Hello people, today we interview Olga a student at Wimbledon Language Academy.

The first thing is to thank Olga for the interview.

How is going the experience in this school?

Good, I started almost 2 months and it is good.

I changed the course because initially I started in the upper intermediate level but I went to the Advanced level which is the highest level and I would like to have a certificated. Therefore, we do exercises for taking the CAE (Cambridge Advance Exam) and I like it.

So, they prepare you for the CAE exam, right?

Yes, we have a book for preparing the exam, for those who are going to enrol the course more than 3 weeks it is recommendable that they buy the book because all the exercises are orientated for the exam.

We do everything, maybe reading not a lot and we don’t have homework. We do every exercise at school. The problem is that sometimes we talk too much; we practise a lot the Speaking part. 

Entrance of the school

How is one lesson at Wimbledon Language Academy? Do you understand the teachers?

You understand them really well because the teachers adapt to your level.

My teacher asks the students about us, so we have to talk therefore we will not need an additional speaking lesson.

Basically, we do the speaking exercises between the partners and the writing exercises individually, but later we comment them all together.

How many students are there per class?

It depends on the week because you can start any day you want so there are always people. But, I would say we are between 10 and 15.

Do you want to tell us something special about this school?

The good thing about this school is that it’s cheap, the prices are good. Furthermore, as I booked the course through POLAR CHOICE I got a discount and therefore the course was cheaper.

If what you are looking for it is speaking, meeting people and doing grammar, this school is very good as you can stay more weeks because it is cheap.

Outside the school we find some tables and a ping-pong table

There is something I would like to highlight as interesting:

The school organise a lot of activities for students, such as going to theatres, musicals, cinemas, etc. And the price is quite good as the tickets are cheaper. One example: I went to The Miserable Musical and I paid £22,50 when the ticket costs £64. We have the cinema for half price on Wednesday.

The truth is that they do everything they can in order to get cheaper ticket, you can go to football matches or concerts. You just have to tell it to your teacher and he looks if they can get you cheap tickets.

I really like it because you can know more about London and without spending a lot of money.

If you are interested in this school or you want to study English in UK not only in London contact us:

e-mail: education@polarchoice.com

Webpage: www.polarchoice.com

Also, as always you can follow us either on Twitter or Facebook: polarchoice

See you next week.! J

Language Show Live

Hello guys, we have more things for you. This time we have visited a fair in London.

The fair is Language Show Live, the truth is that the fair was more orientated for teachers and translators as the fair offers them several methodologies for teaching with new technologies like iPad. Also, it offers several courses to get the certificated to teaching as a professor.

There were different countries and Languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Chinese, etc. Furthermore, you could find sections with books for teaching children in different languages, but also books for students and adults.

The Chinese stand

In this fair you could find spaces where people give talks about several matters. We were in one called Culture in business language training.

It was about the magnitude of the culture in the business world as it depends on the people with who you make business you should act in one way or other because of the culture. It was very interesting I have to say.

One of the spaces for the talks

After the talk, we were looking around and we saw some organisations which we are members like British Council and English UK. In this area we also find several Universities and Schools with courses’ offers, but just some.

The stand of British Council

Some of the Universities and the schools which were there: UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER, GOETHE INSTITUT, UNIVERSITY OF KENT,  LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH, CLAC (CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE AND ACTIVITY CENTER)

Different stands in the fair

We had fun and it was amusing with different performances such as oriental dances, songs in different languages, etc.

See you next week and of Course you know that you can find us at:education@polarchoice.com or visiting our webpage www.polarchoice.com

Don’t forget we are on Faceebook and Twitter: polarchoice

Have a great weekend J

We interview Leydi a students in The English Studio

This time we have interview a student of The English Studio, her name is Leydi and she is Colombian.

In this way we can now closer what is going on within the lessons. J

The school is placed in Holborn, in Central London, it means, in the center.

It is very easy to find the school, when you get out of the tube station (Holborn) you can see it in front of you.

Let’s see how Leydi is enjoying her experience in London and in this school.

Entrance of the school

Hello Leydi, tell us something about you.

Well, I came to London to study English because I need it for my degree. I have studied systems engineering and it is very important to be bilingual in my country in order to get a job.

Why did you choose The English Studio?

Because of the prize and the school is really good. Also, I chose it because for my visa it was easier. They sent me the letter of acceptance and after POLAR CHOICE sent me the original letter, so I could show it in the embassy.

POLAR CHOICE helped me a lot.

Tell us about a lesson in the school.

There are people with different nationalities (Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Italians...) and the lessons are very good because the teacher starts with a very common topic to expand it after.

Our teacher is British and I understand her very well. Also, she makes comparison with the American English. This is so good for me because in Colombia we have a lot of influence of American English. 

One of the classrooms!

What kind of student do you think they will be suitable for this school?

For example, this school suits to shy students because a lot of activities consist in speaking by groups.

Also, they offer speaking lessons.

Are you enjoying the experience?

Yeeeeeeees, it is being really good. However, the most difficult part for me it is to get used to the time because I have 6 hours of difference with Colombia.... so, when it is time to sleep I don’t want to. Apart from this, I like London. It is a beautiful city and you have things to see in every place.

The English Studio, 113 High HolbornWC1V 6JQ, London. Tube station: Holborn.

Are you interested in this school or in other?

Come on; get a look to our webpage: http://www.polarchoice.com/ 

Feel free to contact as and GET DISCOUNTS in your courses: education@polarchoice.com

Anisha Thapa welcomes us at LSSE

This week we were in the heart of London, Leicester Square.

In the middle of this square, with its exiting life and its hundreds of tourists, it is placed Leicester Square School of English (LSSE). 

