Staff at Embassy

Student's success at Embassy Seattle-Tacoma

Here at Embassy, we are always proud of our students who go on to further academic success and   Turkish Pre-Masters student Gurkan Gurler (pictured below) is no exception.

Margo Butcher, Student Services representative for Seattle-Tacoma writes: ‘As a Diploma Pre-Masters student at our centre between September 2009 and March 2010, Gurkan made a positive impression on his classmates and teachers with his well-rounded approach to studying in America. While he was here he participated in many school activities, worked diligently in the classroom and engaged in many volunteer activities in the local community.

Gurkan came to the US with the goal of studying at an American University for his Masters degree in Material Science. So during his course, Gurkan also studied to improve his TOEFL score and worked on his application to Alfred University, an American Study Group partner school.

Fortunately, all of Gurkan’s hard work paid off when he received his acceptance letter to Alfred University the week after graduation! We are happy he is choosing to stay in the Study Group family, and wish him the best of luck in his career and educational goals.’ 

Visit the Embassy website to find out more about the Embassy Seattle-Tacoma school and the courses offered here.

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.

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.
  

Karaoke in China Town, Seattle

Spring Break 2009 for Transition students.

Two of them are actually PLU students now!
Front: Jianying Ding
2nd row: Yufeng Huang, Wenjia Yu (PLU)
3rd row: Bohan Zhang (PLU), Kuo-Yang Lin (mouth open), Shuyi Liang, Meng Si
4th row:  Chaunshi Cao, Shao Jun Lin, Yuehui Xu, Le Kang, Ying Ping Zhou (white hat), Xuejun Wu
Back: Linling Yuan

Find out more about studying English in Seattle on the Embassy website.

Harlem Globetrotters in Kent, WA

Excitement was in the air of the ShoWare Center as the Harlem Globetrotters took the floor and demonstrated their amazing tricks and skills!

 

 

Free Flapjacks?

Jessica Schoppe, of Embassy Seattle-Tacoma, writes: We started class with a free Grandslam at Denny's. How do YOU like your eggs?

 

Puyallup Spring Fair

Ashley Collingwood, Lead Teacher at Embassy CES Seattle writes:

The Puyallup Fair is a twice yearly event that takes place at the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup (about 7 miles from the Embassy CES Seattle school). It runs for the whole of September and also for a weekend in April, and combines really good but really bad for you food such as cotton candy, the famous Puyallup Fair scones, and huge hamburgers piled high with onions, along with amusement park rides including a roller coaster and a huge ferris wheel, and many many farm animals. It's an interesting combination - but one that leads to a lot of fun.

The entire school, including all of the staff, went to the fair this year and we had a wonderful time together. We watched pig races, went on rides, ate some really great food and just had an amazing time hanging out with each other outside of class. It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to going again to the larger fair in September when the weather will be warmer and hopefully we won't get rained on.

Candelight vigil

Students from Embassy CES Seattle recently held a candelight vigil to commemorate the deaths of five young women who died in a store fire in Lhasa. Three of the women were Han Chinese and one was Tibetan. The purpose of the vigil was to honor the women and also to ask for a stop to the violence in Tibet. They were joined by Jeffrey Bialy, Center Director of the Seattle school.

Here are some photos from the vigil:

Embassy CES Seattle Spring Diploma Graduation

On March 14, 2008 we held our Diploma graduation in the chapel of a church near Pacific Lutheran University. We had eleven diploma graduates – four DIP Advanced students and seven DIP High-Intermediate students. Four of the students were DIP years. After the graduates had all given their speeches we had a student talent show in which some of our students showed us what they could do.

Advanced Graduates
Ricky, Lena, Jenny, Yuto (DIP Year)

High-Intermediate Graduates
Yang Woo, Vivian, Yuno, Sophia (DIP Year), Joyce (DIP Year), Ryuichi (DIP Year), Mika

Centre of the Year Award

Embassy CES Seattle was chosen as Study Group's US Centre of the Year 2007, as a result of its outstanding customer service and achievements.

The photo above shows Seattle Student Services Manager, Kathy DeHeide, and Director of Studies, Beverly Hendricks, being presented the award by Study Group CEO, Heith Mackay-Cruise, and Sean Hale, Managing Director of Study Group USA.