ELI Blog
Welcome to the ELI Blog! Stay up to date on what is happening at the UBC ELI and see the UBC ELI from the perspective of the people that make up our institution. Through the ELI Blog, you can gain insight into the students, CAs, teachers and staff of the UBC ELI. We also welcome contributions from you. We encourage you to leave comments or to submit your own blog posts.
Short Story Series #1: “The Seed with a Hand”
Once upon a time, there was a small seed left alone on some damp soil, in a garden full of lovely flowers and trees of more types and colors that one could imagine. The seed could not recall anything from his past, except the windy day that he had floated in the sky and the [...]
The Best Ways to Stay Warm
If you’re a new student, coming to Vancouver in the middle of winter can be a shock to your system! Right now Vancouver is cold, it’s windy and it’s snowy – but even if winter is not your favourite season, you can find ways to stay warm and enjoy the city. I’m going to suggest [...]
Goodbye Letters
Introduction by ELI Instructor Barb T: The goodbye letters written by my 520W students are the product of a very simple assignment in the last week of class. The in-class assignment: ** Choose one of the following headings that we’ve brainstormed on the board, such as: Goodbye, We’ve come full circle, Farewell, It’s week 15 [...]
Stop Pestering Me, Mother!
My mom cannot stop telling me to lose weight, even though I know my weight is a bit on the heavy end, being eighty-five kilograms. She talks about it everyday. She pressures me constantly in hope that I will have a good body to attract many girls. Before, I kept going to the gym, playing [...]
International Night
Let’s talk about a topic that has been on all the ELI students’ minds for the whole week: International Night! Thought it took place on a cold and snowy Friday evening, the atmosphere in the SUB was way warmer, mainly because of the students, teachers…and our amazing CAs. The room was filled with the smell [...]
My First Time Skiing
Some people say, “to encounter the wilderness is to court risk, and risk favors the senses, enabling one to live well.’’ Before I came to Vancouver, I had never thought that one day I would need to be mature and independent to adapt to my life. In contrast, people who live in Vancouver enjoy nature [...]
Our First Halloween
This article was written collaboratively by Mohammed Alamer, Tariq Almubarak, Alaa Alshayeb, Rawabi, Atalya Baransano, Oriana Chacon, Nicole Kuang, Won Jun Lee (Steve), Mona Saigh, Fumie Yonemoto, and Amy Zhang. First Time: This was the first time for me to celebrate Halloween, so it was a strange experience. Last Saturday, I found some free time, [...]
Childhood Obesity
Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not reflect the point of view of the UBC English Language Institute. In a traditional American family, an eight-year-old child is seated at the table next to his parents at dinner time. He strongly refuses to eat the nutritious meal served on [...]
Tarut Island
Tarut Island is the second island in the Arabic Gulf after Qeshm Island, which is the biggest island in the Gulf. It is in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia. Tarus has many smaller towns and villages such as Tarut town, Sanabes, Darren, and Rabaieyah. The total population of the island is 70,000 people and [...]
Why I Love Teaching
If anybody had told me I would become an English teacher when I was a kid, I probably would have laughed at them. I always wanted to become a horse trainer or jockey or anything to do with horses! Well, it’s funny how things work out sometimes. I started teaching English in Japan back in [...]
