Don't Study English in Vancouver

Why am I making this video?

Well, I'm making this video for my Korean students.

Ok

Now I'm Canadian and I've traveled through... throughout Canada

and I visited many of my Korean students and I saw how they studied English in Canada.

And also many of my students have gone to Canada for six months...

one year... two years to study English and comeback and I've talked with them.

So, I learned a lot about studying English in Canada.

And what I learned is don't study here.

Ahh, Vancouver and Toronto. These are the bigger cities in Canada.

And I'm going to say don't study English in Vancouver.

and...don't study English in Toronto.

because...of the students...ahh... that I've seen, and there's been a lot, that went to Canada

and studied for six months or a year and they came back.

Ahh...I've noticed that students that studied English in Vancouver and Toronto...

their English was not as good as my students that studied in smaller Canadian cities.

Ok, so I'm going to talk a little bit of maybe 'why' that happens.

And before...uh...I talk about the 'why', we should understand if you plan to go to Canada...

Uh...you should have a primary goal.

Now up here I have an example of two goals.

Improve my English speaking ability.

Have a great travel experience. Ok.

Both of these are good goals.

There's probably other goals but we should identify the primary goal.

The first goal and the first goal I think should always be number one.

When we go to Canada, we want to improve our English ok we want to go there for one year...

...come back. And we speak English...uh...very well.

You know it's very embarrassing if you...your parents

spend a lot of money to send you to Canada... you go there and you come back

and there's only a little bit of improvement.

So our first goal should be improve our English

So every decision we make, should be to help the first goal.

Of course in Canada, wherever you go in Canada, you will have a great travel experience.

So understanding our first goal... do not study English in Vancouver...

...or Toronto.

All right, we should also think about what kind of friends we want to meet in Canada.

Ahh...Toronto and Vancouver...

Uh...they attract a lot of international students.

ok so if you go to the language school...uh... or you're just walking around...uh...probably

you're going to meet a lot of international students.

These are going to be your friends. These are possibly going to be your roommates

Again, we have some goals here. You want to go to Canada.

You want to make Canadian friends.

Ok, to improve your English.

And you want to make international friends. This is good, too.

...but again our primary goal should be - try to make Canadian friends. Ok?

Again a lot of my students... they go to Canada... they go to Vancouver for one year

They come back and they say " I have a lot of friends" and I asked them, "well

"how many Canadian friends?' ...no...they have no Canadian friends. Ok...

They have lots of new Korean friends. And they have lots of Japanese or Chinese friends.

That's good, but we should try to make some Canadian friends because this

will really help improve our English.

Ok.

Study here!

Here are some better cities.

Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa.

Great cities to study English.

and 'why?'

Well problem one.

There's too many..ah...k..k..Koreans...in Canada. Like when I say Koreans...

there's a lot of koreans living in Canada. There's also a lot of Korean

students going to Canada. And there's a lot of Korean tourists going to Canada.

Now, I love Korea, and I love Koreans. But if you're going to Canada to study English

or practice English.

Ah...You don't want to be around a lot of Koreans

cause you're just going to speak Korean more than you speak English.

Ok, so it's very important to get away from the people who speak the same language as you.

Ok. It's very tempting. After a long day, you're tired and you're sick of English

to go play with your Korean friends. And on the weekend...

play with your korean friends. Ok.You're not practicing your English.

So, here are Canadian provinces, not all the Canadian provinces.

Ontario... This is...ah...the province with Toronto and Ottawa.

British Columbia. Vancouver. Victoria.

So Toronto, Vancouver, don't study English there. You can see there's a lot of Koreans there.

These are the Koreans that live there. Korean-Canadians.

And again as I said, they're students and tourists.

These are the cities I recommend. Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg.

So you can see not many Koreans there. Good chance to practice your English

Ok, another problem...the language schools.

Now when you're in Korea, you probably go to the 어학원 [language school helpers] first.

and you... you talk about studying English in Canada.

And they might recommend Vancouver or Toronto.

I hope you tell them: "No, no, no, I want to go to a smaller city."

But when they recommend Vancouver or Toronto...ah...

They might get some incentive, some something, you know, money from...

Vancouver language schools and Toronto language schools. These are big language schools.

They have a lot of students. They have a lot of...ah...money to try to get more students.

So don't trust the [language school helpers] too much, ok?

And the language schools in Vancouver, Toronto

very big very professional. And they are a problem because...I put three reasons here.

First reason, they make it too easy...for students.

Ah... Another reason they steal your English-speaking experiences.

I'll talk about this in a moment.

And they control your money.

Actually they control your time and money.

So...

Let's go back to the stealing. Language stealing.

So if you go to the language school in Vancouver or Toronto,

ahh...they're usual going to pick you up from the airport.

They're going to help you finding housing.

Ahh...they help...they help you make a bank account

and they have some weekend events for Saturday, Sunday.

And they offer some class trips .

Ahh...and I'm going to say this is stealing your language experience.

Remember you're going to Canada to improve your English.

It's very important that you struggle and have a difficult time.

That is where you're learning to speak English.

So, for example, if you go to make a bank account by yourself,..

wow, what a learning experience. You got to go open a bank account.

