Work and Study

Casual Work Experience Program

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Program Overview

The Casual Work Experience Program combines full time English studies with work experience at a Canadian restaurant, cafe, shop or hotel. Meet young Canadians your age and improve your English while earning money and discovering new parts of Canada. 24, and 48 week program options. Year round start dates.

Programs start at $4,220 Canadian Dollars.

Improve your English while discovering Canada

Work in retail, restaurant, shop or hotel jobs as part of your English studies              

The best way to discover Canada isn't from a tour bus, it's from the ground up, working and living with Canadians. In the Casual Work Experience you will be placed in a job in the hospitality industry. You will work side by side with young Canadians and do the same jobs they do. Work in restaurants, cafes, hotels and more - improve your English with your peers, all while earning money to help pay for your stay in Canada.

Your Canadian experience will start in the world's most liveable city - Vancouver. Here you will join full-time English language classes. During your school days you'll improve your English, meet other students from around the world, and participate in exciting after school activities and weekend trips. After a minimum of 12 weeks, you will graduate from school and begin a total immersion into Canadian culture by joining a company in your field as a full-time worker.

The one goal of the casual work experience program is to improve your English. This is done by providing you with a chance to extend your stay in Canada, and by placing you in jobs where you can speak English and make Canadian friends. Regardless of your age, education, or work history, there are work experience options open for you..

Program Structure

Your casual work experience program has a fifty/fifty (50:50) structure. That means that the first half (50%) of your stay in Canada will be spent attending English school full time. When you have finished your course at English school, you will then switch over to your work placement host company for the second half (50%) of your stay in Canada, where you will work for between 21 and 40 hours per week.

You have two options* for length of study and work placement:

You are entirely free to choose which option suits you best - though please keep in mind that the longer your work term, the more responsibilities and customer contact you will likely have at your host company. If you would like more responsibilities, or if you feel that your English level is not satisfactory, we encourage you to choose a longer program.

English School

The first half of your stay in Vancouver will be spent at an established and Languages Canada accredited English School. VancouverInternships works with two major English schools for this program. Both have similar class structures, skilled and interesting teachers, and exciting activities for their students.

While you are at your school you will study in either a Full-Time or an Intensive English Course (depending on the length of your program). Your English Courses include speaking lessons in the morning followed by a wide range of English Elective lessons to improve specific language skills or learn about specific topics. Other available courses are Business English and Test preparation courses which will ready you for official English tests like the IELTS, TOEFL iBT and Cambridge FCE or CAE.

These courses are designed for student who want to improve their English language skills - particularly their speaking, listening, pronunciation, grammar, reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.

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Your Casual Work Placement

From the day you arrive in Canada, VancouverInternships staff will be working closely with you to help you prepare for your work placement. We will assist you with creating a North American resume, we will train you how to answer interview questions - and most importantly, we will arrange work placement interviews for you.

Each casual work student will have a choice of placement options - when you register for your program, you will be asked to choose three work placement options and rank them in order of preference. VancouverInternships staff will then take this information, and together with your work history, your educational background, your English skills, and the duration of your stay - we will combine that together to find the most suitable available placement for you.

Available casual work experience placements include:

Work Placement Sample Job Duties*
  Counter Attendant Counter attendants work at fast food restaurants and other casual restaurants with take out counters. They greet customers, take their orders, and serve their food to them in take-out containers or bags. Students in these jobs practice their English by answering customer questions and passing on instructions to other staff members.
  Fast Food Cook Fast food cooks work in the back of fast food restaurants, working with other fast food cooks, preparing pre-made foods for customers. They improve their English by speaking to their coworkers - a lot and by listening for instructions.
  Busser Bussers work in more formal restaurants. They assist servers with their jobs. They bring food out to tables, and take used food off of tables and put new dishes down Bussers practice their English speaking to waiters, customers and coworkers..
  Dishwasher Dishwashers work at the back of more formal restaurants with other kitchen workers. They put dirty dishes in large machines to clean. They also assist with other parts of the restaurant when requested. They practice their English with their coworkers.
  Housekeeper Housekeepers work at hotels in Vancouver or in resorts in Western Canada. Housekeepers outside of Vancouver get staff accommodation included with their job. Housekeepers work as members of small teams - they practice their English with their team members.
  Retail Clerk Retail clerks work at clothing and gift shops. They greet customers and maintain the cleanliness of their shops. They sell products to customers and practice their English with customers and with coworkers.
  Labourer Labourers do physical work building tents or other temporary structures. They may also assist with gardening or transporting boxes and containers. Labourers practise their English exclusively with their coworkers.

* Your specific job duties may differ.

 

Once you pass your job interview, you will start working with a company full time. During this period you will go to the company, and not to school. You will work under the supervision of Canadian managers, and you will be a full member of your company's team of employees.

Each week and month throughout your placement, you will complete regular online reports - these will tell us how you are doing and what challenges you are facing. If there are any difficulties during your placement, we will work with you and your host company to solve them. Once your work placement is finished, VancouverInternships will work with you one more time to help you obtain a Letter of Reference from your employer.

To find out what past students have said about their work placements, please visit our testimonials page.

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Accommodation

After a long day of studying English or working at your host company, you'll need some real accommodation to take a rest.

It is a very good idea to stay in accommodation with a Canadian family for all or part of your stay in Vancouver, Canada. Homestay or Rooming will allow you to see the city, make friends, learn how to get around and do things by yourself.

At a Homestay, students live, eat, and socialize with Canadians in a comfortable environment. Our families are very good. Our homestay coordinators use families who take a genuine joy and interest in doing Homestay and are happy to have students in their homes. We will place you in a house with a Canadian family, no more than 45 minutes from downtown, and who speak English as their native language. We can guarantee that there will be no more students who speak your same language. You can enjoy meals at home because you will be one of the family members. All families have passed a rigorous selection process and we often visit them to guarantee their quality.

NB Accommodation is not included in the listed program price.

Prices

Prices below are for bookings made in 2010. All prices below are in Canadian Dollars.

Program 21-hour ESL program 27-hour ESL program
  24 weeks (12 weeks study and 12 weeks work)
$4,220 Canadian Dollars
$4,769 Canadian Dollars
  48 weeks (24 weeks study and 24 weeks work)
$6,890 Canadian Dollars
$7,868 Canadian Dollars


Fees above include: school registration, school tuition, school materials fees, and work placement. Accommodation and meals are not included in the above fees.

Accommodation and other services

Homestay Placement Fee      $210 Canadian Dollars (Non-Refundable)
Homestay Placement Fee - 2nd Placement      $100 Canadian Dollars (Non-Refundable)
Homestay Fee Per Session (28 days)      $840 Canadian Dollars (Full Board)
Additional Nights / Fee per night      $210 Canadian Dollars
Airport Transfer      $80 Canadian Dollars

 

Registration

Participation in a Work and Study Casual Work Experience Program is open to anyone. Start dates are available year round and you can register as little as 8 weeks before you intend to arrive in Canada.

To enrol in a program, please read all program Terms and Conditions, then complete an online application form. Our sales staff will be in touch with you within 48 hours to review your application and discuss placement options. Once they have given a first approval of your application, it will be sent to our placement team for final approval. Final approval will be granted after a successful phone interview with our staff. During the phone interview we will assess your English, to ensure that you have at least lower intermediate level of spoken English.

Once you have final approval, you will be invoiced and once payment is complete, you can apply for your visa and schedule your trip to Canada.