Staff at Embassy

Staff report from Embassy Oxford's Venice Ball

Staff and students at Embassy Oxford recently joined with Bellerbys Oxford students to enjoy a fantastic Venice Ball at the Halkwell House Hotel.

Fabio da Silva Moore, the Social Programme and Extra Curricular Activities Organiser for Embassy and Bellerbys in Oxford was one of the main organisers of the event and writes: ‘Finally, after a lot of hard work and effort from myself and the members of the committee we managed to organize a fantastic event. There were beautiful decorations, posters of Venice, mask decorating activities and even a gondola!

The Venice Ball was a successful event and all the students and staff members enjoyed a great night dancing and singing. This event gives us more incentive to make next year’s Ball even better!’

Visit the Embassy Oxford Facebook gallery to see more photos of this fabulous event, or go to the Embassy Oxford activities and excursions page to find out more about the other activities available to our students after class.

 

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.

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.

Students and staff at Embassy Boston Merrimack enjoy annual International Tea.

Recently, Embassy students participated in a very special International Tea event. Linda D. Walsh, New England Embassy Manager, writes:'Embassy joined with the Merrimack College to host the college’s annual International Tea. Students brought desserts and tea from their country to share with other students and staff members. There were brigadeiros from Brazil, date and banana cake from Saudi Arabia and a variety of cookies and candies from other countries too. Those who attended also sampled Arabic   coffee, Japanese green tea, and Korean corn tea.  The International Tea event was a great opportunity for Embassy Boston students to interact with Merrimack students and practice English in a fun and enjoyable setting.'

To see more photos from the event, go to the Facebook gallery for the Embassy Boston Merrimack school, or for more information about the school, have a look at the courses offered here and read the local information page.

Embassy staff's favourite things to do in Oxford

Oxford is a beautiful historic English town with many great sights and attractions to see. Our staff all love living and working here, and two of our staff members have told us about their favourite places to go in Oxford...

Julia Southby, Principal of Embassy Oxford writes:

Want to see some live music? One of the places I go regularly is the O2 Academy on the Cowley Road: it's only a 20 minute walk from school!

This is a fantastic venue to see a range of live music: some unsigned local musicians get their start here, and big names also feature - Goldfrapp and We Are Scientists are coming to town in June! The venue has two stages and both offer a good safe environment to see some excellent music.

They will be showing the World Cup football matches too - with FREE entry! They also offer varied dance nights with regular features and visiting DJs. The O2 Academy is always a great venue to try if you fancy getting out of the town centre for a dance one weekend! So, whether you like hard rock, folk, pop or dance, check it out.

Andrea Paschoal, English Language Co-ordinator at Embassy Oxford writes:

Iffley lock walk is very near where I live, which is only 20 minutes from the city centre. Iffley village is a lovely little place, with an ancient church and thatched cottages. The lock itself is very well kept with a beautiful lock keeper’s cottage and a popular pub. You can walk down a narrow fenced path to the lock where you’ll see a couple of little bridges and some ducks to feed. When the river is high, the water rushing through the weir (a dam used to regulate the water flow) is a nice sight.

After this, you can go on a short walk through some meadows and over a bridge to the famous boat  houses of Oxford University. This is a delightful spot to sit by the river and watch the boats go past.
I don’t always have time to stop and have a cup of coffee, but whenever I can I stop at Prêt a Manger. It is probably the best place to head for coffee here in the city centre. They sell sandwiches, sushi, cakes and juices. Their food is of very good quality, everything is freshly made on the day and is also free of nasty GM ingredients.

To find out more about Oxford you can read our local information page or take a look at the Oxford   photos on the Embassy website.

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.
  

Videos on site

Videos really help you to see what student life is like - and even more so when our students themselves get to speak.

That's why we've been busy adding videos across the Embassy website in recent days. Here you can view just a few of them. Enjoy!

An introduction to Embassy Sydney:

EM_Sydney_360p_ProRes

See also:
An introduction to Embassy Melbourne
An introduction to Embassy Perth
An introduction to Embassy Gold Coast
An introduction to Embassy Brisbane
An introduction to Embassy Auckland

An introduction to Embassy Boston Downtown:

SGUS-B-Intro-081209

See our other Boston Downtown videos:
Boston Downtown students and staff
Boston Downtown local information (foot of page)
Boston Downtown activities
Boston Downtown facilities (foot of page)

An introduction to Embassy New York:

SGUS-NY-Intro-081209

See our other New York videos:
New York local information (foot of page)
New York accommodation
New York activities
New York facilities(foot of page)

Auckland rugby trip

Carter Voyce, teacher from Embassy Auckland, writes:

On Easter Saturday, 30 Taylors and Embassy students went to a Super 14 rugby match at Eden Park. The mighty Auckland Blues were up against the previously unbeaten (and seemingly unbeatable) Pretoria Bulls.

For most, this was their first rugby game and, complete with blue and white face paint and strong lungs, they quickly got in behind the local lads.

As the sun went down and the stadium lights came on during the second half, it was clear our boys were playing well and holding the upper-hand.

Thanks mainly to the tremendous support shown by Taylors and Embassy students, the Blues went on to win 32 – 17. A great day was had by all!

See more photos from the event on our Embassy Auckland Facebook photo gallery.

Oxford English schools go head to head

Peter Madams, ICT teacher at Embassy Oxford, writes:

Embassy Oxford recently joined together with sister school Bellerbys to form a cracking team and played a football match against another local school in Oxford - EF, English First. We are pleased to announce a convincing 6-2 victory, and members of both teams are pictured after the match.

A rematch will soon be announced to see if it was just a 'one-off' or whether EF can get their revenge.

News from Embassy Oxford

Peter Madams, ICT teacher at Embassy Oxford, provides a few updates of recent school activities:

Traffic lights!

Accomodation Officer at Oxford, Agnieska Kaleka, (perhaps our most active fund-raiser, pictured in yellow) would like to say a big 'thank you' to all of you who took part in the last Traffic Light Day at Embassy Oxford. The idea is simple - wear red, green or orange/yellow clothes for a day around college, and try to collect donations for the charity.

As usual we took some funny pictures and raised £42.83 which will be doubled by Study Group so the final amount is: £85.66. Congratulations everyone!!! This money will go our chosen charity 'Building Futures'.

Games Night

Embassy Oxford is now open late on Tuesdays for a games night in the common room. Fabio, our social activities organiser, will be running the evening. Students can stay in the building until 8.30pm and play chess, Texas Poker, dominoes, or other board games.

The first night was a great success - lots of people came. It's a great way to relax, meet new people, and learn new games after a hard days studying.