Homestay
:Student A
Her host family is consisted with (Father, Mother, 3 brothers (7yrs old,4, 4) and a dog)
Host parents are both working and they distribute houseworks to help each other. They always make delicious dishes for family and very kind to talk to student when they have questions, any troubles. She was treated as a real member of their family and could enjoy great time with them.
:Student B
...
Outside of school
 Vancouver is a city of buskers |
|---|
 Get in touch with First Nation culture |
 Seaplanes depart from Waterfront |
 You couldn't talk Vancouver without visiting Victoria |
 You can find maple trees everywhere |
 Don't miss winter sports at Cypress! |
 Walk around the market at Granville Island |
 Gastown, the area of history and souvenir |
 It's time for dance and party |
 Yellowknife, if you can afford |
 They are more common and bigger than you expect |
 Vancouver Public Library and SFU Library, whichever you prefer |
 Downtown |
Volunteers/Local Activities
Volunteer is an useful opportunity to join the community, meet new people and practice your English skills. A lot of volunteers are available in Vancouver,
however, you can experience an unique
work. That is "Food Bank",
an organization which collects food and
provides it for those who do not have
enough money to buy food. This
organization was established in 1982,
and assists 26.500 people weekly.
Although Japan also has the
organization since 2002, it has not been
recognized so much and the scale is
smaller than Vancouver's one.
There are some events which we can join as volunteers. I did volunteer in Sakura Days Japan Fair. This event is a two-day Japanese festival held at VanDusen Botanical Gardens every year. I worked at information booth with a woman from New Jersey. We answered questions from visitors and explained each performance in English.
Meetup also helped me to have opportunity to communicate with local people. For example, I joined Walking Meetup Group. In this group people enjoy walking and talking for two or three hours in Vancouver or Burnaby. Sometimes people who have knowledge about places share their stories. I could made local friends and explored Vancouver.
We can find opportunity to speak English with local people by ourselves.
Vancouver has many conversation club for ESL
students. I belonged to English Improvement Club. Ususally we did conversation with members and Canadians planned various events, such as play sports, go to famous places and held seasonal parties!
I built a strong relationship with them!
Canadians are truly supportive for ESL students and they answer any questions anytime. After back Japan, I keep in touch with them.
Also I taught Japanese to Canadians at Clubhouse Nikka Centre. The style was face to face, and partner was changed everytime. Sometimes, I needed to teach Japanese in only English.
I was always impressed by their attitude for learning Japanese.
There were precious encounters with Canadians. For example, one of Canadians invited me his Choir concert in Christmas.
My another tresured activity was SGI Youth Choir. We sang songs at SGI meeting: I have a dream, We are the world and Youth, scale the mountain of Kosen-rufu. Of course, it was good practice for pronunciation, but also we encouraged members through singing songs.
Audience cried by our songs.
Fortunately, I joined one of Chiarity Critsmas Concert as SGI Youth Choir. We sang "haha" in a church. It was truly historical moment of my life.
All experiences always motivated me to live positively.
I came to focus on the local activities in the last term, March and April. Evergreen was about the environmental conservation and investigation in my community: digging out invasive English Black Berry, and examining water quality of Brunette River. Many participants were friendly and open to talk in English.
Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival was another opportunity for practical English communcation with native speakers. My title was adjudicator secretary, the assistant of the competition judges. It included both manual jobs and "on the spot"...from the audience guide to the missing-competitor seeker. It was weird that once I had to explain to my boss her job (I was a mere volunteer, you know). Anyway, those expereinces inflated my confidence to great extent.
Visit Websites To Find Your Opportunity!
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Go Volunteer (http://govolunteer.ca/)
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Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/)
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Clubhouse Nikka Centre (http://www.clubhousecanada.com/clubhouse/volunt eer.php)
My job for the volunteer was sorting food. Food was gathered at a warehouse and volunteers sorted food according to the kind of food. First, food was mixed in a big box and I sorted it into four carts: cans, water, pasta and snacks. Next, I packed cans into five boxes: meat&fish, vegetable&fruits, beans, soups and meals. Finally, I carried those boxes to an assined place.
Those works were very simple and I accustomed it soon. While the work, I enjoyed talking with other volunteers. If you are looking for an opportunity for volunteer, I recommend you to join Food Bank!
