DECEMBER 98

Another successful year comes to an end at C.S.L.I., thanks to your efforts once more! Now that we have been in business for 8 years we are really appreciating the long-term relationships we have developed with our agents. Our international agent network has now expanded this year to include agents in Chile, Venezuela, Turkey, Argentina, the U.A.E., Egypt, Hungary, Panama, Dominican Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, and the Czech Republic, to add to our established list of 27 other countries.
C.S.L.I.'s 1998 Ambassador-of-the-Year goes to Reinhold Kremer of Germany:
Congratulations Reinhold for your dedicated work in promoting Canada in Germany and for assisting numerous students with their travel plans, many times without any personal reward. Part of his award includes a lifetime scholarship for himself or any member of his family. You are a good friend and a true credit to your country Reinhold. The great news for you and your clients is that this provides a wider range of nationalities of students to our classes. This is particularly so in the advanced levels and in our Business English and TOEIC programs, so students also have the opportunity to make friends and learn about other cultures, other than just Canadian. We would like to welcome these new agencies to our family and we hope you have the chance to meet with some of them in the future. C.E.C.
Banff Agents Workshop:
For those agents that attended the Banff Workshop, I think you would agree that the show was professionally organised and very successful. From our past experience at the I.C.E.F. shows in Miami and Berlin, this certainly matched the quality, if not surpassed it! Since the agents present were focused solely on Canada, the quality of, and the interest from these agents were remarkable. It was the first one arranged by the Canadian Education Centres and attracted 120 agents from 31 countries and just over 100 schools from around Canada. Another is planned for late next year and we will have details next month to help you get a head start on other agents, as we strongly recommend you make efforts to attend. As suggested earlier this year, contact your local C.E.C. office or Canadian Consulate for information on this, or email us for assistance of how you can best participate. Obviously, the closer your relationship with your local C.E.C office/ Embassy, the better your chances of receiving an invitation. This was a great chance for us to meet up with a number of you again and to show of one of the most beautiful attractions in Canada - the Rocky Mountains. We were all blessed with perfect weather during the show and most agents took the opportunity to visit nearby Lake Louise, the most photographed place in Canada. Before and after the show, C.S.L.I. hosted a number of agents in Vancouver, although the weather wasn’t as appreciative.
Thank you for those who took time to visit us and we always appreciate visitors eager to see what we have to offer at our school. Remember that C.S.L.I. is constantly growing and changing so please take the opportunity when you can to call by and see for yourself, as well as to meet some of our students from your countries. Please let us know when you next plan to be in town as we would be honoured to assist you in finding a comfortable place to stay, be it a hotel or one of our caring homestay families. What better way to experience what it is like for one of your clients when you send them to us!
Canadian Education Centres (C.E.C.):
You may be familiar with this government organisation set up to assist the promotion of Canadian private and public education overseas. It was originally funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs through the Asia Pacific Foundation, and is now paid for by it’s school members. The C.E.C. has offices in about 12 countries now and usually has it’s office attached to the Canadian Embassy or Consulate. C.S.L.I. is a paying member of the C.E.C., which gives us the right to display our brochures in their offices overseas. Please note that the Managers of these offices are very keen to work with agents in their countries so we recommend that the C.E.C. is an effective way to support your marketing campaign in promoting Canada and C.S.L.I. In some countries it is even possible for local agents to members of the C.E.C., so please enquire. These centres sometimes have meeting rooms to assist you with promotions so discuss this with us to see how we can best help each other in developing business. If you would like more information about your local C.E.C. office, please contact me, and I will be happy to introduce you to them as one of our local agents. They have plans to open another five offices in 1999 in such places as Colombia, Turkey, and Japan. Please note that most C.E.C. offices and Canadian Embassies/Consulates carry a list of local agents for students to contact should they need assistance. Please make sure that you are on it, as this will help with the number of referrals you receive from them. Good luck!

