NEW CELBAN COURSE STARTS FOR NURSES

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

FASTER CREDENTIALS FOR FOREIGN PROFESSIONALS

It was announced this month that the Canadian government would establish a one-year deadline for having foreign professional credentials recognized in Canada. This is called the Pan Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.
Beginning Dec. 31, 2010, certain professions will benefit from the new process that guarantees an answer on foreign credential recognition within a year.
At first, this will apply to eight categories including registered nurses, pharmacists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and medical laboratory technicians.
Six more categories will be added a year later, in December of 2011, including doctors, dentists, licensed practical nurses and medical radiation technologists. These are categories in which Canada suffers chronic shortages.
Canada’s Labour Minister, Diane Finley, said that doctors were included in the second group only because the process of recognizing their credentials would take longer due the delicate nature of their profession.
Evidently the government is taking this problem seriously because it has set aside $50 million to implement the program.

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

MEXICAN PROGRAM COMPLETES FIRST STAGE

Our students in Mexico have almost all been successful in the first part of their training, and we had a celebration to mark the occasion.

In the picture you can see the teachers and staff having some well deserved relaxation.

Congratulations to all the Mexican nurses - we love you all!

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

MEXICAN PROGRAM LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY

The first session of our program for nurses in Mexico started in November. After the Christmas break it will continue until February when the nurses start preparing for the US nursing exam. The next sessions will start in May and will be held in two Mexican cities, Monterrey and Puebla.

The response to the first program was tremendous and we are looking forward to the next session with a lot of excitement. We are working out some minor kinks in the system as we go and expect each session to be better than the one before.

As in Vancouver, the social side of the program in Mexico is important and in the picture you can see them celebrating at the Monterrey school.

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

VMEI STARTS MEXICAN PROGRAM

We are pleased to announce that we have affiliated with a Mexican company, Nurses Now International, to produce a medical English training program for Mexican nurses. The program will be delivered in Mexico with the first students to begin classes on November 3, 2008 in beautiful Monterrey, Mexico.

This is an exciting project working with a great company. Pikku will be going down to Mexico to help get things started and two of our teachers will be going with her to deliver the program.

VMEI is now part of a consortium of leading international education and training organizations committed to the success of this program. The course is designed to help nurses that want to emigrate to the United States and to train nurses to work in the growing medical tourism industry in Mexico.

The program has been very carefully constructed to give the participants all the tools they need to implement a successful upgrade to their careers.

We wish the best to the new students and look forward to congratulating a very successful group of graduates.

OUR VANCOUVER SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Our Japanese counselor in Vancouver is Ayumi Ogusu. She is a nurse who has completed her course at the Vancouver Medical English Institute. She is able to provide information about Vancouver and about the school.

Her background in medicine and her experience as a former student gives her a unique perspective from which to help students at VMEI.

Her email is ayumi@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

ASIANS FACE ENGLISH BARRIER

Although this story was written about the United States, there are similar stories in all English speaking countries.

Asians face English barrier in United States

By P Parameswaran

Officials say more than 30 percent of 14 million Asian Americans — most of whom are foreign born — are weak English speakers

ONE Asian had his wrong leg amputated while another was thrown in jail for not taking her medication - all because of limited English proficiency in the United States. The cases may seem appalling but not uncommon to Asian Americans.

More than 30 percent of 14 million Asian Americans - most of whom are foreign born - are weak in English, making them less likely to understand explanations of medical procedures and medication instructions, officials said. They also risk losing equal access to voting rights and education and other government services because of the language barrier.

“I have heard many stories of failed access to services because of language issues,” said US House of Representatives lawmaker Mike Honda, who has introduced legislation with bipartisan support aimed at honing English language skills of immigrants. An ethnic Hmong from Southeast Asia “had the wrong leg amputated in a surgery,” he said. “Because no translators were provided, the man’s son was left with no choice but to try to interpret the consent form himself, and it was sadly misinterpreted,” said Honda, who represents a district in California with one of the largest Asian populations.The Japanese-American lawmaker cited another case, of a Lao woman suffering from tuberculosis who was “imprisoned for not taking her medications.

“Her English proficiency was limited, and the necessity of taking her medication was never explained to her. Thankfully, she filed a lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment and won,” Honda said.“These stories are not uncommon to Asian American and Pacific islanders and other minority communities. In fact, as appalling as these seem, many of our families face this reality daily,” he said. The legislation introduced by Honda and Republican lawmaker Cuban-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen supports English literacy and civics education, ensures that schools have adequate funding for literacy programs for English language learners and creates tax incentives for employers who offer adult education and English as a second language program to their employees. Although the bill is aimed at all immigrants, Asian American Justice Center President Karen Narasaki said the benefits “will be immense” for the Asian American community, which has a high percentage of English learners. “More than a third of our population is limited in English proficient and a majority are foreign-born,” she said. Asian Americans are also the most “linguistically isolated” racial groups in the United States, studies show.

