Sveva (14) from Italy

La cosa che piu’ mi e’ piaciuta e’ stata stare con la famiglia perche’ sono persone davvero stupende, io e Maia abbiamo molto in comune e ho avuto un mese di tempo per conoscerla, Blaede suo cugino e un tesoro e’ molto simpatico e molto gentile con me. Una delle cose piu’ divertenti che abbiamo fatto e’ stata quando siamo andati tutti a Thorpe Park, li ci siamo divertiti tutti tantissimo ed abbiamo passato una bellissima giornata tutti insieme. Un’altra cosa molto divertente e’ stata andare in barca tutti insieme e fare il bagno nel mare gelato o molto semplicemente andare io Maia e, qualche volta anche, con Bleade a fare shopping! Ma anche la maggior parte delle lezioni con le insegnanti sono state moloto efficaci e divertenti!

What I liked most was living with a family. They were fantastic. Maia and I have much in common and I had a full month to get to know her well. Blaede, her cousin, is a gem, very nice and very kind. One of the things I enjoyed most was when we went all to Thorpe Park, where we had a wonderful time. I also liked our boat outing, swimming in the freezing sea and even just shopping with Maia and occasionally with Baede! And most of the lessons have been effective and amusing!

Quando sono arrivata qui il mio scopo era quello di poter capire quello che si diceva senza troppi problemi e di cercare di parlare ill mio inglese in un modo piu’ sciolto e senza troppi dubbi o problemi, ecco ora riesco a capire la maggior parte delle cose quando le persone parlano e spesso commento senza pensare troppo agli errori che sto facendo oppure quando mi accorgo degli errori riesco, a volte a correggermi da sola! Quindi si ho raggiunto il mio obbiettivo!

When I arrived, my objective was to understand what was being said without too much of an effort and speak English more fluently and confidence. Now I can understand most of what is said to me, I can answer without being afraid of making mistakes, and sometimes I actually can correct my mistakes by myself! So I have achieved my objective!

Penso che sia meglio studiare faccia a faccia con l’insegnante invece che per esempio in classe, perche’ in classe e’ difficile stare attenti e la maestra non puo’ accorgersi di tutto e quindi si rischia di rimanere indietro, poi a volte si fanno gli esercizi ma non tutti hanno modo di farli o di verificare perche’ hanno sbagliato, durante le lezioni invece l’ insegnante di segue ti aiuta, ti corregge, ti spiega gli errori e ti mette in un situazione in cui imparare e’ bello!

I believe that one-to-one study with the teacher is better than being in a classroom, because in a class environment it is difficult to pay attention and the teacher cannot be aware of everything and it is easy to fall behind. Then, coursework can be wrong or unfinished and there isn’t enough time to check and correct mistakes. Instead, during one-to-one lessons the teacher can follow up, help, correct, explain mistakes and make learning fun!

Al prossimo studente direi solo di non pensare a casa, agli amici ecc ma solo di cercare di divertirsi e di imparare qualcosa che alla fine e’ sempre utile! Sopprattutto di non vergognarsi e di cercare di parlare in inglese il piu’ possible perche’ cosi’ e’ piu’ facile capire gli errori, correggerli e non farli piu’!

My advice to other students?
I would tell future students not to think about home or friends, but just to have a good time and try to learn something that will always be useful! And most of all, not to be ashamed and try to speak English has much as possible, because this will help understand mistakes, correct them and avoid them in future!

Thank you Sveva.

Andreas 14 from Germany

Andreas had 2 weeks with us in July. Lessons were with Jane and the host family were Ruth and Chris Hobby and their six wonderful children. With her permission, we publish below the email from Uta Bilow, his mother - on his return to Germany this week:


Dear Celia, Ruth and Jane,

We are very happy to have Andreas back here again. He is very relaxed and amiable since his return and often talks about his impressions. We are sure that he made great progress in English during the language course and also in his personal development - due to your commitment!

Thanks to Celia for arranging this stay so perfect, matching the teacher, the host family and the leisure program to Andreas´ needs.

Thanks to Ruth and her family for taking Andreas as a member into their family and giving him a loving home for two weeks. He obviously enjoyed having such a lot of siblings around him.

Special thanks to Chris, who took Andreas to the airport in the early morning!

Thanks to Jane for giving interesting and varied lessons to Andreas, accompanying him to his surf lessons and all other sport activities and for uploading photos on facebook so that we could participate in your outings. I am also very happy that he made good contact with Emma the dog!

I am confident that Andreas will never forget this journey and all of you!

Kind regards,
Uta

Frederic from Aix en Provence

“It was a very pleasant week. I liked a lot English lessons with Celia. She has a lot of patience and she made my English becoming better and more fluent. Even grammar lessons were nice and it was pleasant to do my grammar homework!
I liked also the cook and driver, Steve. Steve is very funny and a nice person. My conversations with Celia were very interesting. It wasn’t English lesson but like conversation between two friends.
Dave, my host, was also a very nice and friendly person. He made a lot to make my stay a good one. My first objective was to speak English more easily, without shame about my accent. Now I am even thinking in English!
My second objective was to make better presentations in English and I learnt so many things abou that, that it will be ALMOST easy to do presentations in Engish – IF there is no questions at the end!”
Finally, the equilibrium between 4 hours lessons in the morning and more cultural and friendly activities in the afternoon is very good. “
Photo: Steve and Fred in “the stocks” ... no longer allowed as punishment for bad deeds!

June and July 2010

This summer has been (and still is) very busy. Not only do we have the usual business English students, but we had an exceptionally high demand for junior courses.

Of course we only take a few students at any one time, so we have not been able to provide courses for every enquiry. That is because we like to keep our service small and personal, providing a specially high level of attention and care to every student regardless of age or learning needs.
Everyone makes great progress and that's what makes our work so fulfilling. Lots of testimonials and photos to come, when we get time to post them!

Best of all, the sun has been shining in the UK for months now and our green garden lawns are looking more like Africa than England!

See you soon
Celia