Staff at Embassy CES

Embassy Cambridge starts A Level taster courses this summer

In July and August, Embassy Cambridge and our sister college Bellerbys will be working together to provide a number of A Level taster courses in July and August. These taster sessions follow a successful trial of the programme in 2009, and will provide students with English tuition in the mornings, followed by sample A Level lessons in the afternoons.

Frank Pinner, the Centre Director for Embassy Cambridge explains more about the courses: ‘We have two A Level taster groups coming this summer. The students will do 20 50-minute lessons of English tuition and 10 hours of A level subjects per week. They will sample a wide range of A Level subjects including Politics, Art, Psychology, Physics, Business Studies, Sociology and Chemistry’.

The taster courses are based at our beautiful and historic Queens Campus, where the students’ lessons will be between 9am and 3:15pm. In addition to their English tuition and sample A Level lessons, the students will learn more about universities in the UK.

Moreover, the students will have plenty of things to do after class, as Frank Pinner explains: ‘After class, the students will be able to explore Cambridge and visit many different attractions including museums and the Cambridge Botanic Gardens. At the weekends, there will be organised excursions to other fun and exciting places in the UK such as London, Stratford and Warwick’.

Finally, at the end of the taster courses, the students will be able to enjoy a leaving ceremony and take photos with all of their new friends.

To find out more about Embassy Cambridge, visit the Embassy website to see our photos, read the local information and find out what our current students and staff think about the school. Also, you can join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more news, photos and updates.

Award-winning student video!

Embassy staff are always thinking of new and engaging ways to help their students improve their English. That's why staff at Embassy Cambridge asked some of their students to make a video to introduce new students to their school, the town of Cambridge and life in England in general. The video has been so well received that teachers at Embassy Cambridge have used it during induction sessions for their new students, and the video was the winner of the 2009 Embassy Learning Award.

Take a look at the shorter version of the video here:

Celia Short Version

Many thanks to all of the students involved in the making of this great video! They are: Fahad Alkaabi, Ahmed Almaghthawi, Nestor Barros, Chien-chi Chou, Carmen Daniels, Malory Jublot, Sang Woo Lee, Xin Liu, Diego Sanchez, Mariana Santos, Kiri Shakir, Inthira Tangjaroensutth, and Dominga Del Campo Salina.

Would you like to see this video in full? If so, join or log on to our Student Club, a website designed to provide further information and resources for our current students and those considering studying with Embassy. Or, to find out more about our school at Cambridge, take a look at the accomodation available, the courses offered and read what our students and staff think about Embassy Cambridge.

Recent news from our Embassy schools

Here is a round-up of news from our various schools around the world. As you can see, there is a lot going on!

• A major project is currently underway to refurbish the library at Embassy Cambridge, and also revitalise some of the classrooms.
• After a year of testing and development, Smart Express classes started last week in New York, Boston, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Cambridge. Will you be on the next Smart Express course? 
• We have lots of special offers on Embassy courses and accommodation at the moment - you can get a bargain if you can be flexible on dates! 
• At Boston Merrimack, students participated in the College's Global Village - an annual event in which students showcase their country’s culture, traditions, clothing, music, and food. We had 12 countries including: Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, China, Japan, France, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, El Salvador..., & Brazil. Students took great pride in presenting their countries to the campus community.
• Recently, in Seattle, students headed to the trendy Queen Anne Neighborhood for an “Amazing Race” competition. Working in groups of three, students were given a list of tasks to perform and questions to answer in a period of two hours. They had a great time learning and exploring Seattle alongside their classmates!
• 10 new interactive whiteboards have been installed at Embassy Melbourne, meaning every classroom in that school now has access to this fab technology.
• Embassy Brisbane has a new student residence:  it's just seven minutes from school by bus; has inclusive broadband internet and utilities; and best of all there's a great social community.
• Meanwhile, Brisbane students have enjoyed trips to farmers markets, a table tennis tournament, a pizza & board games day & a sausage sizzle. OK, who knows what a sausage sizzle is? ;)
  
• Embassy Perth has a new Director of Studies - Andrew Foster. Andrew joins us after working for over 10 years with GEOS, and more recently as Senior Director of Studies for GEOS Oceania, where he was responsible for the academic management of 11 schools. He has worked as an English Language Teacher, a Teacher Traine...r and as Director of Studies in Australia, Japan, England and New Zealand.
• On Sunday 14 March, 12 teachers and staff from the Auckland campus took part in the annual Round the Bays fun run in aid of the Study Group ‘Plan Haiti Appeal’. Students and staff managed to raise $624.90 for the Plan Haiti Appeal. This amount will be matched by Study Group, so Auckland will be contributing almost $1,250!
• Embassy Sydney now offers 3-day trips for activities such as surfing camps, snowboarding weekends and tours to Melbourne and Canberra.
  