About 22 percent of adults who spoke an Asian language spoke English not well or not at all, according to the 2000 Census. The percentage of seniors 65 and older in that category was 51 percent. Among households where an Asian language is primary, 30 percent was considered to be linguistically isolated compared to 26 percent for Spanish-speaking households. When disaggregated, the percentages are even greater among Southeast Asian groups - 45 percent of Vietnamese Americans, 31.8 percent of Cambodian and Laotian Americans, and 35.1 percent of Hmong Americans were linguistically isolated.

Daily Times (Pakistan) - Site Edition Thursday, August 07, 2008

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST COUNSELOR

We are delighted to introduce you to Ayumi Ugusu who is now working with Sonoe in our Vancouver school to help students get accustomed to Vancouver and our special medical English school.

Ayumi is also a nurse and has taken the course at VMEI so she is well qualified to give excellent advice.

Her email is ayumi@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

OUR VANCOUVER SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Our Japanese counselor in Vancouver is Sonoe Kurihara. She is a nurse who has completed her course at the Vancouver Medical English Institute. She is able to provide information about Vancouver and about the school.

Her background in medicine and her experience as a former student gives her a unique perspective from which to help students at VMEI.
You can email her at sonoe@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

OUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR IN JAPAN

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

MEDICAL BOOK WRITTEN AT 3RD GRADE READING LEVEL

VMEI is dedicated to improving communication between healthcare professionals and their patients. We teach doctors and nurses to speak English in a medical setting. The following article describes another approach to getting the information across to patients.

LA HABRA, CA--(Marketwire - June 30, 2008) - "What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick," written by two registered nurses frustrated with the typical 11th grade reading level of most patient education materials, recently reached a 2 million copies sold mark since the book's initial publication in 2000. It's estimated that low health literacy adds $73 billion annually to U.S. health care costs in unnecessary medical expenses.
Employers and health plans are paying an ever increasing price for healthcare, and "What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick" is emerging as a viable solution to reduce unwarranted Emergency Room and doctor/clinic visits. Health plans have also recognized the value of providing their members with an in-home self-help healthcare book that helps maintain the good health of their member's children.

"From sore throats to nose bleeds, this guide provides solutions to common health problems in an easy-to-understand manner that parents will appreciate."

Copies of "What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick," published by the La Habra-based not-for-profit Institute for Healthcare Advancement, have been sold or distributed nationally and internationally. The book has been hailed by clinicians as the "Holy Grail" of health care reference books and has been used in multiple studies to measure how emergency room overuse can be reduced with simple self-help tools that are written in easy-to-understand language.

The most recent results from the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Institute's four year outcome study have shown parents and caregivers who use "What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick" have reduced their Emergency Room visits by 58% and doctor/clinic visits by 41%. The book has also won numerous awards for its trailblazing efforts in improving health literacy.

Studies have shown 90 million American adults (approximately one in two) cannot read above a fifth grade level. To help these low level readers, the books presents more than 50 common health problems, from childhood ailments such as earaches, vomiting and colic, to how to handle more serious problems such as burns, choking, and broken bones. Each medical problem is presented in a logical, step-by-step-format, i.e., "What is it? What do I see?, What can I do at home?, When do I call the doctor or nurse?, and What else should I know?" The narrative is supported with over 150 lifelike illustrations allowing readers, and even non-readers, to quickly understand the information and take action. Instead of medical jargon the book uses simple language such as "yellow" newborn rather than "jaundiced" newborn and words like "broken bone" instead of "fracture" in describing medical conditions.

"People with limited healthcare knowledge struggle every day to understand doctors and nurses who talk in medical jargon, and they generally avoid reading medical reference books because they are too difficult to understand," explained Mayer. "This book empowers parents to take charge of their children's health by giving them practical information and delivering it in a way that is easy for them to read, understand and apply."

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement is a La Habra-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering people to better health. The Institute is nationally recognized for its efforts in health literacy and provides healthcare information through its various publishing efforts, the Internet, and its renowned local and national education programs. For more information, please go to www.iha4health.org, or call toll-free (800) 434-4633.

Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Jun 30, 2008 14:43 ET

OUR NEW VANCOUVER SCHOOL COUNSELOR

We are delighted to announce that our new Japanese counselor in Vancouver is Sonoe Kurihara. She is a nurse who has completed her course at the Vancouver Medical English Institute. She is able to provide information about Vancouver and about the school.

Her background in medicine and her experience as a former student gives her a unique perspective from which to help students at VMEI.
You can email her at sonoe@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

School Counselors

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

ONTARIO LEADS THE WAY IN HELPING FOREIGN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

ONTARIO HELPING NEWCOMERS GET JOBS

The Ontario government just announced a new grants to help foreign medical professionals who want to work in Canada. The government is investing $27.4 million in 40 bridge training programs to help newcomers get jobs in their field quickly. The federal government is contributing $8.1 million of the total funding.
These projects provide occupation-specific language training, mentorship, skills assessment and work experience needed for various professions.
These projects are offered in the Greater Toronto Area,
Kitchener-Waterloo Region, Hamilton, London, Niagara Region, and Ottawa.

Greater Toronto Area

George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology - (Two Programs)
- Health Care - A program to better meet the particular needs of health care workers, including occupation-specific language training.
Amount - $354,530

University of Toronto
- Pharmacists - A project to have the Faculty of Pharmacy's language assessment tool professionally recognized. Amount - $192,630
- Physicians - A 40-hour language-training program that is part of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario's Communication and Cultural Competence project. Amount - $177,400

Ryerson University
- Nutritionists and Dietitians - An expanded program to develop online pre-arrival assessment and orientation resources to help food and nutrition professionals prepare for practice before arriving in Canada. Amount - $1,000,000
- Physiotherapists - A program to help 44 physiotherapists get registered by providing occupation-specific language training as well as patient interaction and exam skills. Amount - $1,601,525

University of Waterloo
- Optometrists - Six on-line courses and tools to measure language, training and experience. Amount - $431,875

Fanshawe College
- Nurses - A program to help individuals get licensed and employed by providing job-specific language training, mentoring and clinical placements. Amount - $182,946

Catholic Immigration Centre, Ottawa
- Physicians - Program to help individuals to enter qualifying programs or get their medical license. Amount - $450,000

Hamilton Niagara Area

CARE
- Nurses - A project to improve the language skills of internationally educated nurses. Amount - $346,025

McMaster University
- Occupational Therapists - A five-course program that will prepare internationally trained Occupational Therapists to write the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists certification examination.
Amount - $519,300

Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
- Nurses - Training to prepare internationally educated nurses for clinical training, including language training, critical thinking and nursing practices. Amount - $408,047

Throughout Ontario

Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science
- Medical Laboratory Technologists - A project to establish language proficiency standards for internationally trained medical laboratory technologists seeking to enter the profession in Ontario.
Amount - $87,400

College of Medical Radiation Technologists of Ontario
- Radiation Technologists - A project to expand the options for assessing language proficiency. Amount - $115,940

VMEI sincerely hopes that the other provinces in Canada copy the example being set by Ontario. The government tells us that by the year 2011, all net labour growth will come from immigration. Programs like this will help to ensure that this growth includes the best and brightest medical professionals.

School Counselors

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

VANCOUVER MOST DIVERSE CITY IN CANADA

VMEI enjoys the variety of students that are drawn to our school. We enjoy hearing stories about different medical practices in our students' home countries, and we absolutely love to share different ethnic foods.

Some people seem to like to share romance also. In their report on 2006, Statistics Canada says that British Columbia is home to the highest proportion of mixed union couples in Canada.

Mixed marriages were most likely among ethnic Japanese and least common among South Asians and Chinese. Nationally, the number of mixed unions climbed by one-third.

Demographers say it’s another example of a largely tolerant society. A society in which more than 200 different ethnicities were reported in the new count.

Visible minorities made up nearly 42 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s population in 2006. The Chinese population still grew fastest – by 11 per cent from 2001-2006.

Visible “minorities” are now a majority in Richmond, at 65 per cent and Surrey is just a short step behind with 46 per cent of the population counted as belinging to a visible minority. Half of all South Asians in Metro Vancouver live in Surrey, the stats show, and make up 27 per cent of that city’s population, as well as 16 per cent of Abbotsford’s.

Filipinos are B.C.’s third largest visible minority, making up nearly 8.7 per cent of the population.

We have had students of many nationalities at VMEI, but we hope to see many more. It is part of a rich learning experience.

P.S. We know you have seen this picture before, but it fits the topic so well....

