Strong grasp of mother tongue boosts students

CALGARY, CANADA–A cacophony of sounds emerges from the St. Mark School library as parents and children create multi-coloured advent wreaths. Intermingling conversations in Spanish, Asirian and Tagalog are encouraged in this specialized preschool for students full story

Integrating immigrants into the workplace takes time

CALGARY, CANADA–Thousands of studies and practical experience have demonstrated that culture-sensitive HR management practices improve performance in the modern, diverse workplace. Due to cultural differences, management methods that work well in Calgary will not full story

Canada’s struggle to attract foreign students becomes Charest campaign focus

MONTREAL, CANADA–Canada’s struggle to attract foreign students became a focus of Jean Charest’s election campaign Friday as the Liberal premier of Quebec promised new measures to attract and keep the world’s best and brightest. full story

B.C. #1 DESTINATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

VICTORIA, CANADA–B.C. is the number one destination of choice for international students coming to Canada, announced Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Minister Murray Coell during International Education Week. full story

Catholic board settles ESL teaching contract

OAKVILLE, CANADA–The Halton Catholic District School Board has ratified a four-year settlement with its English as a Second Language (ESL)/Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) instructors, who are members of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4605. full story

Translating English into earnings

SARNIA, CANADA–Usually, when a twentysomething packs her bags and heads abroad to teach English, she comes home a year or two later with some stamps in her passport and a few extra bucks – and then she moves on to something else. Not Tina Bax. When she returned to Sarnia, Ont., in 1995 after a teaching in South Korea, she wanted more. “I developed a real passion for full story

The unstoppable rise of the English language

FREDRICTON, CANADA–Just over half of Africa’s 52 countries speak French, but the number is dropping. This month Rwanda defected, announcing that henceforward only English will be taught in the schools. It would not be overstating the case to say that this caused alarm and despondency in France. You couldn’t help feeling, either, that Rwanda’s trade and industry full story

Canadian schools to help stranded Japanese students of Gateway21

NEW YORK, NY–A Canadian language school chain said Friday it will not charge tuition to Japanese students who have been studying at its member schools through Japan’s bankrupt school broker Gateway21 Co. Subject to the benefit are about 160 students already studying the English and French languages at 13 member schools of the British Columbia-based full story  related story

Board hopes to welcome more foreign students, and their fees

HAMILTON, CANADA–Hamilton’s public school board raises about $1 million a year from fee-paying international students, and staff say that could increase. Trustees last night voted to continue foreign student recruitment until a staff report in January outlines creation of an international department. The plan is expected to suggest links to an arm’s-length agency, full story

Word Face-off: Library vs. Bibliothèque vs. Bibliotheek vs. Bibliothek in Canada, Belgium and Switzerland

WORD FACE-OFF–Today, a comparison involving multilingual countries and their Google searches for certain words. Let’s begin with Canada: Library totally dominated here although its popularity declined somewhat through time. In Canada, approximately 75% of the population speaks English and 25% French. When doing a Google Insights for Search test for the same word in both full story