Hallowe'en parties at Embassy

Embassy schools always mark the big holidays and special occasions with a party, and Hallowe'en, on October 31st, is of course always a great chance for students and staff to dress up and have fun.

In San Diego (above), some truly excellent and imaginative costumes were on display. You can see the whole set in our San Diego Facebook photo gallery.

Meanwhile, similar fun and games were also going on at  Embassy Cambridge, UK (above).

And Embassy Oxford had its share of girls ghouls (above). See a couple more photos from the party in our Embassy Oxford Facebook photo gallery.

Helen McGowan, Social Organiser for Oxford, writes:

The students at Oxford joined in with the Hallowe'en Party with their usual enthusiasm. It was a fun, yet frightening, night with music, food and a competition for the best costume. The students really got into the ‘spirit’ of the night turning up in a variety of costumes, ranging from slightly spooky to just plain scary!

The party was a huge success and we’d like to thank all the students for coming and for giving so generously to Building Futures. 

Our new school in Boston Downtown (above) was not going to be left out (see the rest on our Boston Downtown Facebook photo gallery).

Were this year's costume's better than last year's? Check out the photos from Embassy Boston Lasell and judge for yourself.

Gianluca Troiano

Ross Wainwright, Acting Head of Embassy CES Cambridge, forwards this message from an ex-student, Gianluca, which we are delighted to include on our blog.

Hello to everybody!

My name’s Gianluca Troiano I’m twenty-five years old and I live in the south – centre of Italy on the Adriatic coast. From when I was born I have a physical disability, but in spite of my physical problems I have a Sociology degree, and from the last 17th of March until the 16th of June, I took part in an educational holiday that I  won a scholarship that was offered by INPDAP.

I had the possibility to choose some different places in which I could go to improve my English knowledge. I decided  to go to Cambridge, and more exactly to the Embassy CES school, situated in Grange Road.

I absolutely recommend to all disabled people who are interested to have this kind of experience, to attend this school, in which there aren’t any architectural barriers. In the school you can find large and comfortable classrooms, two Internet rooms fully of all equipment, a cosy canteen and also a toilet for disabled people. In addition to this, there are teachers who are very qualified and ready to help you in case of needs. I can’t forget  to mention the Principal of the school, Ross, because since I arrived there, he has been always very attentive to my every request for aid.

As regards the accomodation, I suggest to lodge in Masters House in which there is the lift so that you can come up with any problem. Masters House is equipped with single bedrooms with en-suite  bathrooms, and the administrator of Masters House, Karolina, is a very nice person. She will cook for you all the typical Englsh dishes. 

Another important good reason to choose Cambridge to spend this unforgettable experience is due to the fact that the city is very peaceful and it’s very easy to travel on public transport (even if I have to say thank you to the INPDAP, who paid for a taxi for me, in order to go and come back from the school).

Most of the public places in Cambridge are suitable to welcome disabled people.

For all these reasons, hurry up! Cambridge and Embassy CES School are waiting you! 

Click to see these pictures bigger: Gianluca and Ross Wainwright; Gianluca and student friends; Gianluca with his father.

Thoughts from Oxford Activity Leader Anna Senyi

Trip to Cambridge

This trip was the most popular one during my stay at Embassy CES this summer, and students were not discouraged by the fact that we were going to the city which is the biggest rival of Oxford: Cambridge.

84 people came with us and we needed an additional member of the staff to be able to handle a group of this size. As a former student at Embassy CES, I had a really great time and was able to make friends with both students and staff members. It was a bright and sunny day, we were lucky and the beauty of this small university town captured everybody.

Cambridge is one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Britain. If one takes the effort to look up at buildings while walking in the city, one is enchanted by its architecture. The first thing that comes to most people’s mind when they hear the word “Cambridge” is obviously the University, but there is far more to this place than that. We took students on a guided tour around the city, as I had already been to Cambridge when I spent my one year at school, I knew the places worth visiting.

We started off at Pembroke College and Peterhouse, went on along to the Scott Polar Research Institute. We visited this museum later on in the afternoon, which was a real experience - everybody enjoyed it, even those who are not geography enthusiasts! Later on we visited Emmanuel College, Senate House, King’s College, Trinity College, St. John’s College, and the Round Church.

We decided to cut the walk a little bit shorter and give students the opportunity to explore the city on their own and leave them time to try punting as it was such a nice day. Off they went - we were told later they had a really nice time: some of them visited museums and colleges, some of them did punting, others just sat in a pub next to the river and watched the others punting – or rather trying to punt…so it was fun, one of the best days I have had here so far.

I was happy to be a student here seven years ago, but now I am even happier to be able to work here as a member of staff and who knows what will happen in the future….I may even go for the principal’s position….