East Coast School of Languages

by Marie Weeren

As it says on the wall in the reception area of East Coast School of Languages (ECSL), “Every journey begins with a single step.”

“That’s a good way of thinking about language learning,” says Sheila Nunn, co-owner of the Halifax-based school and director of marketing and business development. “When you start learning something like a language, everything is new and different. You start with a solid foundation and then add a piece at a time, and it’s not going to happen overnight—it’s going to be a steady journey to get where you want to be.”

And that’s as true of the school as it is of learning languages.

In February, ECSL will mark its 10th anniversary. En route, it has grown from the initial 3 students to 120 today. This past summer and fall, ECSL rented additional space because the school’s 10 classrooms just weren’t enough.

Collaboration, creativity and resourcefulness have all played a role in ECSL’s success, as has dedication to providing students with a supportive learning environment.

Nunn says, “For many of our students it’s the first time they’ve been away from their families, and the experience can be pretty overwhelming. We try to make the school as warm and friendly as we can, and we obviously succeed because many of our students say, ‘Oh, it’s not really like a school, it’s like a family.’”

The students, whose home countries include South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, appreciate the warm atmosphere.

Yu-Jen Liang, for example, is from Taipei, Taiwan. He studied at ECSL for more than a year and recently graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a bachelor’s degree in information technology. He says, “I think the teachers at ECSL provide a very good environment, and they care for students a lot—not just in studies. If we had any concerns or troubles we could discuss them with our teachers, and our teachers could give us some advice.”

ECSL offers four main programs. For students pursuing university studies there are English for Academic Purposes (ECSL has partnerships with Dalhousie, NSCAD and Mount Saint Vincent Universities) and Academic TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). English for Communicative Purposes hones listening and speaking skills, and English for Business provides specialized language training and an internship opportunity in Toronto through ECSL’s partnership with Access International English Language Centre. CompuCollege is also a partner in the English for Business program.

“The reason we have these partnerships is to make sure that we offer students the choices they need to achieve their goals,” Nunn says, “and because we nurture the partnerships, they result in the growth of our school.”

Another partnership is with Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, home to ECSL’s East Coast Language Camp. The camp offers summer programs for youth aged 12 to 17, as well as the East Coast Executive Experience, designed for business people to learn English and network with the local business community, and ESL Vacations for Adults, which offers a mix of study and activities like golfing and whale-watching.

Future offerings may include youth Spanish and French language camps held concurrently with English camps. “That mix of cultures would have the advantage of letting Canadian kids interact with the international kids and vice-versa, so it would be a great situation all around,” says Nunn.

She adds that the creativity in developing new offerings and the flexibility and rapidity in decision making are assisted by the company’s having just three owners, Nunn, Cecily Burnard and Donna-Lynn Leblanc, all of whom are experienced ESL teachers.

As for resourcefulness, Nunn says, “If you run your own business you have to be resourceful. When we’re presented with new challenges, we think ‘Okay, this is what we want to do, so how are we going to do it? And if we don’t know how to do it, where are we going to find the resources we need?’”

When it comes to teachers, the ECSL owners know exactly what they want. “We look for so much more than just paper qualifications,” Nunn says. “Our teachers have to be interested in the students and in other cultures, they have to have a caring attitude, and they’ve got to have a sense of fun as well.”

Indeed, fun is front and centre in the school’s calendar of social activities, which are as varied as travelling to Cape Breton to see the fall colours, attending a Halifax Mooseheads hockey game or just getting together for coffee and conversation.

“We try to get the students to learn a little about Nova Scotia, a little about Halifax and a little about our history, culture and things that Canadians do in their free time,” Nunn says.

That learning experience is really enhanced for the 90 per cent of the students who are in the school’s homestay program when they first arrive. “Many of them form friendships that last for life,” Nunn says.

And the friendliness of Nova Scotia is something Nunn can really relate to. Originally from England, Nunn and her husband arrived in Canada in 1994 and travelled across the country to decide where to live.

They reached Nova Scotia in June and drove around the province. “We quickly knew that this was the place for us,” Nunn recalls. “It was so beautiful, so friendly. We drove through villages and people waved to us, and one lady even invited us in for coffee! And of course it’s the sea—we’re both sailors so we had to live by the sea.”

Clearly, both Nunn and ECSL have flourished here. And as the company nears the beginning of its second decade, Nunn says, “I really think we’ve accomplished our goal of providing the kind of school that we set out to offer. Because we’re teachers, when we’re making decisions our main consideration is always what is best for our students. All those things that we started off believing are still evident in the school today, and our philosophy has resulted in our steady growth and gained us respect and recognition in the ESL community.”

www.ecslcanada.com/

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