The weather was fantastic for Friday’s surfing lesson!

The time has come to say Goodbye………

 I have worked at GV Sunshine Coast for six months now and have loved every minute of it!

During my time here I’ve taught Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced classes, and each of them has been an interesting and exciting experience. On top of teaching the students I’ve also learnt a lot from them and am going to really miss everyone. The other teachers have been amazing too and I’ve made some great friends during my time here. I’m now going to have a three week holiday, travelling up to Cairns and visiting the islands, then going to work at the GV in Perth for the rest of my time in Australia. Although I’m sad to be leaving Maroochydore, I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone in Perth and having another amazing experience! Thanks guys! 

Yara has been a student here for only a short time but she has been quite industrious. A keen enthusiast of Yoga, Yara has organised to teach free yoga classes for her fellow school mates after class.

“I really like to do yoga and to study about it. When I did a yoga class here last week I felt very happy and grateful for the opportunity.

It’s great to share something that we enjoy doing.

Thank you Global Village, you are helping me to improve my English.”

As you know, this is week 3 of the three week option block, so if you haven’t selected an option yet for the next round,  please do so by Friday.

A snap shot from the other Elementary Speaking Option class.

I’m not sure what is happening here but this photo was taken in Andy’s Reading Option class.

A little acting from Alison prompts the students in the Advanced Discussions Option class.

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A wonderful afternoon was spent playing volleyball last Friday. A competitive yet fun game. Great shots guys!

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In the Elementary Speaking Option this week students focussed on vocabulary dealing with food.

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If you are thinking of travelling to New Zealand now is the time to buy your pass.  Magic are offering a great deal for travel in the North and South Island, all for only $399 plus a FREE Bay of Island’s pass.  You can book the pass in April, but travel can be made within one year!

Kayley will be in school today, so make sure you go and see her if you need any help with travel in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Catherine and Joey (Deok Sang) have joined us today. Catherine is in Pre-Intermediate A and Joey is in Intermediate B. Please say hello and make them both feel welcome.

Here are some happy ‘pics’ from last week’s student night.

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Cotton Tree park was the venue for last Friday’s afternoon activity which was a great way to say goodbye to some students and teachers from the ECC study group.

Learning English is an ongoing process that doesn’t end when classes do or when you finish your course. It may even surprise you to learn that a good proportion of what you learn is learned incidentally, so, take advantage of the fact that you are currently living and studying in an English speaking country. Here are some helpful tips:

Speaking:

Speak English as much as possible and try to stress words appropriately. Intonation is really important and how you say something may have a totally different meaning to what you want to say, for example, ‘hello’ could be said in a friendly, sarcastic or indifferent tone.

Use your imagination and try this exercise:

Ask three different people, your friend (1), someone you don’t really know (2) and someone you don’t like (3):  what time it is, or invite them out for a cup of coffee.  You will probably find that you will say it a little differently each time.

Avoid speaking your own language while you are here because each time you do, you reproduce your own language’s stress and intonation patterns making it difficult to master the ones required for English. This is partially why you speak English with an accent. Mimic the sounds you hear, it’s a good way to learn. Besides, we know that you can speak your own language fluently so work on English!

Some students mistake speaking very quickly with being fluent. Speak slowly and clearly, so even if you make a mistake the listener will understand most of what you are trying to say. If you speak quickly the listener will find it difficult to understand you.

If you can’t find someone to practise speaking with, read aloud to yourself. This really helps with stress and pronunciation. Have you ever noticed that everything sounds great in your mind when you read silently, but not so great when you are asked to read aloud in class? If possible, tape yourself and listen to your pronunciation.

Listening:

 Listen to the radio and watch the local news. Make sure you listen for ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’ and ‘why’.  Listening to music and learning lyrics to songs is a fun way to learn vocabulary. You can try and guess the lyrics to songs before you download the lyrics from the net.

Eavesdrop on conversations on public transport, it isn’t difficult because most people use their mobile phones and they’re quite loud. Even so, try not to make it to obvious you might upset someone.

Watch DVDs without subtitles because the idea is to improve your listening not your reading.

I hope these tips are useful so stay tuned for the next instalment.

