Gaines Writing Institute (GWI) was established in 1996 to educate high school and university students in the skills and conventions of English writing including basic writing, provincial examinations, and university writing. Since that time, GWI’s highly qualified faculty has successfully taught thousands of immigrant, and international students, not only to improve their English writing skills and course grades, but also to enter degree programs at prestigious United Kingdom, Canadian and American universities. GWI alumni have excelled at such examinations as TOEFL, SAT, IELTS, GLA and are currently admitted to Oxford University, U of T, UBC, McGill, SFU and Waterloo. Those who chose to attend American universities are now studying at Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Penn State, Cornell University, University of Chicago, UCLA and University of Illinois. These achievements attest to GWI’s dedication to the motto excellentia per erudio (excellence through education).

About the Founder and Faculty

Kim Gaines-Baran

Kim was born and raised in New York. She graduated from McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. After immigrating to Canada, she graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990 and a Master of Arts in 1996. In 2001, she began a PhD. Program in Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. She passed her PhD. comprehensive examination in 2004. In 1996, Kim founded Gaines Writing Institute and has taught English writing skills to immigrant and international students wishing to study at British, Canadian and American universities and colleges. 

Sarah Huang

Sarah was born in Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, China. After graduating from high school, she completed a diploma at Zhejiang Foreign Language Institute in 2002. Later, she graduated from University of Hertfordshire (UK) with a Bachelor of Arts in 2004. She went on to complete a Masters of Science at the University of Luton (UK) in 2006. Then, Sarah worked as a lecturer in Wenzhou University from 2006-2016. Meanwhile, she established The English Learning Center in Wenzhou City, China, and taught English language skills. After immigrating to Canada in 2016, she joined the faculty of Gaines Writing Institute in 2019 where she is dedicated to developing the English language skills of students who speak Mandarin as their first and home language.

Vinaydeep Singh

Vinay grew up in the city of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, India. After graduating from high school, he relocated to Vancouver, Canada and earned an associate degree in Business Management from Alexander College in 2019. Before long he started working as an advertising assistant for a magazine popular with the Indian diaspora in Canada and United States. Vinay joined Gaines Writing Institute Faculty in 2021. In due course, he moved back to India and is currently undertaking a Law degree from University of Delhi.