London: students and staff

My work involves:

I'm the Principal of both Embassy CES and Bellerbys College in London. I've been here since 1998 and I've seen a lot of changes. The job has never stopped being interesting, because it's a fast-moving environment with lots of challenges.

My experience:

I love seeing happy students, and staff doing their jobs in a professional and kind manner. I love the fact that the school is successful, growing, and that we're always trying to improve the quality of what we offer.

I was an English teacher for ten years in Italy, the UK and Quebec before moving into an educational management role in Mexico in 1994. I was then in charge of a language training organisation in their head office in Manchester, but after a couple of years decided that I missed the daily customer contact.

My main achievements here have been to oversee huge growth in both schools over the last ten years, and to plan and supervise the move to new purpose-built premises here in Greenwich in 2004.

London's great, but I don't get much chance to see it, as I live with my family in Hampshire, about 35 miles away. Oh yes, that's the one part of the job I don't like - commuting!

My work involves:

My focus is on teacher development: I observe classes, talk to our teachers about their work, help them to develop their skills, advise them on training opportunities, help new teachers settle in, and so on. I also manage students’ departures (certificates, questionnaires) and have 'class chats' with students where I find out how satisfied they are with all aspects of the school.

My experience:

We’ve got a great team of teachers here, who are highly qualified and with lots of experience, but who are also able to relate to students and make classes interesting and fun. We get great feedback from students about their lessons.

I’ve been at the school for seven years and in this job for about three. Before that, I was a teacher in Moldova, Spain and Greece.

Although I don’t teach as much as I used to, I still get a lot of satisfaction from seeing happy students who leave us with great memories and better English!

My experience:

After my Linguistics degree, I worked in another English school for three years before coming here in 2004. What I like about this school is the opportunities it gives you for growth and development.

Embassy pays for all sorts of training for its staff: in my case this meant not only part-sponsoring my DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) which I passed last year, but also paying for the Portuguese lessons I’m following at the moment.

What this gives me is the chance to see things from a student’s perspective, and this helps me so much in designing my own lessons and making sure they are right for my students. For example, it’s easy to think as a teacher: "I've taught that, so the students must know it" – when in fact what you realise when you’re learning a new piece of language yourself is that you need lots of practice, and you need to see the language item presented in different ways, in different contexts – before you can really say you understand it and can use it.

Another way in which Embassy has developed me as a teacher is in the provision of an interactive whiteboard. My students absolutely love it - they really focus on the lesson, and it makes classes much more efficient and effective. This is such a great piece of technology in language learning and we’re hoping the company will continue to invest in these cutting-edge tools to enhance the student experience. I actually did a training session for my colleagues on interactive whiteboards, and they’re all keen to start using them in their lessons.

My top tip for learning:

Watching films and reading books.

My top tip for enjoying London:

Join the school's social programme!

My experience:

I'm really pleased to study English at Embassy in London.

I've been living here for five months. When I arrived here, I was afraid of speaking English. However, my English has improved much more than before. so I'm very happy about it.
 
The advantage of studying at Embassy is that you can make international friends everywhere, such as in the class, cafeteria and residence etc...Not only Embassy students, but also you can meet Bellerbys students who study in the same building with us. So you can have lots of opportunitie to make friends.As the result  I've got a lot of friends who're all different nationalities.
 
What's more, there are many brilliant teachers who are very friendly, kind, enthusiastic and helpful. Even when I ask about something frequentely, they answer with pleasure and help us in every way, always.
 

My work involves:

Irun the Activities and Excurions for Embassy London. I love sharing my enthusiasm for London, giving students suggestions, helping them with their interests, and devising a weekly programme that caters for a wide variety of tastes.

My top tip for enjoying life in London:

London is the greatest city in the world, and Embassy has the best social programme in London ... making it the best social programme in the world!  We want students have a great time outside the classroom as well as inside.  And they do - we have activities every day of the week - sports (football, basketball, running), visits to famous London attractions, theatre trips, pop and rock concerts, pub evenings, karaoke, clubs, international evenings, cinema visits, museums and exhibitions. We get the best prices on tickets for London musicals and theatre shows, and often get discounts on Premier and Champions league football matches … and in summer there’s even more going on!

My experience:

I’m also studying for a degree in Speech Sciences at UCL, and have various other roles at the school, including work in the library.  I’ve done various things in my life - lots of jobs, lots of travel - and I think this helps me relate to our students. And of course, the social programme is not only great for having fun and making new friends, it’s also fantastic for the development of students’ English.

My work involves:

My job is to organise classes, teachers and timetables and to make sure that the whole academic side of things runs smoothly and that students get as much as possible out of their programme. For example, if a student wants to change his or her level, I will talk to the teacher and see if this is possible; if the student wants advice about exams s/he can take, I explain what is available; and if a student wants to extend their course, I will help them do so. I always try to find a solution.

My experience:

I’m one of the longest-serving members of staff still at Embassy, having worked for different parts of the company for nearly 20 years. I’ve worked in Summer Schools, in our Head Office, and have been the academic manager in our Brighton school (once) and here in London (twice).

As someone who has been with the organisation so long, I can really see how we’ve developed into the professional, yet exciting and innovative, school that we are today.

My work involves:

Teaching students at all levels.

My top tip for enjoying life in London:

London is a wonderful place to study and live - there's so much to see and do. I live in Greenwich, very near the school, and it's one of my favourite areas of London. Greenwich Park and the Observatory and other historical buildings are beautiful, and there are some nice old traditional pubs by the river as well.

There's lots going on for students - cafes, bars, a cinema, sports facilities (I love football, cricket and tennis), a theatre, a market, music concerts at the O2 arena, lots of shops - and it's just a short journey from the centre of London. What more could you want?

My experience:

After completing my degree and PGCE (the standard qualification for teachers in the UK state education sector), I decided to work as a teacher of English abroad. I spent a year in Thailand and then four years in Spain, during which time I obtained the DELTA (Diploma in English Teaching to Adults).

Every summer I used to come back and teach at Embassy summer schools, including four years at this school, so when I returned from Spain this summer I was delighted to find work here.

What I like about this school is the nice atmosphere and the relations between students and staff: it's a friendly, caring, happy, positive place. There’s a great nationality mix and I love seeing students learn about each others' countries and cultures and making friends, all through the medium of English.

Our work involves:

We deal with a hundred and one things, from the obvious, like helping students open bank accounts, extend their visas, pay their fees, and book a taxi to the airport when they leave, to more unusual requests like 'where can I get my trousers shortened?' or 'can you help me book a holiday?'.

We also deal with more serious issues, like students whose visas have run out, or who are in trouble because they haven't paid a bill or fine, or who are homesick.

Our experience:

We love meeting students of different nationalities and from different cultures, and seeing how their English progresses from when they arrive to when they leave. We all started work here at about the same time, so we've grown together as a team and now have lots of experience in the various aspects of the job. There’s a continuous stream of students - our office is right next to reception and we're open all the time - so it gets busy. But we like to think we treat each student as an individual!