GRC has two main courses. One is the academic course, and the other is the IESL course. There are many international students at GRC. The IESL course is a program to improve English. It has classes from Level 1 to Level 5. After they finish the IESL course, students can take the academic course as an academic student. After students graduate from GRC, they transfer to four-year universities.

Bookstore

Library

Views at GRC

One day after arriving in America, we had an orientation for a week.

１st day

Explanation of orientation, campus, and insurance procedure

２nd day

Placement Test

３rd fay

The second test, meet our advisors, and get test results

４th day

Seattle Trip

５th day

Day Off

６th day

CORE Camp

７th day

Come home from CORE Camp

We went sightseeing in Seattle. We visited various sightseeing spots such as Pike Place Market, Chinatown and Gus Works Park. Especially, there were many tourists at Pike Place Market. We visited the First Starbucks store and Gum Wall. I was surprised at the Gum Wall. There was a lot of gum on the wall, and it looked like some art. I also felt the smell of the gum there.

Pike Place Market

First Starbucks

Gum Wall

We went camping for 2 days and 1 night. We were able to experience some activities such as recreation, horseback riding and canoe rides. Riding a horse was difficult because I couldn't control the horse, but I recommend it to other people. In the evening, we watched the rodeo and danced. Also, movies, dances, games and table tennis were held until late in the evening. I spent a nice time with my friends. I made a lot of friends at the camp.

CORE

We took our classes in each level. If your grade is 80% or over, you can proceed to the upper class. I took two classes. One is the skill class, and the other is the project class. The skill class is to learn grammar, reading, writing and speaking mainly. The project class has the whole students from levels 1-3 in groups. There are various themes such as dramas and watching videos. The themes were different in each class.

I started from level 2. The teacher was Gary for both skill and project classes. He always taught us using words that are easy to understand. I was not good at listening, but I still understood his class. When we didn't understand, he taught us many times. Our teacher was kind and funny, and the classmates were also very funny, so I liked the class.

Project Class

Level 1-3

12:00-12:50

14:00-14:50

Gary

The theme of the project was “FIC & REAL.” We read various articles such as American History, Culture Shock, Global Warming, and World News. We learned about what is happening now or what happened in the past. In addition, we made presentations and had discussions about the contents of the book we read, our favorite songs, movies and news articles. There were many opportunities for presentations and discussions. I improved my speaking skills.

Skill Class

Level 2

15:00-16:50

Gary

Students in Level 2 learn grammar from basics. The teacher taught us English grammar in detail, so it helped me a lot. In reading, we read various articles to find main ideas of the articles and distinguish facts from opinions. In writing, we learned about how to write a paragraph. We wrote one many times in our class. We didn't spend much time listening and hardly anytime on speaking.

The teacher of the project class was Susan. She spoke some languages. Also, she was very kind and always cared about us. The teacher of the skill class was Tim. He was a funny teacher, who always made us laugh. He was wearing different socks on each foot. I was the only Japanese student in Tim's class, but my classmates always helped me.

Project Class

Level 1-3

12:00-12:50

14:00-14:50

Susan

The theme of the project class was “TV& TOURIST.” We watched the video “Modern family.” We learned about diverse family structures, vocabulary, English phrases and slang with this video. We did skits to remember English phrases and discussed the content of the video. Moreover, we learned about Seattle. In this project, we were divided into groups and went to Seattle. In addition, we made presentations, survey and wrote essays. The class was very active. That's why I enjoyed it a lot.

Skill Class

Level 3

15:00-16:50

Tim

The level 3 class was much more difficult than the level 2 class. Tim taught us further about what we learned in level 2. The content of grammar was various, including countable nouns, uncountable nouns, parts of speech, and quantifiers. In reading, we mainly learned about the structure of essays, practiced to find main ideas and supporting details. It was hard for me because I didn't learn it in Japan. After the reading, we started writing some essays. We listened to a lecture while taking notes, and gave presentations. Although the class had many things to learn in one day and was quite hard, we helped with each other.

With Gary

With Susan

Presentation

Tim's Drama Class

Party at Tim's House

The class was held only during the fall quarter. We learned about how to use GRC campus or school life and did recreations. The classwork was once a week, and the day and time varied depending on the level. There were students from level 2 and 3 in my class. As classwork, I went to a Japanese restaurant and University of Washington with my classmates. Moreover, GRC students called peer mentors supported us.

Suzzallo Library at UW

Student ID Card

It is a GRC student card. You can borrow books and DVDs from the library with this card. Also, the gym or safety rides are available with the card.

Saftey Ride

It's a free bus service from GRC. Although the time and area are fixed, you can use it until midnight by telling your current location and destination on the phone.

Wi-Fi

When you get your student ID, you can use the student Wi-Fi.

Instagram

You can get information about GRC events on Instagram.

Canvas Student

You can check your attendance confirmation, your grades and assignments.