Honduran Hurricane Fund:
C.S.L.I. students, homestay families and staff raised a total of almost $1500 toward the Honduran disaster and moneys were forwarded to the Consulate of Honduras. Christmas! This time of the year is always a special time of the year for us and our students. Apart from the usual festivities, some students have the chance to experience their only white Christmas in their lives! This year was perfect as snow fell two days before Christmas, which happened to be the night of special Christmas Dinner Graduation Party. It sure was a night to remember, which included a full turkey dinner served by the teachers and staff of C.S.L.I., our monthly graduation ceremony, a Christmas play put on by our students in Scott’s class, Christmas carol-singing, and of course, no Christmas would be complete without Santa Claus! It has become our annual tradition for students to ask the C.S.L.I. Santa for special requests, and this year lucky students were rewarded with such things as a bicycle, new boots, a full-size wallmap of the world, dinner vouchers, ski-passes and a trip to San Francisco! Congratulations to those grateful students and thank you to some of our local retailers on Robson Street for helping C.S.L.I. make these wishes come true. It’s always a treat for us to help those students who are either great students or less fortunate than others.
Merry Christmas to you all and have an incredibly successful 1999!

SEPTEMBER 1998

Dear Friends. Summer in Vancouver has sure been successful and we are still enjoying excellent temperatures (around 25-30 Cel.). This makes for great Friday activities and this month we are planning a wide range to compliment our busy study schedule. They include horseback-riding, the Indy Motor Race, the P.N.E. Exhibition and Fair, rollerblading, tennis and scuba-diving lessons, Whistler and Grouse Mountain tours, Stanley Park and Aquarium, the Fringe Theatre Festival and tour & taping at a live television show. Of course students also have the option of various academic options on Fridays, including community and company volunteer programs.
World Cup:
World Cup '98 proved a great spectacle and Lori-Ann and I were fortunate enough to be there! Unfortunately, there could only be one winning country and Brasil was courteous in sharing their trophy with the hosts! It was a real privilege to share this event with so many marvelous people from around the world. As usual, tickets were NOT as difficult to buy as the press made out and we managed to see 12 games in total. Congratulations to France for creating such a carnival, especially on the closing days in Paris. We look forward to seeing some of you in Korea and Japan in 2002 with another C.S.L.I. World Cup Winner!
C.E.C. Banff Agents Workshop:
The next major event in the Canadian education calendar is the Agent Workshop in November, and I hope most of you took the opportunity to have yourselves invited. C.S.L.I. did it’s best to promote all it’s agents to the organisers, but as you can understand, we have no final say in the selection of agents invited to attend. Unfortunately, the C.E.C. organisation may have overlooked some very suitable candidates because of quotas for each country, and also because of a preference toward those countries where they have offices established. For those who are not familiar, the Canadian Education Centre is a government organisation, established to promote public and private education overseas, with the support of individual schools. If we don’t see you there, then we hope to at the next I.C.E.F. Agents Workshop in Miami. For those agents attending, we have sent out invitations to our own Vancouver familiarisation trip before and after the Banff show, since most agents will be flying through Vancouver. Although you can expect temperatures to be a little cooler at that time of the year, it won’t dampen a good time here!
Lori-Ann and I hope to see some of our South American agents when we travel there in October Web-site Improvements:
As promised, we are introducing direct links from our popular website to our most established agents’ email addresses. This is one of the ways we want to encourage students to register through our agents, especially in situations where students prefer to deal with someone locally and in their own language. We expect our website to bring you business, and the success of this depends on how quickly agents can reply to student queries, as we have found this to be critical in our marketing. There are certain conditions involved in arrangement and we will be discussing this with each agent as we bring them on-line.
Student Numbers:
Despite the worsening economy in some parts of the world, students are continuing to flow to C.S.L.I. in record numbers. Our capacity this Summer is at it’s limit again and we are expecting another 72 arrivals on Monday. Our graduation boat cruise last Friday saw off a number of very satisfied and much loved students, and we are very grateful to our new agents in various cities of Mexico, Brasil, Turkey, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, France and Colombia for introducing a nice mix of nationalities to C.S.L.I. It remains our priority to establish an even mix of nationalities at C.S.L.I., although this is not always possible in each class when classes are determined by students' English ability.
Student of the Month Award:
As C.S.L.I. creeps toward it’s 10th anniversary we would like to remind you that our monthly winners of the C.S.L.I. Student of the Month Award receives a very special bonus. Apart from the normal accolades, she or he receives an invitation and FREE airticket (from their home country) to return to Vancouver to attend C.S.L.I.’s Anniversary Party, along with all other previous winners of this award! All other students will be invited also attend, but of course, at their own expense. We will keep you informed with this event as we would also like to see you there also (Special attention will be given to those agents who are responsible for providing us these winning students!).
