved to be a huge success. Those who have an insatiable appetite for culture also got their share thanks to the World Film Festival which attracts a growing number of fans every year and the Magic of Lanterns Festival.

At GEOS, we love “to travel the world and the seven seas” like our students. That was our motto in September as we trotted the territory from one place to another; discovering new places, experiencing new sensations and meeting new faces. From Montreal, our magic carpet took us to the 1000 Islands, Niagara Falls, Quebec and Ottawa. No wonder, although we did see lots of wonder, that we enjoyed every single moment together.

And then when the road takes its toll on our bodies and spirits, we come back to GEOS and we would sit around a coffee for a talk with our adorable teachers or watch a movie, needless to say, to fine-tune our language skills. That’s how we do at GEOS Montreal. It is a family affair.

Our teacher of the month for this issue is Alex Contreras. Alex is a recent valuable addition to the great English Language teaching team at GEOS Montreal. Even though he joined GEOS only last July, he has grown fond of the school and thinks that GEOS is a “magnet” for interesting people. In fact, he has a great liking for those who “decide to travel and immerse themselves in foreign cultures’ and thinks of them as being “inspiring”.

Alex holds a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts majoring in Playwriting. His passion for teaching is a talent he inherited from his mother who “ruthlessly” stood up against any of his grammar pitfalls.

This friendly teacher who hails from Ottawa “defected” to Montreal in September 2001 and has since considered it to be his home. Here is what he says about Montreal: “This is a city where all your wildest dreams have, at least, a marginally higher percent chance of coming true than anywhere else in Canada”.

Alex is a very fun-loving person. His hobbies are: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, World History, Film and Theatre. Thank you Alex and we’ll see you in class.

Paragraph1 We are very proud of our Nationality mix for this month. Currently we have 24 Nationalities represented in the school among our 145 students

Paragraph2 Take a look where our students are coming from:

This month’s featured student is none other than our sweet Momoko OKADA. She is Japanese and she is a 100 percent GEOS fan. Having at first studied English, Momoko is now fully focused on learning French while she continues honing her English language skills with the TOEIC course.

This never-tiring, always-smiling student said she is grateful for GEOS Coffee Talk activity for helping her improve her English. She also stressed out the friendliness of the staff, their readiness and availability in taking care of students’ needs no matter where.

Momoko is also enjoying an internship at GEOS as part of the Internship and Work Experience Program where she is helping out in office and administrative duties. She has proved to be of great value.

Momoko’s full schedule does not prevent her from enjoying her life in Montreal, a city which she sees as “stylish” because it offers a unique blend of different cultures with French.

Momoko is a fun-loving person. When she is not watching movies or playing golf, she is either out with her friends or talking to them on the phone.

Bonjour, Hi.. My name is Sung Kook Park. I’m from South Korea. I am at GEOS Montreal to learn English and French. While studying at GEOS Montreal, I was able not only to learn communication skills, grammar, listening comprehension etc, but also find out some interesting cultural tips from different countries.

This kind of experience is very interesting and special for me. Hadn’t I come to Montreal, I would not have experienced it at all.

In addition to these, the school activities are also full of fun. I went on a picnic in Mont-Royal park with my classmates and I went Ottawa and Quebec city among others.

It is the nicest and most tremendous experience that I’ve ever had.

I will never forget the times that I had spent in Montreal.

New Course Offering for 2009:  We just want to let everyone know that we will be offering a full-time TOEFL iBT preparation course starting in January 2009.  Students will still have the option of doing their TOEFL iBT preparation as an elective class, but the full-time option will soon be available.

Don’t forget!! Full-time students studying English or French receive a 50% discount on any of these courses. On top of the elective, we have a full-time TOEFL Preparation Course beginning in January, 2009. Here are some of the most popular elective classes at the moment:

If you have any questions regarding the programs or the starting dates, just send us an email by CLICKING HERE

You can download our 2008 School Brochure here.

I wake up, get prepared and then I walk to school. I have my first class at 10:30, it’s my English class with Ian, it’s a really funny class and I learn many idioms and new vocabulary. After my first class, I have a ten-minute break because then I have my French class with Jerome. We’re preparing a new project to promote GEOS.

I finish my classes at 2:40 in the afternoon. Usually, I stay for about an hour at the computer desk until my friend finishes her class.

At 3:40 I go home and I eat something. I always expect a phone call from my friends. They arrive to my place at around 6:00 so we can go out to the park or somewhere else. When we get back home, we watch some movies.

After they leave, I go to bed to be ready for another great day at GEOS.

Lorena Munoz – Mexico