Vanier College has long welcomed students from around the world to study with us. These students come speaking English as their second, third, or even fourth language. Our faculty, particularly our English Department, has developed an expertise in helping these students develop their communication skills so that they succeed in their academic studies.

In addition, the Vanier College Learning Centre lends assistance to these students so that they can continue to develop their English skills outside of the classroom. The staff work with individual students throughout the year. A highly successful peer tutoring system has been established where students who are strong in English are matched up with students who are not as strong in English. The Centre also offers numerous contests to encourage an interest in writing or in speaking. The Creative Writing Contest each year attracts numerous writers, for example. Soundings, the Centre’s annual publication, includes the short stories and poetry written for these contests. The Learning Centre began to publish stories of the lives of Vanier students with the booklet, Voices From Around the World, Stories of Vanier Students, in 1991 and has published a Voices booklet each year since.

In 2002, the Vanier College Language School was established. This now thriving school attracts international students to its full-time courses and citizens of our Montreal community to its part-time courses. A number of these students, having learned sufficient language skills, have gone on to succeed as full-time regular DEC students. We are very aware of how challenging it is for these students, and indeed, for all Vanier students for whom English is not their mother tongue, to master a new language.

It is in this context that English Now: An Online Tutorial was created. The immediate goal was to compile exercises to help students feel more at ease in using the different verb tenses. However, our objectives soon included developing reading comprehension, vocabulary development and listening skills. Knowing that students learn best when involved in meaningful activities, each new verb tense is introduced by means of a story or interesting text. The exercises, carefully planned to go from simple to complex, are never simply disparate sentences but are included in poetry, stories, or articles. The emphasis throughout English Now: An Online Tutorial is on encouraging students to become involved. Each unit has a theme of relevance to language learners. Crossword puzzles ensure that vocabulary has been learned. The stories and articles have been written by Vanier students for other Vanier students. One of the most attractive features of English Now: An Online Tutorial, is that it entirely reflects Vanier’s, and Montreal’s, diversity, with the interests and needs of Vanier students in mind.

Learn and enjoy!

Judy Macdonald
The Learning Centre
Vanier College