2002 is the year but we promise to keep the date clear of World Cup in Japan and Korea! This years winners to date include: Marcos Comerlatto (Brasil) August Jung Yung Jang (Korea) July David Cobin Fernandez (Spain) June Yokiko Yamakita (Japan) May Mika Ogaki (Japan) April Keun Joo Kim (Korea) March Mei Chu Chen (Taiwan) February Dette & Rie Horvath (Hungary)

JUNE 1998

Well summer is here and students are flocking to our sunny shores again this year. Our overseas marketing in Mexico and South America in particular is beginning to pay off. We would especially like to welcome those new agents we have established this year and we promise to keep you in touch with news here in Vancouver. We are expecting both campuses on Robson Street to be operating at full capacity.
World Cup ‘98:
Our C.S.L.I. World Cup promotion was a great success! If there is anything that seems to bring the world together more than English, then it must be football ! Congratulations to our World Cup winner, Luc LeVan from Switzerland who has won tickets to games in France next month. LoriAnn and I hope to be joining him at some stage during the tournament, and we hope to have the chance to see your country play. It will be spectacular! During our absence C.S.L.I. Manager Michelle Balogh will have complete control so please feel welcome to communicate with her on all matters, as she is in the position to make all decisions. Please inform all your incoming students over World Cup time, that all games will be televised live at C.S.L.I., and will be screened and played during class breaks. Note that games will be played between 6am and 12pm (noon), Vancouver time (Pacific time), and night games in France are played during our lunch break.
Website Update:
Please check for improvements to our website as we are providing you more information. Following your requests, we have added Sample Study/Curiculum, Volunteer/Internship Program, our full Refund Policy, and improved information about Vancouver and it’s weather, and our Special Package Offer....
!!!!! SPECIAL VANCOUVER-TORONTO SUMMER PACKAGE !!!!!! Full-time English * Materials* Activities * Homestay * 3 Meals/day * Airport connection * Registration * 1 month Vancouver and 1 month Toronto, 3 months Vancouver and 3 months Toronto. ALL INCLUSIVE!!! 6 months Vancouver and 6 months Toronto. When you break this down you see what a great price this is!
We have found a number of students who study in Canada wish to see more of the country. C.S.L.I. has teamed up with another quality English school, VILLAGE ENGLISH in Toronto, to offer you and your clients an excellent package. We have known Greg Nesbitt for a number of years and we have found VILLAGE ENGLISH and it’s service to be of a similar high standard to C.S.L.I’s. Our programs are both conversationally based, and we both share stimulating and caring environments to our students, incorporating activities into our English study programs and offering quality homestay families.
Don’t just take my word for it...check out the VILLAGE ENGLISH WEBSITE: http://www.village-english.com Bookings can be made through either school and we will coordinate arrangements with you. It is possible to start in any of our locations and finish in the other. This is a Summer special is available for a limited time only!
Volunteer/Internship Programs:
These have developed from the popularity of the volunteer work that students have participated in during our Friday activities. We are now offering students to the chance to practice their English in a social or professional environment in the community and even within a company. Opportunities are available subject to demand and the level of English and professional skills and experience of the student applying. The benefits of this supplementary program is that students have the opportunity to experience the real life work environment in Canada and to work alongside Canadians. It provides a student the chance to exchange professional and cultural ideas and to contribute effectively to our society. In exchange for this, overseas experience is gained, and in most cases, a favourable reference is provided by the company or organisation. To most students this recognition, along with their acquired English Certificate of Merit from C.S.L.I., will provide greater working opportunities in the their home countries! Please note that internship is meant to be a supplement to our English classes and are not being offered as an independent service. Positions within companies are available subject to the needs of the company, and may vary in both time and length of internship (ie.hours per week and number of weeks). THIS IS NOT AN OFFER OF WORK, AND NO PAY OR COMPENSATION IS BEING OFFERED, other than English experience. If you have student interested in volunteer or internships, please forward their resumes (in English) indicating their level of English, their field of specialty and their requested field of internship. Technically, students seeking volunteer work must carry a working/holiday visa and those wanting an internship should have a valid visa or student authorisation for Canada.
