Summer School at St Margaret’s School (all girls’ school), Victoria, British Columbia

Locations

Spend the summer improving your English language skills while living in paradise.

The SMS English 11 summer course and English preparation course are rigorous six-week programs for students wanting to get ahead and challenge themselves to achieve top marks in English 12 or to improve their language proficiency for success in their content classes. These courses run from June 23rd to August 1st, 2014 and provide a total of 120 teacher contact hours of instruction and a further 100 hours of English tutor/Educational Assistant contact hours. This is a homestay program, as we want our boarding students, in particular, to have a break from residence over the summer and have the chance to speak English and live with one of our wonderful host families.

The program is divided into morning classroom lessons and afternoon and evening experiential lessons. The course outline gives an overview of the morning classroom lesson content. The afternoon and evening learning activities focus on getting students out of the classroom into learning programs and experiences to improve written responses about the vibrant summer opportunities throughout Victoria.

SMS English 11 Summer School Course 

The SMS English 11 summer course is a rigorous six-week program for students wanting to get ahead and challenge themselves to achieve stronger results in English 12. This course runs from June 23rd to August 1st, 2014 and provides a total of 120 teacher contact hours of instruction and a further 100 hours of English tutor/Educational Assistant contact hours. 

The program is divided into morning classroom lessons and afternoon/evening action lessons. The course outline gives an overview of the morning classroom lesson content. The afternoon/evening learning activities focus on getting students out of the classroom into learning programs and activities throughout Victoria. Students will have the opportunity to attend the Victoria Jazz Festival, the Festival Mexicano, the Victoria Ska Festival, and the Victoria International Buskers Festival. These festivals are the setting for a variety of writing activities that will give students the chance to experience and write about some of the most exciting summer events Victoria has to offer. 

Further, the students will get to explore Victoria in guided comparison activities in the Moss Street Market, Cook Street Village, James Bay Village, and Oak Bay Village. Such field trips will give students the chance to see some of the places popular with local people that tourists and international students rarely get to experience.  

Perhaps the most exciting educational experience included in the program is the Shakespeare Course that is offered by the Victoria Shakespeare By the Sea Theatre Company. Robert Light, the director of the Shakespeare Company, will instruct a two-week, three-hour per day Shakespeare course on two plays: Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing. This unique opportunity will give students amazing insight into Shakespeare, and this knowledge will prepare the students to be successful in working with Shakespeare’s plays for the final exam. More importantly, this experience will give students a great advantage when studying Shakespeare in Grade 12. 

The SMS English 11 Summer course will give the students the opportunity to see four different theatre productions with four different theatre companies. They will see The Life of Judy Garland at the Roxy Theatre; they will see the Langham Court Theatre Company’s summer play; the Belfry Theatre Production; and, of course, students will see Macbeth as performed by Shakespeare By the Sea Theatre Company. 

There is no other summer English 11 course that offers four theatre productions, a 30-hour Shakespeare course, 100 hours of afternoon tutorial support and learning experiences, and 120 hours of direct in-class teaching. For students who want to do more than get the four credits for English 11, for students who want to achieve top grades in English 11 and English 12, St. Margaret’s School’s Summer English 11 course is the advantage that will put them at the top of their class!

Tuition fee: CAN$ 5,500