MORE TRIPS PLANNED IN NEW VMEI VAN

VMEI has just purchased a new van so that we can make more school trips in comfort. The van seats 8 people and will mean that we will not have to rent vans as often in the future. We are planning a trip to the B.C. interior in a couple of weeks as our first excursion in the new vehicle.

School Counselors

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI.

REPUTATION OF B.C. EDUCATION AT RISK

We are continuing to talk about this subject because it is very important to students choosing where they can get the best English instruction.
VMEI strongly supports efforts to regulate ESL studies in British Columbia. We feel that the good schools will be made stronger by intelligent legislation and the bad schools will be quickly weeded out. That can only benefit both foreign students and the legitimate schools themselves. The following is another article on the subject from the Times Colonist newspaper in Victoria:

REPUTATION OF B.C. EDUCATION AT RISK
Shady English-language schools and private colleges in B.C. don't just hurt foreign students who spend thousands of dollars for a second-rate experience. They also damage the province's international reputation and hurt institutions like the University of Victoria.

That's what makes it baffling that Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell continues to ignore the need to restore effective regulation of the language schools. The need for regulation is accepted by everyone but the school owners and the minister.

Since 2004, when the government eliminated regulation, there have been an increasing number of complaints from foreign students about fly-by-night operators and schools that failed to deliver promised services. Other schools have been accused of offering bogus programs so foreign students could get into the country.

The problems weren't limited to language schools. The Liberals also eliminated a government commission that oversaw private colleges in 2003, turning the responsibility over to the industry. The results were terrible. Only after a series of scandals did the government begin to address the problems.

Some 100,000 students a year, mostly from other countries, continue to attend unregulated English-language schools.

Coell commissioned a study of the problems. The report, by former B.C. Institute of Technology president John Watson was released last month. It recommended that standards be set and enforced for the language schools. "Everyone I spoke to from outside the ESL sector ... feels there should be some form of regulatory oversight of the ESL schools," Watson reported.

The B.C. Progress Board, appointed by Premier Gordon Campbell, put the problem bluntly last year. Even a few bad operators among the approximately 200 schools could be disastrous, it said. "In a highly competitive environment, B.C. can ill afford to have its reputation for quality education jeopardized by a handful of poorly operated organizations," its report warned.

Needless regulation is wasteful and inefficient and infringes on people's freedoms.

But in this situation, a government role is justified. The schools' clients, many from Asia, have little ability to determine their legitimacy or effectiveness before committing to a course of education that can cost thousands of dollars.

And inaction results in damage that reaches far beyond those schools. International students who feel abused by the schools don't draw distinctions about where the problems lie. They report to their friends and authorities in their home countries that they received second-rate education in B.C.

China, India and Korea have all warned their students to stay away from private post-secondary schools in B.C. Yet Coell won't restore regulation, accepting the industry's argument that it would place schools here at a competitive disadvantage.

The government's inaction does a disservice to both foreign students and legitimate schools and damages what should one of the province's great competitive advantages.

 

School Counselors

We have a Japanese School Counselor in Japan. You can get in touch with Tomoko Okada at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com


Tomoko is a medical professional who is very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI. We wish you a happy and prosperous new year 2008.

B.C.'S ESL PROGRAMS TO GET NEW REGULATION

B.C.'S ESL PROGRAMS TO GET NEW REGULATION

The B.C. government is planning to draft new regulations for ESL schools aimed at foreign students, following complaints from students and the Chinese government, Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell said Tuesday. The new rules will take effect this September.

VMEI has been calling for improved regulation for years now and is strongly supportive of the government’s plans. VMEI principal, Pikku Vichert, responded to the announcement, “I hope the regulations will be comprehensive and will have some teeth. Strong effective regulation is essential to developing a high level of instruction and ethical business practices in B.C.’s ESL schools.”

The new private college regulations come after the Chinese Ministry of Education recently warned students planning to study abroad about the lack of regulation of private schools in Canada.

Right now, B.C. can offer no quality assurance for either the courses offered by most private post-secondary institutions or for their business practices. Language schools face no requirement for registration. So not even the number of businesses is known, never mind the value of the courses they offer. The lack of regulation casts doubt on the quality of legitimate schools.

Coell said there have been complaints about private ESL schools in B.C. going back 15 years. Last year, the B.C. government agency that oversees the schools suspended the registration of Kingston College in Vancouver. Students there complained they had paid $15,000 in tuition for degrees the college was not authorized to offer.

The scandals prompted complaints from Indian and Chinese consuls, and China warned students to avoid Canadian private post-secondary schools because of shady operators.