Chatline:
Coming soon to C.S.L.I. ...STUDENT AND AGENT CHATLINE WITH VIDEO!!! We hope to have this in place next month and it will allow parents and family to communicate directly with their loved ones at C.S.L.I. Although most computers don’t have video attachments, families (boyfriends & girlfriends) back home will still be able to see live images from C.S.L.I. while making direct communication on the chatline. We will keep you posted!
C.S.L.I. Students Raise Money For Charity:
At C.S.L.I., we are always seeking new creative ways to develop students’ English skills and at the same time, make a difference. Since the beginning of C.S.L.I. six years ago, we have regularly held fun fund-raising auctions, where students and their homestays and teachers contribute various goods (freshly baked cookies, cakes, wine etc), items (apartment furniture, utensils, clothing etc) and services (teacher offer dinner at their homes or personal one-on-one tours & tuition). We have also received complimentary tickets to major sports and cultural events for auctioning, including ballet, opera and basketball tickets and music and cosmetic gift vouchers. Although the process is for worthy causes, we make the event an entertaining and educational one, and we raise usually around $1000 each time. C.S.L.I. charity auctions take place every two months are all proceeds go to various local official charities such as childrens foundations, womans abuse shelters, and the homeless foodbank.
Although Vancouver and Canada is fortunate enough not to have some the major social problems that some other countries have, we do have other people less fortunate than us, and our students enjoy the opportunity to contribute to those in need.
In May, C.S.L.I. students, teachers and homestay families raised over $500 for the Vancouver Childrens Variety Club, which supports needy and handicapped children. C.S.L.I. also contributes monthly to four underprivileged children and their families in poverty stricken locations in India, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Chile. These children are between the age of 5 and 12 years, and it is out goal to provide support enough for these children so that one day they can attend C.S.L.I. on our scholarship program. C.S.L.I. also offers scholarships to overseas students and to new Canadians arriving here on refugee status.
If you have a specific student in your country who you feel deserves the chance to develop their future with English classes, please let us know and explain their special situation.

MAY 1998

Announcing the first ever Canada-Wide English Network:
At last the chance to work together with a network of private language schools offering you a variety of quality programs from coast-to-coast! We guarantee you personal and professional service in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Charlottetown. Free Airfare Between Schools ! Register your students at two or more of our Canada-Wide Network schools and we will pay for the airfare between those schools! What a great chance to learn English AND explore Canada!
Read on for more exciting information or visit our site: www.csli.com.
Winner of our Agents’April Survey:
Congratulations to Vasily & Maria in Russia. You have available a one month full-time scholarship to promote or sell anytime over the next 6 months worth $1,255CDN. Thank you everyone for completing our survey last month.
University Students’ Meeting a Great Success at CSLI:
CSLI students had the opportunity to meet with over 20 university students from SFU, UBC and BCIT last Wednesday. This was a chance for our students to discuss and socialize with their Canadian peers and practice their English skills.
18 Nationalities are Represented at C.S.L.I. in May:
Following intensive marketing overseas last year, CSLI has expanded the number of nationalities here. Korean students only represent about 10% of our student base and Japanese about 25%. 25 countries will be represented at CSLI over our summer months.
Free Friday Activities in May Include:
This month, students get to choose (at absolutely NO COST) such great activities as: Horseback-riding, Rock-climbing, Scuba-diving, Stanley Park & Aquarium tours, Wine-tasting, Practice TOEIC/TOEFL Test, Science World & Imax, Pronunciation Class, Ballroom Dancing, Technical Writing Class, African Drumming, Rollerblading, etc., etc.
April Student of the Month Award:
Congratulations to Gun-Tae Kim and his agent for introducing him to us. Gun-tae is here in Canada with his wife and child and has been studying at CSLI for 6 months. Gun-Tae is the 12th Korean to win our top student award & our free airfare prize.
