http://www.vec.ca/ A news blog and RSS feed from Vancouver English Centre en-us E. John Love 12-Nov-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=308 VEC are offering a 10% tuition discount promotion from November 1 to December 31, 2008 for students. This applies to regular full-time and part-time ESL programs, as well as the Vacation Study Program, Ski/Snowboard + English Program and Business Internship Program. * This offer does not apply to the Cambridge (FCE/CAE), Summer Youth and TEFL programs. * This offer does not apply to other fees, such as Homestay. * This offer applies to new students and students who extend programs. * This is only valid from November 1 to December 31, 2008. * This cannot be combined with any other special offer. * We reserve the right to remove this offer at any time. * Students who have previously changed programs are ineligible for this offer. * This applies to all payments sent by December 31, 2008, regardless of when they are received. Current Events VEC News 12-Nov-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=307 Recently, we have made articulation agreements with several post-secondary institutions, such as: Clark College, Selkirk College, and Seneca College. Students may progress directly to one of these partner institutions, without the need of a TOEFL score. We now have 28 pathway agreements.  You can find a list of our post-secondary partners here: http://www.vec.ca/english/1/linkages.cfm Features and Promotions VEC News 11-Jul-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=306 The Academic Preparation Program is a one-month, intensive program, designed for students who wish to continue their studies at college or university. Students are encouraged to develop independence in reading academic texts, in writing essays and a research paper, in participating in level-appropriate oral/aural activities including debates, discussions and presentations, and in applying learning strategies and research skills effectively. Once completed successfully, students have options available at VEC's partner institutes Learning English VEC News 11-Jul-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=305 VEC's official Facebook group now has almost 800 members. Learn about upcoming events. Get to know VEC students. Stay in touch with students who have returned to their home countries. See photos of our education fair, our International Day, and more! Join our Facebook group now. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25016450288 Current Events VEC News 11-Jul-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=304 Students who register and pay their fees by August 31, 2008, will receive a 5% tuition discount.  This applies to regular full-time and part-time programs, as well as the Vacation Study Program, Ski/Snowboard + English Program, and Business Internship Program. Learn more about the Summer Promotion here: http://www.vec.ca/English/6/2008-summer-promotion.cfm Features and Promotions VEC News 11-Jul-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=303 VEC helps international students apply to universities and colleges in Canada. Our Student Advisor guides students through each step of the process. We have close relationships with many universities and we are familiar with their admissions procedures, so we are usually able to expedite applications. We do not charge VEC students for these services. People who are not VEC students may request these services for a fee. Counselling Fees for Non-students<br> Undergraduate: $400 Masters: $500 PhD: $600 Features and Promotions VEC News 11-Jul-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=300 VLC will be hosting a school event on Wednesday, Feb 20th from 1:00 ~ 3:00. This will be a school event where half of the classes attend for the first hour and the second half in the second hour. All students will be accompanied by their teachers to the event and encouraged to do some class activity regarding the visiting institutions. We would like to see outside students attend as well. Also notice that we will not be offering seminars at this fair and will do the draws for the fair prizes the following week during a lunch hour. Current Events VEC News 02-Jan-08 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=290 At VEC, there are some new programs launched, these are: Think In English Understanding Canadians (UCAN) Legal English Need more information, please contact VEC your language marketers. Features and Promotions VEC News 22-Oct-07 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=287 1) We have gone completely wireless. 2) VEC TV 3) New higher-speed Internet access 4) New Legal English course 5) New Institutional Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1) We have gone completely wireless. Free wireless Internet service is now available in every square inch of our campus. Our students and staff can now use wireless laptops and Pads in any of our 47 classrooms and six computer labs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2) VEC TV Our students can now practice their English by watching dozens of English-language television stations on their wireless laptops and PDAs. There is also a rotating menu of five English-language movies to choose from, thanks to our DVD player. After completing their programs, our students can still access these resources from their home countries online. There is no charge for this service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3) New higher-speed Internet access We have upgraded our Internet service, so our Internet access is now faster than ever. We even have a redundant service we can revert to a completely different provider in case of technical problems. As always, our students have free access to the computer labs seven days a week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4) New Legal English course We now offer Legal English as an elective course. This is a four-week course, with classes from 12:50 to 3:40 pm, four days per week. This course focuses on the practical use of English for people working in the legal profession, especially in regard to: International Relations, Contract Law and Business Law. Course content includes the forms of English used in legal documents, as well as skills such as drafting documents and speaking. Lessons also cover the writing of letters of advice and drafting clauses for agreements. Vocabulary acquisition includes various areas of interest, such as: mergers and acquisitions, competition law, intellectual property, diplomacy, and contract law. Field trips to Canadian law courts are offered in this course. These provide an opportunity to see how legal English is actually used in the courts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5) New Institutional Partners We have recently established partnerships with the following three institutions: Coquitlam College This college is located in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver. Coquitlam College offers a high school program and a university transfer program. Institute of Advanced Media (IAM) IAM gives students the skills they need to become commercial web developers. The IAM campus is in downtown Vancouver. Vancouver Film School (VFS) VFS features 14 different entertainment arts programs. Classes are taught by industry professionals. In one year, students learn the skills needed to immediately start their careers in the entertainment industry. Students can usually transfer directly from VEC to one of our partner institutions without a TOEFL or IELTS score, as long as their VEC level is high enough. You can find more information here: http://www.vec.ca/english/1/linkages.cfm Features and Promotions VEC News 12-Jun-07 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=271 Here is a list of events we will be attending: COEX Korea Student Fair (Seoul, Korea) – March 31 to April 1 a2 International fairs (Izmir/ Ankara/ Istanbul, Turkey) – April 11 to 15 BMI Partnership Workshop & Edu-Expo International Spain fair (Madrid, Spain) – April 18 to 23 IETEX Saudi International Education & Training Exhibition (Dammam, Saudi Arabia) – April 22 to April 26 MEETES Middle East Education & Training Exhibition & Symposium (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) – April 30 to May 3 ICC fairs (Nagoya/Osaka/ Tokyo, Japan) – May 11, 12 and 13 WISH fairs (Nagoya/Osaka/ Tokyo, Japan) – May 16, 19 and 20 BMI Partnership Workshop (Niagara Falls, Canada) – May 22 to 23 WEBA workshop (New York, USA) – May 24 to 25 Current Events VEC News 02-Apr-07 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=261 Features and Promotions VEC News 28-Mar-06 http://www.vec.ca/cf_blog2/index.cfm?CommentID=260 Vancouver English Centre now has a second TOEFL iBT computer lab. It has 14 cutting-edge workstations just like our current TOEFL iBT lab, and doubles our ability to administer the TOEFL Internet-based Test (TOEFL iBT). 'We expect to have this new lab certified for TOEFL iBT testing this month. This will make it easier for VEC students to register for the TOEFL iBT at a time and location convenient to them' said VEC President, Ken Gardner. Internet-based TOEFL at VEC: http://www.vec.ca/English/3/toeflibt.cfmTOEFL Preparation at VEC: http://www.vec.ca/english/3/toefl-preparation.cfm   Features and Promotions VEC News 08-Feb-06