Staff at Embassy

Fundraising at Embassy London

Lisa Evripidou, from Embassy London, writes:

Students sold St. Valentine's cards and flowers last month, and I can now report that we raised £211.52.  This will be doubled by Embassy to £423.04. This is a fantastic achievement for the charity committee and great for the students who volunteered their time. See photos on our Facebook page.

Secondly, the money raised from the Football Tournament has not yet been counted yet but is over £400, which will be doubled to £800 by Embassy. Another fantastic achievement!

On Friday 18th March it was Wear Jeans Day which meant staff were allowed to wear jeans for the day.

On the same day, we held International Food Night in the canteen for staff and students. 18 countries took part. Students could come and buy food typical of these countries. The students who cooked the food were very excited about sharing their favourite dishes with everyone. All money raised will be going to charity.

That brings our running total to £16,570.19 raised for Building Futures, the dedicated Embassy charity.

 

Building futures

You may not know that Embassy language schools are one branch of a large global education company named Study Group. Study Group has many schools and colleges, including Bellerbys, Taylors College, and International Study Centres in the UK and USA - so it is a big company!

And big companies can achieve big things... which got us to thinking. We recognise that, as our students are benefiting from a great education, and in turn, our company is benefiting from your investments, that we should share that good fortune with those who need it most.

So we set up a company-wide charity initiative.

Charitable contributions

Education is our business, so when we were deciding which charity to support, Plan International was a natural choice. With Plan International's help, Study Group build schools for developing communities around the world.

You may have noticed references in our blogs and school news pages to charity events. Every school has regular money-raising activities; in addition, staff in all our offices often run marathons, jump out of aeroplanes, or (less energetically!) put on cake or book sales to raise money. For every penny that is raised, Study Group donate an equal amount, meaning staff efforts are doubled.

All the staff here at Embassy love to hear about the new schools as they are built. We enjoy looking at the photos and learning a bit more about the region.

Our achievements

To date, we have built schools in:

• Aceh, Indonesia
• Zounzounkanme, Benin
• Codó Nova, Brazil
• Liu Shu, China
• Van Han Commune, Vietnam

Schools benefit not only children, but the community as a whole, because educated kids grow up to become skilled adults.

The projects often also bring water and sanitation to the region; and as well as the building works, the charity provides educational materials, computers and teaching staff.

The latest school

Here are some images from our latest completed school, in Van Han Commune, Vietnam:

Study Group staff and children from Van Han Commune crowd around the foundation stone.

 

The new school in the background, with the kids who will benefit.

It's so great to see images like this, and realise that our small actions and donations are actually making a massive difference to children and their families across the world.

Melbourne teachers share their Smart Express experience at a conference

Embassy teachers Gareth Hughes and Neil McRudden made a presentation about Study Smart, our online study environment, at a recent Moodle conference in Australia, with over 450 people in attendance.

Gareth and Neil teach on Embassy's Smart Express course – an integrated and innovative face-to-face English language course (officially launched this year), where the learning outcomes are supported by the use of Interactive whiteboard, networked student laptops and Study Smart (run on the popular learning management system Moodle).

Their Study Smart course site has evolved over the past eight months from a blank canvas to a popular resource for students. Students use Study Smart both in class on their laptops and netbooks, and for homework activities; and the site includes various games, quizzes, blogs, assignments and web-quests.

They also have used programmes such as Hot Potatoes and Wix to further enhance the functionality and appeal of their site. "Overall, teaching with and developing Study Smart for Smart Express has been an incredibly rewarding learning experience," says Neil.

Find out more about Smart Express or meet Melbourne staff including Neil.

Student-centered lessons

Staff and students at Embassy Oxford enjoyed a training session on lessons with a student-centred approach, using the technology of interactive whiteboards (which are now found in all Embassy schools). Andrea Paschoal, Head of Teaching writes:

The workshop was very hands-on and using the laptops was a great idea. Thankfully, everything worked well without any technical hiccups and teachers were engaged and motivated.