Canada-Wide English Network:
Please read our Profile attachment to learn more about our partners. CSLI is proud to be able to offer you 6 other locations in 3 other provinces with our partners across Canada. Lori-Ann and I have grown to know Patrick, Helen & Paula from Prince Edward Island, Greg from Toronto, Yuriko & Nobuko in Montreal, and Christiane in Ottawa well over the last year, and we are convinced that they can provide you the same professional and personal care that CSLI has become known for. We all offer effective full-time adult English programs that you can combine with our exciting Free Airfare Between Schools promotion, you are also free to choose any one of the different programs available, from other languages to teen programs. Whatever you are interested in, I know we can help you make the best decision.
The Canada-Wide English Network is being announced this week at the Rendezvous Canada in Halifax this week so you will be amongst the first to know about our partnership promotion. All of our partners are well established and respected schools so we would not be surprised if you are already doing business with some of them. We are all members of the CAPLS and the CEC and work actively with these organizations to promote Canada overseas.
The purpose of the Canada-Wide English Network is to provide you with a one-stop service for your clients during their entire English study in Canada. This concept has evolved from CSLI’s earlier partnership with our dear friend Greg Nisbet at Village English and from the success of our Vancouver-Toronto Package.
Please accept this as a personal introduction to our partners and friends across Canada and make sure that for extra attention, you tell them that CSLI introduced you to them!
Free Airfare Between Schools:
Our full-colour flyer is available on our website this week at: www.csli.com To encourage you to use more than one of our schools and to give your clients a great chance to tour Canada, the Canada-Wide English Network offers you an all-inclusive package of full-time study, homestay/meals, activities, AND airport transfers & flight For a minimum of 8 weeks at any two (or more) of our schools, we can offer programs at CDN$1,990 per month (that’s less than USD$1500 a month for everything!) at any of our schools and we will pay for the connecting flight between these schools! Some conditions apply.
Compare these prices to see what incredible value your clients will receive. We can also offer shorter-term programs at 2,4,and 6 weeks including flight with supplements. Please note that this package is not available to current students or bookings although students are welcome to buy this package as an addition to their current study plans. All processing will be done at the first school of study to make your job easy. Please note that a $200 deposit is required to begin processing and that full payment is required 30 days before the start.
Student Nationalities here at CSLI over May and during our Summer Months:
Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Brasil, Spain, Venezuela, Canada (Quebec), Turkey, France, Korea, Thailand, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, the Ukraine, Taiwan, Sweden, Denmark, Iran, Switzerland, China, Ivory Coast and the Dominican Republic.
What’s Happening at CSLI in May?
Please read our attachment calendar for details. Having any problems reading our mail? Please let us know if you have difficulty downloading our email or attachments. We want to make it easy for you to receive our monthly newsletter, especially since we will also be bringing you photos beginning from next month. If you have not completed our survey from last month please forward it to us quickly, as we will be making one final draw for a one month scholarship to CSLI. (value:$1255)

APRIL 1998

To our old friends, welcome back and to our new ones who are visiting our Directors' Newsletter for the first time, welcome!
Apart from our e-mail and fax communications with you, this is meant to be the another way for you to keep pace with what is happening at CSLI. Lori-Ann and I have made some incredible contacts and have established some great friendships as well, during our recent excursion to South America.
We firmly believe this is the market of the future! The last three months have been filled with exciting events for both our students and us
Marketing: CSLI has been very active abroad; we attended the Berlin Agents' Workshop in November and then the Miami Workshop in February. These types of meetings are sure turn the world into a pretty small place and give opportunity to meet many wonderful, as we were privileged to experience. We understand that these meetings, although enjoyable, are merely introductory, therefore you have our pledge to keep in touch with you as much as humanly possible. Please help us too, by asking questions and demanding more information from us, such as promotional materials. We want to make your job as easy and successful as possible! In addition, I had a short but memorable trip to Bogota. The hospitality of Colombians amazes me and I will not forget the kindness of our past students and their families. While there, I had the opportunity to meet not only some excellent agents but as importantly, the Canadian Immigration office staff. I understand the difficulty some agents have with visa processing, so I hope I may be of better assistance in the future now that I know whom we are dealing with. I also have information I can provide you with if any of our Colombian agents would like me to send it to them, for reference purposes.