TESL Canada (Teaching English as a Second Language) is strongly in favour of the
B.C. Government’s plans to draft new regulations for private colleges. “Minister Coell is taking the correct step by listening to the advice of BC education experts, such as TESL Canada, to determine new rules for this industry”, says Louise Aerts, Executive Director of TESL Canada.

VMEI looks forward to seeing what the new rules will be. We will keep you posted.

School Counselors

We now have a two great Japanese School Counselors. In Japan you can get in touch with Tomoko Okada (left) at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

And in Vancouver you can contact Yuki Terada (right) at:
yuki@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

They are both medical professionals who are very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI. We wish you a happy and prosperous new year 2008.

STUDENTS ENJOY INTERNSHIPS

Sometimes we are able to get internships for our students that match their qualifications exactly. We were very happy to be able to arrange a Canadian work experience at a nearby pharmacy for one of our wonderful students, Kanako, who is a pharmacist.
We all went over one day to see her at work and to encourage her.
We saved up some pharmacuetical questions for her and made her treat us just like ordinary customers. (Maybe she was happy when we finally left)

School Counselors

We now have a two great Japanese School Counselors. In Japan you can get in touch with Tomoko Okada (left) at: tomoko@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

And in Vancouver you can contact Yuki Terada (right) at:
yuki@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

They are both medical professionals who are very knowledgeable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI

AMBULANCE "RIDE ALONGS" GIVE STUDENTS VIEW OF CANADIAN SYSTEM

When we arrange internships for our students we do our best to find a situation that suits the student's speciality. We were therefore happy to be able to have Dr. Inagaki ride along with the British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS). He is an emergency room doctor from Japan and this placement suited him well.

The ambulance service now employs about 1,100 full-time paramedic and dispatch personnel, 2,200 part-time staff, and 100 management and support personnel. The provincial call volume is about 530,000 calls annually, ranking the BCAS as one of the largest ambulance services in North America.

School Counselors

We now have a two great Japanese School Counselors. In Japan you can get in touch with Tomoko Okada (left) at: vmei_tomoko@yahoo.co.jp

And in Vancouver you can contact Yuki Terada (right) at:
yuki@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

They are both medical professionals who are very knowledgable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.

Greetings from VMEI

NEW ACCREDITATION ORGANIZATION FOR ESL SCHOOLS IN CANADA

in a few months VMEI will have been operating for 3 years and will become eligible for accreditation. It is fortunate that the two main accreditation agencies have now united to form one strong and credible organization. VMEI congratulates them and looks forward to working with them to develop and maintain high quality language training in Canada. CONGRATULATIONS!

The following is part of their recent press release:

United strong voice for Canada’s Language Training Industry
A strategic move towards the future

A new organization with a new identity for language training in Canada
 

PRESS RELEASE – OCTOBER, 2007

On September 28, 2007, the memberships of the Canadian Association of Private Language Schools (CAPLS) and the Canada Language Council (CLC) – jointly representing over 180 ESL and FSL programs at universities, colleges and private language institutions across the country -made a landmark decision by voting to join together and form one unified national association and accrediting body for language training programs in Canada.

The ratification by the respective memberships was one of the final steps in the formation of the new association, which will be known as “Languages Canada/Langues Canada”.

Through this unprecedented cooperative effort, Canada will now benefit from having a strong, united and bilingual voice, positioning our country on the international stage as one of the pre-eminent providers of quality accredited English and French language training programs.

“This is a landmark occasion for Canada. ‘Languages Canada/Langues Canada’ will provide a strong identity for the Canadian language training sector” says Gerry LaBelle, President of CAPLS. “By joining forces we will build on the strengths of both associations.”

“Languages Canada/Langues Canada will adopt the rigorous quality assurance scheme that is used by the Canada Language Council as the basis for the accreditation that is required of all member programs” added Tom Musial, co-President of the CLC. “In addition, the association will benefit from the strong marketing, organizational and advocacy know-how of our colleagues in CAPLS.”

With the announcement of the ratification, the first Board of Directors (comprised of the steering committee members from both associations) is pleased to officially unveil the logo of Languages Canada/Langues Canada.

School Counselors

We now have a two great Japanese School Counselors. In Japan you can get in touch with Tomoko Okada (left) at: vmei_tomoko@yahoo.co.jp

And in Vancouver you can contact Yuki Terada (right) at:
yuki@vancouvermedicalenglish.com

They are both medical professionals who are very knowledgable about the school and life in Vancouver and would be happy to help you prepare for a course at VMEI.