Are you able to quote three famous Canadians? Maybe not and that’s why your lovely EC Toronto team proposes that you learn some things about them. Jim Carrey He is one of the most famous actors in the world: He can be really funny like in The Mask or in Bruce Almighty but also serious like in The Truman Show. We are sure you know his name, but do you know he is from Toronto? When he was younger he lived in Newmarket, a beautiful and historic little city close to here. He began his career at 18 years old when his father decided to help him, conscious of his talent. His first stand-up was in Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club on Richmond Street, and today he has lots of awards… Great career! Alanis Morissette – Be careful guys, you will be in love! Alanis is a singer-songwriter guitarist and record producer. Born in Ottawa in 1974 she began to write at 9 years old and she produced her first album at 11!  Today, she is loved by lots of Canadians and people all over the world. She has won 16 Juno awards and 7 Grammies and has sold more than 60 million albums. If you’re attentive to her videos, you will see some scenes taken in Toronto: In a TTC subway for example in ‘Thank You’. Favorite song of your EC Staff? They are two: Crazy, and Guardians, and you should understand the lyrics if you are in an intermediate level English Course at EC Toronto. Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu0fTmHsDqE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCBIG28On0o Tim Horton No, it isn’t only a coffee brand, but yes, there is a link J Actually, our awesome Canadian brand was founded by Tim Horton, one of the better hockey players in the world. He played 27 seasons, 20 with … Read more

For our ‘Giving Back’ Day on April 20 this year, EC Toronto staff gave up their Saturday to volunteer at the Toronto Kiwanis Boys & Girls Club in Regent Park. Regent Park is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto and is the largest Social Housing project in North America. We cleaned and re-organized their large storage room, which was a little messy! The Toronto Kiwanis Boys & Girls Clubs provides a safe place for after-school, evening and school break programmes. The Club provides children from low-income families with supervised after-school activities centered on literacy and learning; cooking and nutrition; creative arts; physical activity; personal development; career development and leadership training. A giant THANK YOU to all who came to help and especially to Hye-Rim for organising this day to give back to the community. EC Toronto is planning to organize more volunteering projects with this great organization so please stay tuned! For more photos of EC Toronto staff working at the Boys & Girls Club, check us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto You can find more information on the Club here : http://believeinkids.ca/

Things to do along Yonge Street this week-end! First of all you have to know some things about this street, because it’s really peculiar. It cuts Toronto into two parts Indeed Yonge Street begins at Lake Ontario and crosses the entire city heading north until Richmond Hill. All streets, roads or avenues crossing Yonge are divided in two parts. Do you know the address of our awesome EC Toronto? 124 Eglinton Avenue West 🙂 It is listed on the Guinness Book of Records Do you know why? Because Yonge Street is the longest avenue of the world, with 1896 kilometres! It crosses the province of Ontario from south (Toronto) to north (Lake Simcoe). Yes, yes, but I want to know what I can do this week-end!! Don’t worry, we are coming to that. You can go shopping at the Eaton Center,  a huge mall in downtown. It’s sure, you will find all you want there! If you prefer you could go to Panasonic Theatre to see the musical phenomenon Cats, with an all- Canadian cast. If we are lucky and the sun stays here until Saturday you can enjoy drinking a healthy smoothie at Dundas Square, or simply walk along the street. Sunday morning the Yonge Street 10K run will take place, a really famous marathon in Canada. Yonge will be closed for cars until 11am for the race, and you can easily see it along the way. The start is near EC Toronto, at Yonge and Eglinton, at 9 AM. Of course, everyone will have the recent events in Boston on their minds, so in addition to extra security, the slogan of the race is “Runners in Support of Boston”. Keep checking our blog and FB page http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto for more information about what to do in Toronto, designed especially for … Read more

Time for Basketball!! Have you heard of the NBA? The NBA is the National Basketball Association and the best known championship league around the world. It is an inter-regional championship league of North America (United States and Canada). World famous teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs or the Chicago Bulls all play in NBA. Some players are really well-known, like Michael Jordan, who became an icon of basketball and of sports in general. Did you know? On November 1st 1946, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, in Toronto. This NBA game is now regarded as the first played in its history!  In this way Toronto is a historic place for basketball… And guess what? The Raptors, which is the actual Toronto professional basketball team is the only team in Canada to be a part of this league. And they are doing a pretty good job this season! But the Basketball season is nearly over and the last game of The Raptors will be on Wednesday April 17th (this week). They will play against a famous team: The Boston Celtics! The game will take place in the Air Canada Center at 8:00 PM. There are still some places for those who want to participate in this great experience. So why don’t come and experience the awesome atmosphere of the stadium? Tickets are available from the Activities Desk in the EC Toronto office until Tuesday 2:00 PM! Ticket cost is $40. more information on their Website: http://www.tnttours.ca/tours-and-events/toronto-raptors And if you don’t get to the game, check our EC Toronto facebook page on Thursday for photos! http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto So come and get your places for one of the greatest events in Toronto! At EC Toronto we are basketball fans and we will strongly support … Read more