Brasil, is always such an exciting place to visit and Lori-Ann finally made her dream come true with our first visit to Rio (it was meant to have been the destination of our honeymoon six years ago)! I got to visit the temple of all football fans, the Maracana and seeing a Fla-Flu game was just the greatest! We made return trips between Sao Paulo and Curitiba and were thrilled with the reception we received there. The Salao do Estudiante was a big success again. Thank you again to our translators and the organizers!
Mexico is next in our cards - at the end of April - where we will visit Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City, so please let me know if you are available to meet with us while in town. I apologize, but it will be a relatively short stay, as we need to prepare for the summer months, as well as for the World Cup in France, of course. By the way, all games are live on TV at CSLI, if you have students concerned about football coverage in Canada.
Despite the drop-off of business from Korea, CSLI is expected to be running at full capacity this summer. We have found student numbers to be as strong overall as last year. The benefit of recent events is that you can expect to see students from more countries at CSLI this year and in years to come.
Volunteer Program:
Our volunteer program is proving very popular with students this year. This free option is available to all students, especially those seeking work experience in the field of their profession and is arranged outside of school hours or on Fridays. Although all students may volunteer for community or corporate experience, it best suits students who have at least an intermediate level of English, as they are able to get more from the experience. Examples of events that students have participated in as volunteers include: the Molson Indy Motor Race, the Vancouver Marathon, the Jazz Festival and the Film Festival (including being extras in a movie). To add to these are community centered work opportunities, such as helping the elderly or volunteering in a daycare. Corporate volunteer work is available mostly to those students who have experience in a particular professional area and involves working in such places as a doctor's, dentist's, architect's or designer's office for example. Please note that these positions are determined on an individual basis, are subject to availability and involve no payment to the student. It is strictly for experience in a Canadian environment and ncessary visas are required.
CSLI Events:
Recent out-of school events at CSLI have included a tour to a Vancouver TV station (including participation in the audience), the Tulip Festival (in Washington, USA), Planet Hollywood Tour and lunch, Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, and Easter celebrations. Friday activities have also included Latin dancing, a Bowen Island tour, a rock-climbing class, roller-blading, yoga, golfing, mask-making, curling lessons, bowling, Whistler sightseeing trips, art glass studio tour, as well as additional grammar, pronunciation, slang and computer classes for those more serious students. Please remember that these costs, plus transport, are included.
Location Update:
As you may be aware from previous correspondence, CSLI is expecting to relocate at the end of 1998. We will however, maintain our presence in the downtown area, close to Robson Street. We will keep you informed with this once our new location is confirmed. In the meantime, CSLI will continue to operate from our two campuses on Robson Street, at 1155 and 1242.
Dormitory:
Students and agents continue to request a downtown accommodation option to our homestay program, so we have begun negotiations to find apartment space that is exclusive to our students. We plan to have this service available for students from the spring of 2000. Curriculum:
We have had recent requests from agents asking for more information about our curriculum, so we are adding additional information to our Agents' File shortly. We will include examples of what students can expect to cover throughout the eight levels of Conversational English at CSLI, including optional or floating topics.
Appointments:
We would like to introduce you to our relatively new arrival at CSLI, Michelle Balogh. Some of you may already know her from her success at PGIC (Pacific Gateway). Michelle is CSLI's Manager and will be ready and available to help you with any concerns or questions you may have about CSLI, Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada. This includes any issues regarding visas, registrations, travel and study. Michelle has been in the education business for over 6 years and is proving to be our greatest asset! She is responsible for any decisions in Lori-Ann or my absence overseas and you will find her professional, friendly and prompt. Welcome aboard Michelle. Unfortunately in January, our previous Manager, Rhea, left to pursue opportunities overseas, but we remain in contact if any of you wish to keep in touch with her.
Chikako Price is our new Homestay Coordinator and Japanese Counsellor, so please contact her if you have any questions in these departments. You will find her equally efficient and helpful. CSLI thrives on an environment that is supportive and professional to its students; I am sure you will find this with all our staff.
We are also pleased to inform you that we have recently chosen another CSLI Scholarship recipient from among those who'd applied on our website. The winner for the 1st quarter of 1998 is Ms. Adriana Arizaga Jasso of Guadalajara, Mexico! She will receive one month of full-time English instruction, valued at $1150.00. As well, our Student of the Month Award continues to be an inspirational prize for our students to strive toward. Over the past six months we have had students win from Mexico (Mr. Julio Cesar Vergara Valderrabano), Hungary (shared by sisters Bernadett & Henriett Horvath) and Taiwan (Ms. Mei-Chu Chen).