Near the school, there are fans that are waiting for the premiere of a movie and the arrival of their movie stars.

The entrance of the school. The fences in the right are for preparing the premiere of a movie

  

Thank you for the interview. Do you mind if we start by talking about your job in the school?

My name is Anisha and I’m the school Manager. So, I have to do lot of bookings because everything is forward to me. I also work on the School Bookings database of the students, consultations...all of this.

 Then, your work allows you to be in contact with the students, right?

Yes, if they have any problem or doubt, they come to talk to me.

Would you like to be a teacher?

I like my job, however yes. Sometimes I think i would like to be a teacher. Teachers interact with the students even more than me, you meet a lot of people with different cultures and this is amazing. But, I would not like to mix teaching and being a manger.

This is the desk of Anisha and where the interview takes place.

Can you tell us something about the history of the school?

It starts in 1922; we have been working about 20 years more or less. All the classrooms are in the same building. We are a small school with a reduced number of students per lesson and great atmosphere with teachers. That is what we offer.

We are recognized by British Council and we are members of English UK, so we help students in order to have their visas. We offer General English courses, exam preparation courses and also we have social activities which depend on the weather, we visit museums and so on. It is good because if you go with them to a pub, there you are not their teacher; you are their friend, so they talk to you more natural.

How is a lesson at LSSE? What methodology they use?

Well, first of all inside LSSE lessons we teach English, obviously. At your first day you have to take a level test which consists in grammar and speaking. We place you in a class or in another depends on your results. Furthermore, we show them around the zone, where the bank is, the library, the supermarket.... after that you are ready to start your lessons.

Talking about the methodology, our classes are divided by different lesson: lesson of “structure” which is writing and grammar and lesson of communication. The minimum number of lessons per week is 15, having 3 per day: the maximum is 30 lessons per week, having 6 per day.

If you choose 3 lessons per day, you will have 2 hours of grammatical structure (vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing...) and 1 hour of communication (listening, speaking, interaction...).

Altogether, our method is focus on making students feel confident with their English in every aspect, not only one concretely.  

One of the classrooms in LSSE. 

Do you mind if we talk now about the training of your teachers?

Yes, we train them twice per month. Of course, all of our teachers have to be recognised by English UK, have the CELTA certificated and have a graduate degree recognised by British Council.

We give internal training as we have a studies director with a certificated to train teachers, so every 2 month, it depends on the situations, we do workshops and courses for our teachers.

To finish, what does it make different LSSE?

Well, if you want to study in the center of London this is exactly its heart.

The zone is good and the atmosphere as well.  We have students from around the world, maybe in a class you can find 10 students from different countries (our maximum per class is 15 students).

As we are a small school you will always find someone who can help you in a more personal way. This is one of our strongest characteristics.

The other one, just look through the window... we are in Leicester Square, we are near the cinemas where the premieres are showed. In how many school you can see Tom Cruise through their window?

Also, we are not an advanced school from a technological point of view, therefore we are not going to charge you more like school which are.

Thank you, Anisha.  

The sights from the entrance of the school. The fences are waiting for the arrival of the Celebrities

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Leicester Square School of English. 22 Leicester Square WC2H 7LE London

Are you interested in this school or in other?

Contact us and GET you DISCOUNT at:

education@polarchoice.com

We interview David King in Language Link

Today we visit Language Link, a school which is placed between 2 tube stations: King’s Cross St. Pancrass and Euston Square.  

The outside image of the building it is interesting as it is like the Victorian era, however the building is even older.

We met there David King, operations director.

Thank you for the interview David, can you tell us more about your position in Language Link?

Well, I am delighted to talk to you. I have several jobs here. First, I am the manager building I have to care of everything is working. I train the teachers and I teach too. I like teaching.

In the school’s entrance with David and some students 

And among all of these responsibilities, which one do you prefer?

I like doing all of them. Sometime I have to be teaching all the time and I get bored. I like to change.

 What can you tell us about the history of the school?

Language Link is a big organisation. We have 120 schools around the world, mostly in China, Vietnam and Russia, even in Uzbekistan.

Everything starts in 1976 in London where we currently have 4 schools. This school in Euston, the one we are making the interview, was open 18 months ago.

What is going on inside a lesson of Language Link?

Good question, because this is really important. The first thing I have to say is that we work so hard to make people feel comfortable. When new students come, you have to make sure of they meet everyone and if they have any question or doubt, we attempt to make them feel relaxed.

Another thing I have to say is that it is really important that students make progress and improve their English.

We are delighted to help the students with everything they need to progress.

Student’s room

You tell us that one of your tasks is to training the teachers. We want to know more about it.

We make a lot of training here in Language Link, we make it here, in Pekin and Vietnam where we are the agency with the highest number of students taking formation. Also we make it in Russia, where we highlight our formation online.

We have 30,000 people who are taking the training with us trough an independent association which we have called TOEFL Express. We also train in CELTA people who their mother tongue is not English but they teach English in their countries.

We have created studentships for that, so if some European teachers are interested, they can check our webpage.

With us their English will improve and enjoy their time in London.

David shows us one of the rom.

Why do you think is a good choice to pick up Language Link?

The most important is the feedback that we have from the students. I remember a Japanese student who came for 4 weeks and when she left, she was crying because she said we have become her family.

We make sure that we know the level of the students. We teach them well, we have a good location, either you come by bus or by tube it is easy to get here.

From a cultural point of view, this zone is fantastic, there are 13 different museums.

This was eveything. 

The cafeteria of the school

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Language Link 6 Duke's Road London WC1H 9AD

Are you interested in this school? Contact us and get a DISCOUNT: education@polarchoice.com