You have to communicate what you need to the Canadian teller.

And then you have a goal to accomplish.

This is a really good learning experience.

Not the 학원[language school] or the language school

taking you to the bank and helping you do everything.

And actually maybe you don't even speak any English.

Same with the weekend and class trips, you're...you're at the language school you're in a class...

most of your class, especially Vancouver 'n Toronto,...

are going to be other Koreans. Ok.

Ah...over fifty percent of your classmates are going to be other Koreans.

You're going to have some international...uh...students there. Uh...Probably from Asia, Japan, China, Taiwan.

You might have some European students - very few European students.

Maybe some South American and there's a lot of Mexican students, too.

Ah...great they're also great to improve your .English

But, you know, they're controling your time and your money

by offering their programs. You go out on a trip,

you're...you're making friends and practicing English but really,

your goal is to make Canadian friends and interact with Canadians.

So I don't really like this system.

Uh... It's ok, you know, it's ok. It works, but I want you to

try a more difficult and better way to really improve your English.

Alright, let's talk about Canada in a little more detail.

This is Canada. I put the red pins: Vancouver, Toronto - Don't go there.

Uh...I recommend middle Canada ...the middle area...the middle cities.

So yeah. Vancouver and Victoria. Vancouver, Victoria - beautiful cities.

Ok, if you go to Canada, you must visit Vancouver. There is a good reason why many Koreans go to

Vancouver. It is beautiful. So, spend a week travelling in Vancouver. But again,

Don't study English in Vancouver.

Victoria very close to Vancouver. A lot of Koreans, but a better place

to help improve your English.

Ah...Alberta. Province of Alberta. Calgary, Edmonton.

Perfect. These are perfect cities to study English. Ok.

They're about a million people each.

Uhm...Not many Koreans.

Safe places. Ah...you would have a great experience in these cities.

Saskatchewan. Saskatoon. Regina.

I...I'll tell you I had a student who went to Regina for nine months.

He said, he...he went to Regina. There was no Koreans. He was forced, he had to make

Canadian friends. He came back his English was amazing.

Ok. Just nine months in Regina.

You know he really improved his English.

And he loved Regina. Of course Regina is not a perfect city.

But he had a great time there. And he made Canadian friends.

Winnipeg..uh..getting really interior, in the center of Canada.

Another good place to study English. I've had some students go there.

It's a good place.

Uh...Winnipeg.

Uh...this area's... I'm not going to lie. A little bit cold.

So if you do go to Winnipeg, dress warm.

But that's part of the Canadian experience.

Ah...this is the province of Ontario. This is where Ottawa and Toronto are.

Now before I talk about Ottawa and Toronto, I'm just going to mention the East coast of Canada.

There are some places... some good places to study English,

but I'm sorry I don't have much information about these places.

Ok... I... I haven't had many students that went to study out here.

I haven't traveled so much in this area. So I'm sure there's good places in Eastern Canada,

Uh... but I can't really recommend them today so I know about central Canada

very well and I recommend this area.

Alright, so, Ottawa, Toronto. Ottawa is the capital city of Canada.

It's a beautiful city.

I think it's okay to study English there. But Toronto - don't study English in Toronto.

Too many... too many Koreans in this area. And Koreatown...uh... if you study in Toronto

most your friends are going to be Korean and you're you're eating...uh... you know Korean

food and doing Korean activities almost every day you know this is not part of

the Canadian experience. Alright?

Alright let's do a summary of what I've been telling you.

Be sincere about your goals.

Remember your goal should be - improve my English.

That's your first goal.

Make Canadian Friends.

Alright, so all of your decisions focused on those things you have to achieve those things.

So do not study English in Vancouver or Toronto. Ok? these are not good places to study English.

They do not help your goals because there's too many Koreans in these cities.

You are going to have a lot of Korean friends. You are going to go to Koreatown.

You are going to be speaking more Korean than English

Don't go there. They're great places to visit, but don't study English in Vancouver.

Get out of the 어학원 [language school helpers] language school system.

Uh...this is okay at first. I can understand why people might need this.

but to spend one year in this system where they're controlling your time and

money and your selection of friends... is only your classmates.

Uh...you got to getaway from this all right.

Uh...be brave. Be strong. You can do it. You can get out of the system and start

interacting with Canadians and living in Canada.

So that brings us to participate in Canadian culture.

You're going to Canada (another country) to study English,

but you have to participate. You have to live in Canada. So you have to do things

Canadians do. And you have to join clubs. And join classes. Meet Canadians.

Alright, this is really important to improve your English.

Ah...of course you're going to have a great experience.

You do not have to go to Vancouver or Toronto to have a great experience.

You can go anywhere in Canada. I promise you. You will have a great experience.

Ok? So, this goal is very easy. So, you do not have to study in Vancouver or Toronto.

Alright. Some final words.

Abroad is not the place to study,

it's the place to practice, experiment with, and test your English.

And you should think this way too. Korea...you go to the language school, you study from a

course book...uhh.. you study from a teacher. But when you go to Canada, you should get

away from the teachers get away from the course book this is your chance to use