April 13, 1998 !
Feliz Pascoa! Wishing you all well at this festive time of the year.... ....
from all the staff at CSLI in sunny Vancouver! AIR-FARE UPDATE FOR SOUTH AMERICAN AGENTS:
I have recently received reports that airline bookings, especially this July, are very strong. Although this is good news for the airlines, it's not such good for us, as this is the time of year we are expecting bookings from our new agents, like you. We don't want to disappoint you or your clients by them not being able to make it to Vancouver, so we are strongly recommending to make bookings as soon as possible, if you have interested students. I know this is going to be a problem, particularly in Brasil this year, as flights out of Sao Paulo are filling fast. However, I also have some good news that I would like you to check out at your end. I understand that Korean Air has now arranged to fly out of Brasil, probably because of the lack of business in their own country. This could be a good alternative to what is presently available. To add to this, the best news I hear is that they are offering flights for as low as US$600-$800 to LA, with possible connections to Vancouver. I have heard this on good authority, so please look into this option as it will make your package price very attractive to your clients and students. I hope this will be of help to you. If you need more details, please call and I will make more inquiries on your behalf. I do however, recommend that you contact Korean Air directly for details. We will continue to keep you updated with any news we receive that may be of assistance. As promised, we have approached some of our local airlines about negotiating cheaper rates for students, but because of the demand for seats, they are not very interested at this time of the year. We will continue with our efforts.
Things To Come:
What you can expect each month......: LIVE THROUGH THE INTERNET! Two exciting services we are planning to have available next year will be: Video Conference Calls, including the possibility of student conferencing so they can speak and see their families at your location and Live School Tours via the Internet! So please let us know if you are interested and have the equipment to arrange this for you and your clients to see.
Our Student Monthly Newsletter:
Excerpts from the students, including photos and Student of the Month Award will follow. This month our graduation theme is Halloween and we have arranged our fancy-dress party at a nearby hotel on Robson St.
Student Activities:
October events included Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge Tour, Golf Lesson at the driving range, Pronunciation Class, Getting a Makeover, Going to a Play, Grouse Mountain Tour, Advanced Grammar Class, How to Find an Apartment Class, Folk Art, Going to a Nightclub, Whistler Sightseeing Tour, practice TOEFL Test, South American Dancing Class, Introduction to the Internet, Lunch in a Greek Restaurant, Writing Class, Making your Halloween Costume, Cooking Halloween Treats, Steveston Tour, Basketball and Volleyball. Graduation party at the end of the month will be our Halloween Dance. And November events will include the Vancouver Christmas Fair, Tarot Card Reading, Introduction to Computers, New West Quay Tour, Street Slang Class, Vancouver Aquarium, Bowling, Public Speaking Class, Mexican Restaurant, Tour of Canadian Artists' Studio, Fake Nail Class, Pub Night, Getting your Hair Styled, Practice TOEIC Test, Beer Tasting Class, Christmas Craft Class, Television Station Tour, and Black-tie & Champagne Casino Graduation. Many December activities will be based around Christmas and depending on the weather, may include ski lessons, which includes equipment rental, day ski-pass, a 2-3 hour ski or snow-boarding lesson and transport to and from a nearby skifield (possibly Whistler).
No other school offers these types of events FREE and some charge over $100 for a day's organised activity! REMEMBER THAT FRIDAY ACTIVITIES ARE INCLUDED IN STUDENTS' TUITION. Most events are half-day, so full-time students get to choose two activities each Friday.
Every Friday and each month's activities are different and change with the season and students' interests.
Local News In Canada About Education:
As the weather cools here in Vancouver, the business world remains confident. The government here recently announced that it expects to balance the budget, and even have a surplus within 18 months! As some economies shrink in Asia, others are opening up in South America, so we are finding more students coming from other countries. The Canadian dollar remains significantly lower than the American ($US 1 = $Can 1.40), and makes education and living not only a lot cheaper than the States but also cheaper to learn English here than most countries where our students come from! Make sure you compare our prices and exchange rates with others.