Today at EC Toronto we had our 2nd annual Crazy Hat Day! Prizes were given for the most creative hat and the best home-made hat, and here are the winners — Chisato and Carlos. Both made their own hats, and both are amazingly creative! Don’t you agree?  We love them both! Even our special panda participated, wearing his EC orange baseball cap! And check our facebook page to see more photos of our EC Toronto staff in their wild and crazy hats! http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto If you missed it, you can come back next spring when we will have Crazy Hat Day 3.0! Your EC Toronto team     

Scarves, gloves, rooftops all white, any questions possible …. on this 11th  of April 2013, everybody has observed the come-back of snow in Toronto! Anyone who was here in April 2012 remembers that it was sunny and warm, really summer! Crazy weather is the rule in Toronto! In addition to its modern building, its high tech equipment, its great teachers and its friendly staff, EC Toronto has other advantages : students who come from all over the world, with 68 nationalities in the school! We have met three Korean students: Duyong, Dax and Seongju.  These students weren’t surprise by snow, because in their country, there is a lot of snow between December and February. Besides it’s not unusual for us to have still snow in March or April. Given that they came to Toronto 3 months ago, they have already survived the Canadian winter and even snowboarding in Blue Mountain resort! In opposition, Analinda and Carlos come from Venezuela, and arrived in the middle of March in Toronto. They studied in Caracas but live now not far away, always in a big city. They aren’t familiar with snow because in their country there is never snow! “There are two seasons in Venezuela: One with lot of rain, and a second with lots of sun. But the temperature is always around 20 degrees.” Inevitably, they feel cold here, particularly today. But they aren’t surprised to see snow in April, because for us like for lots of people in the world, Canada is snow-homeland! And they prefer snow to rain… So it’s only bliss! & you EC Toronto students, what do you think about this short winter come back?

The Cherry Blossom trees in Toronto will be blooming soon!!! Do you know the best place to see cherry blossoms in Toronto? You’re right if you said High Park (see our earlier blog for more information about High Park), near the Keele subway station on the Green Line. Spring is a beautiful time of year in Toronto, and we want to celebrate this with our EC Toronto students. Do you think this is only for students taking the intermediate level English course in Toronto at EC? You’re right again if you said NO, it’s for ALL students of EC Toronto. We have taken some photos of typical spring flowers for you – can you name them? Right again, they are tulips, daffodils and hyacinth. The Cherry Blossoms will bloom when the weather starts to warm up, so let’s hope that happens very soon. If so, the cherry trees will be covered in blossoms the last week of April. Then we will make an announcement at the school (and on Facebook of course!) and we will all go to High Park together! Keep watching our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto and the announcements at EC Toronto for the date of the activity!!

Spring is here! Maybe it doesn’t look like spring yet, but it is on its way. For the students of EC Toronto we think this is a great opportunity to visit some places and experience nature in Toronto! At EC Toronto we have chosen two locations for you to enjoy. EC Toronto students, let spring in this beautiful city captivate you!!! Don’t forget to take your camera!  ALLAN GARDENS CONSERVATORY  Allan Gardens Conservatory is a major landmark and tourist attraction in downtown Toronto. It’s historic, was built in 1910 and is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. A botanical gem in the heart of the city! Allan Garden has six greenhouses with an area of over 16,000 square feet. These showcase a diverse and beautiful permanent collection of plants from around the world. Experience nature in a whole new way by getting to know palms, banana trees, orchids, jasmine, gingers and much more! Allan Gardens also has beautiful seasonal flower shows. Hours of operation: 10 am – 5 pm, 365 days/year Free admission, Wheel chair accessible How to get there: Allan Gardens is located on the south side of Carlton Street between Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets. It is accessible from the College subway station by taking the Carlton streetcar East or from the Sherbourne subway station by taking the Sherbourne bus South.           HIGH PARK High Park is Toronto’s largest public park featuring many hiking trails, sports facilities, diverse vegetation, a beautiful lakefront, convenient parking, easy public transit access, a dog park, a zoo, playgrounds for children, a couple of eateries, picnic areas, greenhouses,  a bunch of squirrels and various events throughout the year. High Park has so many different plants and trees and flowers that you will discover a new species or pick a new favourite tree each time you visit the park. The most … Read more

  Meet Chul, one of our new students at EC Toronto! Although Chul has only been at our school for a few weeks, he is already well-known by teachers, staff and fellow students for his amazing drawings of dream cars! Chul is studying industrial design in his home country of Korea, and is very talented! Chul would be happy to show more of his car designs to students at EC Toronto, so keep checking our EC Toronto Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ecenglish.toronto for events where you can learn to draw like Chul!!! Do you have a talent you want to share with the other students at EC Toronto? Send us a message on Facebook and we can showcase your special skills in upcoming blogs and activities! We look forward to hearing from you! Your EC Toronto team