Patty Thomas

Academic Manager – GV Sunshine Coast

Hi everyone,

Here are 10 studying tips from me that will hopefully help reduce those post entrance exam stress levels a bit:

1. The CAE exam is the second most difficult Cambridge exam for second language learners to take so it actually could be worse, you could be doing CPE! 
2. Please buy a minimum of two big files to record your work so that you can revise!
3. READ, READ, READ!!!!!! As much as you can – if you only read trashy gossip tabloids, that’s okay because you are reading and it is an authentic text!!! Otherwise, for our more intellectual types, grab a newspaper, book whatever tickles your fancy, floats your boat or blows your hair back… (silly English idioms)
4. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!!!  To anything you can get your hands on – movies, songs, radio or even eavesdrop on people’s conversations – as long as it is natural English you want to hear it!!!
5. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!  This is vital.  I truly believe that if you work hard, you will get results and if you don’t you won’t.  Simple!  We also have a crazy amount of work to do during the course and if you fall behind you will really struggle to catch up again.
6. SPEAK, SPEAK, SPEAK!!!! I DO NOT EVER want to hear you speak any other language than English – I not only want you to speak English constantly, but also to DREAM in it at night.  Some people say that you are truly fluent when you do this.
7. Dictionaries, Dictionaries….To use or not to use? Some teachers say that you should have 2 dictionaries, 1 English – English and another ‘your language’ – English.  I personally feel that you should try to forget your language completely but I am open to different learning styles….
8. USE OF ENGLISH is probably the most difficult and frustrating paper for students and the one where you see the least improvement.  This is not something to worry about because if you get below 60% in one paper and you do well in the others you CAN STILL PASS!
9. Along with your two files make sure you have a vocabulary note book to record all you new vocab.  When recording new words please remember that you should build a word and that it should never exist in isolation!!!!!!
10. Finally everyone, have a ball, be a sponge and learn as much as you can!!!  Learning another language is such fun and doing it in an awesome climate on one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world is even better!!!  Seize the moment!

 Adi.

Geundeok, Saori, Eunjeong, David and Yannick have joined us today.

Geundeok, Saori, Eunjeong are studying General English, while David will be joing the CAE class and Yannick is an English and Surf student. Welcome guys.

Our afternoon activities are a great success. Last week students enjoyed a game of bowls at Alex Headlands.

Everyone loves wakeboarding. Here are are recent photos.

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Some happy snap shots of students enjoying the BBQ at Cotton Tree Park.

Meghan dazzles students with her unorthodox kicking style and great tackling technique.

Our visiting students from ECC had a didgeridoo lesson in the student area this afternoon and they were joined by some of our Saudi Arabian students who were keen to participate. Scott Estrich from BushLab Team Boosting demonstrated how to play the didgeridoo and encouraged every one to have a go. I have to say that when Ahmed had a try he sounded like a sick elephant which made his friends laugh.

What a great way to finish class on Friday. Students enjoyed a  variety of educational activites with fellow classmates. In these particular photos you can see students listening to and taking orders. Don’t let the photos fool you, it wasn’t all fun and games and I believe the competition was fierce.

How long have you been teaching at GV Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore) and what did you do before you worked here?

I’ve been working here for about a month now and before that I was working at GV Perth.

Do you speak another language and what was your biggest challenge when learning it?

I speak French. The biggest challenge when learning French was having the confidence to speak and practise what I had learned.

Which class are you teaching at the moment?

Pre-Intermediate A

Please tell us about a student in your class who you feel has made outstanding progress…

Lindsay has recently made outstanding progress, especially in her speaking.

What do you enjoy most about teaching at GV Sunshine Coast?

Teaching here keeps me in touch with an incredibly broad group of people, whom I would probably not get a chance to meet in another job.

If you weren’t a teacher, what job do you think you would be doing now?

Playing semi-professional basketball for Perth.

What do you like most about living on the Sunshine Coast?

The amazing scenery and people.

What is your favourite cafe, restaurant, shop or place in Maroochydore?

The Duporth Tavern where we host our Student Night on Thursdays.

There will be a huge green party this Thursday at the Duporth Tavern, to celebrate everything Irish, such as green beer!  Megan says, “Don’t forget to wear green and be prepared to party hard”! “I Look forward to seeing everyone there”.

It is St Patrick’s Day, so everyone wears green

Some happy snap shots of the girls and their teacher Suzie.