World Cup Competition:
Regular World Cup updates showing which agents still have countries in the finals. I'm sorry but I have to warn you now that I am a crazy football (soccer) fan and am looking forward SO much to next summer in France. It's going to take a brave person to choose anything other than a Brasil vs Germany final at this stage, unless the French can handle the challenge of being hosts ! If there is one thing more popular in the world than English, then it has to be football! How could we ignore this big event next year? We thought this would be great way to attract attention to our homepage and have a little fun at the same time. However, we are serious about the tickets and the flight. If you have anymore questions after reading the rules, please e-mail me.
Suggestions?
We appreciate the business you have provided us with and we respect your opinion. Should you have some suggestions as to how we can provide better communication or service to you and your clients, please e-mail to my attention and I will ensure we consider your advice.
Calendar Of CSLI Marketing Trips:
As you may already know, I will be attending the Agent Workshops arranged by ICEF in BERLIN (November 12/13) as well as the Americas Workshop in MIAMI next year (February 27/28).
As always, we will be at the Canadian Embassy-sponsored education shows in MEXICO CITY, MONTERREY & GUADALAJARA (Jan. 31-Feb. 7 '98), TAIPEI & KOASHSIUNG (Mar. 3-8) and the Fall shows later in the year (SEOUL, BANGKOK, NAGOYA, OSAKA & TOKYO). CSLI is also scheduled to participate in the Nexus Education Fairs in South America in 1998. We will be in SAO PAULO (Mar. 13-15 '98), RIO (Mar. 21-22), RECIFE (Mar. 25) and CURITIBA (Mar. 28-29), and later in SANTIAGO (Sept. 26/27), CORDOBA (Sep. 30) and BUENOS AIRES (Oct. 3/4) and BOGOTA (Oct. 9-11 '98).

JANUARY 1998

C.A.P.L.S. (Canadian Association of Private Language Schools):
C.S.L.I. is one of the founding members of C.A.P.L.S., the largest organisation of private English schools in Canada It was established almost one year ago to develop the image and standard of Canadian education overseas through providing English and French programs. In this time C.A.P.L.S. has successfully lobbied government in making overseas education a greater priority and by reviewing student visa procedures so that it may be easier for you and your students to apply. Obviously this is an ongoing issue and should you have specific complaints in regard to the way your applications are being handled, please forward me information so that we can have these issues addressed. The C.A.P.L.S. organisation now includes over 40 schools from across the country, some of which we have established working relationships. We all share similar educational standards and ethics, and we feel confident in recommending other members as it is the most nationwide representation available. Should you want advise about some of these other schools, we would be most happy to send you the C.A.P.L.S. handbook.
The next A.G.M. meeting is scheduled for early December in Ottawa, where we expect numbers of members to increase between 50-100% to become by far, the greatest voice for schools here. Refund Policy:
Please note that as of September 1st, P.P.S.E.C. (the Government of British Colombia’s controlling body for private schools) is changing their refund policy, which affects all schools in B.C., including C.S.L.I. The changes make refunds less attractive to students wanting to cancel programs AFTER they have started them. The main reason for these changes were because some local agents in Vancouver have been taking advantage of the old refund policy and have been encouraging students (that you may have sent here) to change schools simply so that they could make commission. It has led to students making small profits and overseas agents having to refund their commissions to schools. This practice has been frowned on by P.P.S.E.C. and local schools, as this undermines the efforts that schools like C.S.L.I. and you, our agents overseas, who have been doing all the marketing to bring these students here. If you would like a new copy of the Refund Policy, please visit our website and click on SCHEDULE, otherwise we would be happy to fax you a summary of these changes. Although our refunds are generous when compared to other countries please ensure that your students read and understand them before they leave home. Medical Insurance: It is compulsory that all C.S.L.I. students have sufficient medical/travel insurance before starting study.
C.S.L.I. offers an incredibly good private medical insurance plan to all students when they first arrive in Canada. Costs in Canadian dollars, are as low as $99 for one month and it covers for up to $1million protection, including doctor, hospital, optical visits, ambulance and prescriptions. We recommend that students who have Student Visas, change to B.C.Medical Insurance cover after three months of the above private insurance, as this is even cheaper. Full details are in our Agent Manual.