A Chess game overseas!?
June, 2, 2022 Innisfil, Ontario By: Atakan Elalmis
Mr. Ecker is a teacher most known for his teachings in the ESL Program also known as the Exchange Student Learning program, Mr. Ecker works with a wide variety of students from all across. In this article we are featuring Luca from France.
This year is a milestone for the students as they are not cooped up from Pandemic restrictions and are more free to explore the town outside of school.
The ESL program this year.
The ESL course at Nantyr is not only a class that hosts exchange students visiting Canada for programs, it also helps students who do not know English at a higher level to learn about the language to attend and understand English courses.
The course brings light to Canadian culture and shows what Canada is all about, it shows topics such as Indiginous culture, English and French relations, looking at cultural differences across the Maritimes and out west, food and sports and different lifestyles based on geography.
One student that is a part of ESL is Luca from France, he is leaving the school and returning to France in the next two weeks, over a ten month span he feels it was very helpful and educational, he also says “The school was much bigger and lively than ones back home.”
The ESL class normally brings students to many Canadian landmarks such as Niagara Falls and Canada’s Wonderland, due to this year coming off of a global pandemic, students did not have the opportunity to see these places, students such as Alex may be some of the first students to return to these places in the coming year.
Alex
Alex is the newest student this year to the ESL class, Atakan of the digital media team and Alex shared some chess games together whilst doing the interview. Alex is a Ukrainian student who is fond of the game of chess, he learned from his Grandpa and played casually amongst friends at his old school.
Due to the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Alex came to Canada with his family and is currently doing his first year here at Nantyr Shores. Alex says “Back in Ukraine everyone knows about chess and probably has a board but it is up to the individual if they wanna play professionally.”
As the best of three matches were wrapping up, Nantyr News asked how Nantyr Shores is as a school, what do you find interesting and how is it compared to your old school. Alex states “Nantyr as a school is much bigger than what he was used to and he finds the people in Canada are nicer and more friendly than the people overseas.