It’s great to see that they’re still smiling after ten weeks of intensive studying in the FCE Preparation course and they look ready for action! Best of luck girls.

Adi and the students from the CAE class had a little farewell BBQ on the balcony this afternoon.

We would like to wish them all the best of luck with their upcoming exams.

Hi guys,

10 wait staff and sushi rollers are needed for a new restautant in Mooloolaba.

The owner is keen to employ students from GV,  so what are you waiting for?

Speak to Patty or Beth about the details or find the information on the notice board.

           Meet Meghan at Duporth Tavern

                        Thursday night…

               … and she’ll buy you a drink.

    Remember to take your passport for identification

TIME: 8-10pm. Don’t be late because you’ll miss out on your drink.

Location: 52 Duporth Avenue, Maroochydore.

Sales Assistant – Dotti (Sunshine Plaza)

Are you ready to join our team at our Dotti store, Maroochydore as a Part Time Sales Assistant?

This role is for around 15 hours per week and requires flexible availability mid week and on weekends. 

You will provide exceptional customer service, be great at maximising sales and will take pride in maintaining the store presentation

Drop in your resume to the manager at Dotti

Call Centre Operator

Have you got a passion for sales? Or do you love talking to people? If so we may have the perfect position for you. A very well respected company based in Maroochydore is looking for call centre operators to help sell their holiday packages. The employer is looking for people who are very reliable with a great phone manner. The company offers a great base rate plus a bonus system. Shifts will be either, 9.00am – 2.00pm, or 2.30pm to 7.30pm Mon to Friday and 9.00am – 2.00pm Saturday. Other shifts may be available. Must have a great phone manner, To apply please email your resume and job seeker ID if applicable to craig.dillon@maxemployment.com.au ***Please note that if you have not been contacted within 5 days of submitting your application your associated expression of interest should be considered unsuccessful on this occasion.

 Bar Staff

Current RSA Certificate is essential as is a minimum of 12 months experience in a fast paced bar environment. Must be 18+ years of age due to service of alcohol. If you believe you have a great skill set , the right experience and would enjoy working in a fun environment , while lapping up the great beaches and sites of the Sunshine Coast , then send through your resume asap to admin@forwardaction.com.au, and one of our friendly staff will contact you today.

 Domestic Cleaners

Positions available for Domestic Cleaners to work in nice family homes helping busy professionals and families with cleaning and general housework. Work in Buderim and surrounding areas. Choose your own hours and where you work.You can work as little as 10 hours per week or more full time if you want. Position suits anyone who wants to join the booming Home Service Industry and who wants a stress free job. The work is what we all do in our own homes every day – dusting, vacuuming,mopping, cleaning, ironing and tidying. Some families want more of a full housekeeping service where we help with any household chores. This is a great opportunity to secure a permanent position with the largest and most reputable Home Cleaning company in Australia. You must have your own reliable transport, mobile phone and you must be available same days and times each week. Please call our recruitment team on 07 33216527 for more information.

 Part-time Bi-lingual Backpacker Travel Consultant

A lively Noosa backpacker travel agency is looking for a part-time Travel Consultant to join their busy team.

The right candidate must have excellent English, and must be able to speak one other language fluently.  Must be energetic, social and have good computer skills.  Good pay, bonus system and great travel perks.  Full training given.  Immediate start. 

 Interested?  Send us you resume

 (Ask at Reception for details –page 3)

Don't forget to  ask for help if you need help with your

MARCH Activities – 2011

Ten new students joined us this week: Hsiang – Hsu, Hsuan Ting, Lea, Rai, Angela, Kathrin, Eveline, Simon, Youna and Stephanie.

Have you every thought how amazing it would be to get away from everything for while?  Well now you can, with one of the newest and best tours available on the East Coast.

What better way to find yourself, have new experiences and make everyone at home jealous! 
 
The Castaway Island tour costs just $179 + $80 local fees.  It includes 2 light aircraft flights and 1 night camping on Middle Island.  Just $30 for extra nights.  The departure is from the trendy, surf town of 1770, which in itself is worth a visit.

Tribal Travel in Noosa is issuing free tickets to all GV students who book an East Coast Australia package.  The tour is exclusive to Tribal Travel, so speak to one of the Tribal girls if you’d like more information.
 
Live the dream!