growth companies in Canada. Heart- land is the only accredited, private English as a second language (ESL) school in Manitoba. By 2010, Heartland
had moved
again, this time to their current lo- cation in Te Exchange District, the Massey Building at 294 William Ave. Demand saw them become a test centre for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in 2014. Te following year, Heartland expanded yet again, opening a brand new location in Mississauga, Ontario. Tis January, they also began offering programs in Steinbach, Manitoba. A diverse crowd
Heartland attracts over 300 students
per year, and has seen over 4,000 since opening. Students’ ages have ranged from 12 to 75. With flexible start dates and study lengths, students can start any Monday of the year and study any length of time from one week to a year or more, the program is adaptable for everyone. At any given time, there are between 50 and 80 students in the school. Gary says that summer is the busiest time for new students, with students staying for about three months on av- erage. “Last year we had students from 43
different countries,” said Gary. “Our biggest markets, in order, are Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Japan and Tai- wan. Te students come with various motivations for studying English. For some, it’s a language holiday. For oth- ers, it’s learning English for their ca- reers. For some, it could be to get into college or university. And some are hoping to immigrate to Manitoba.” “We had a student come from Italy and studied for one week. She had done her Master’s Tesis on Margaret Lawrence and was essentially mak- ing a pilgrimage to Neepawa and tied in a week of language study. We had another student who was 75 years old and was studying English because he wanted to go on to business school to better run his two businesses in Japan.” Learning together
“For me the best part is seeing people from different countries come together and learn about each other,” said Gary. “We get students from all
thehubwinnipeg.com
Heartland encourages excursions out into the community to become more comfortable with interacting in English.
over the world and the only thing they have in common for sure is being in Winnipeg to learn English. We are used to being in a multicultural en- vironment in Canada, but it’s not the norm most places in the world.” “For some it may be the first time
they have travelled outside their coun- try or the first time they’ve interacted with other nationalities. Tey natu-
rally bring a lot of stereotypes with them. When I see people from differ- ent countries learning about each oth- er, becoming friends, and losing their prejudices, I think there is hope for less hatred and conflict in the world.” For more information on Heartland International
English School, visit
heartlandenglish.com, email info@heart-
landenglish.com or call 204.989.8448.
Spring 2016 • 25
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