Interactive whiteboards are a big part of most teachers' lessons nowadays and it's not often we get an opportunity to reflect on how efficient they actually are as a tool, and how to use them in order to make our lessons more student-centred.

Not sure what an interactive whiteboard is? This video should make everything clear.

New location for Embassy Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale’s new centre location was unveiled for its first day of classes on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010.  Our brand new, state of the art facility is a welcome neighbour to movie theatres, the Modern Art Museum, historic downtown, restaurants, outdoor cafes, jazz and night-clubs, trendy shops, and beautiful waterways.  

Camilo Fontecilla, Centre Director, is excited about the move and shares, ”students love the current school, but everyone is thrilled to be moving into our brand new facility, with cutting-edge technology in all of the classrooms and sleek interior design throughout the space.”  

The facility features interactive whiteboards in all 13 classrooms, free wireless internet access, a large media centre, and a comfortable, spacious student lounge. Current students are enjoying classes at the new location, only a short five minute walk from the previous Las Olas Blvd site.  All new and upcoming students will be directed to the new address:

Embassy Fort Lauderdale
Las Olas Circle
200 SW 1st Avenue
Suite 108

Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

View Larger Map

Read more about the Fort Lauderdale school on our main website.

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.

Embassy Gold Coast students make a splash at SeaWorld!

Our staff at our Embassy schools work very hard to create a varied and enjoyable programme of activities and trips to keep the students entertained in their spare time. Recently, the students at the Embassy Gold Coast school had a great time visiting their local Sea World park.

Steven Rowe, the Student Services representative for Embassy Gold Coast writes: 'In May a pre-intermediate class from Embassy Gold Coast went on an excursion to SeaWorld, a marine-themed amusement park located only fiftten minutes away from the school.

Here, the students saw various exhibits with animals such as polar bears, sharks, penguins and stingrays,and they also watched live performance shows by dolphins and seals. This combined with riding rollercoasters and other thrill rides, along with watching a jet-ski stunt show made it a very enjoyable and educational day for the students.'

To see all of the great photos from this fantastic day out, visit the Embassy Gold Coast Facebook gallery. Also, you can visit the Embassy activities and excursions page to find out more about the other trips on offer to our students, or ask a question if you have a specific query about studying with Embassy.

 

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.

Embassy Brisbane students love the Australian Football League!

There are so many great things to see and do in Brisbane, so our staff and students are never bored! Annie Azano, the Brisbane Activities Coordinator, writes about the latest excursion the school's staff and students enjoyed:

'On April 17th nearly 50 Embassy Brisbane students and teachers got together to watch the Brisbane Lions play the Western Bulldogs at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (also known as the Gabba). It was a great Australian experience for our students. The seats were very close to the field so everyone had a wonderful view of the action. The Lions were losing in the first half, but came back to beat the Bulldogs 101 points to 79. Students were cheering and shouting along with the rest of the crowd and even joined in to sing when the Lions won.

After the game, the group was able to enjoy the unique experience of rushing onto the field. “I love AFL,” French student Aurelie Gorge proclaimed at the end of the game. The students can’t wait for their next trip to an AFL game will take place on July 31st when the Lions play the Melbourne Demons.'

Do you want to find out more about all the exciting trips and activities offered to Embassy students? Take a look at the Embassy Brisbane activities and excursions page to see a list of the most popular excursions and the school’s monthly activities calendar. Also, you can find loads more pictures from Embassy Brisbane on the Facebook photo gallery.

An Embassy USA achievement

In the USA, language schools are accredited by ACCET: book into an ACCET-listed establishment and you can be sure that your course and school have met their standards of excellence.

ACCET inspects all schools on its list regularly, and our USA schools have just undergone the most recent round of inspections.

We recently received the news that all Embassy USA schools are to be reaccredited and that no further inspection will be required for the next five years.

This is an accolade reserved for the highest quality schools and we are delighted to know that ACCET places such faith in our US schools.